Barriers to Participation: Exploring Gender in Peru's Participatory Budget Process

As citizens increasingly work to improve transparency and governance, participatory budgeting (PB) has emerged in thousands of cities. Advocates argue that PB can serve to educate citizens, increase transparency, and even improve living standards in the cities and towns that implement this form of public finance. However, we still know very little about how inclusive these processes are. This article asks: first, are participatory budgeting processes engaging women and men equally? Second, if gender exclusion is taking place, why? Finally, what can the development community do to begin to eradicate exclusion? Through the case study of participatory budgeting in Peru, the article documents that participatory budgeting in this country is not inclusive. Economic barriers, combined with the fact that women are expected to take on most domestic duties, make it very hard for women to actually attend meetings, especially in rural areas where poverty and patriarchy are more pronounced. Additionally, the weakness of women's organizations prevents many organizations from registering to attend these processes. The article concludes with recommendations for advocates who wish to rectify these challenges through concrete interventions.