Introduction

This collection of essays focuses on financing for gender equality and women’s rights, drawing on over a decade of scholarly analysis and practice on gender-responsive budgeting (GRB). The purpose of this collection is to position GRB as a means of realizing women’s rights in the debates over framing, defining, financing, implementing and monitoring the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 5, and gender targets across the other SDGs. The universal character of the goals and the emphasis on addressing the systemic and structural dimensions of gender inequality represent a significant advance over the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The stand-alone goal to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”—SDG 5—includes targets on ending violence and harmful practices against women, addressing women’s unpaid care work, as well as addressing women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, amongst others. The full implementation of these goals would substantially reduce gender inequality in these areas, but that will only happen with adequate resourcing. The book therefore offers some ideas on financing for gender equality, drawing on over two decades of GRB policy and practice. It does not present GRB as a silver bullet but rather grapples with some of the tensions of this work and asks important questions about future direction.