Budgeting for Women's Rights Monitoring Government Budgets for Compliance with CEDAW

Peoples access to services and resources are determined by government budget policies. Gender budgets initiatives around the world have attempted to systematically examine how government budgets address discrimination with regard to womens access to housing, employment, health, education, and other services. Often these exercises have been eye-openers: A budget analysis of domestic violence policies and laws in seven countries in Latin America, for example, revealed that appropriations for domestic violence programs and interventions were non-existent in cases. Similar evidence of gender discrimination is found when examining taxation policies. This publication adds a landmark to the discourse on the link between human rights standards and government budgets. It elaborates on how budgets and budget policy making processes can be monitored for compliance with human rights standards, in particular with the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Combining substantive analysis with country examples, the publication explores how a rights-based budget analysis can be applied to public expenditure, public revenue, macroeconomics of the budget, and budget decision-making.