Tamil Nadu Promotes Women-Centric Policies by Implementing Gender Budgets Across All Departments

By: WE Staff | Tuesday, 20 September 2022

Each department in the Tamil Nadu government will now have a gender budget, officials declared on September 18. The Government Order (GO), which contains the crucial directions, was published by the Department of Social Welfare and Women's Empowerment. The state's minister of social welfare and women's rights, P Geetha Jeevan, had already made a statement to this effect before the state Assembly.

According to sources, gender budgeting comprises considering gender while developing, implementing, and evaluating any policy or programme. All new programmes that are launched in Tamil Nadu must follow the regulations and will be categorised into one of four categories: gender transformative, responsive, neutral, or blind.

Two employees from the present budget cell will form a gender cell, which will then identify up to six of the top budget-allocated programmes currently being run in the state. The gender cell will then evaluate the programmes' treatment of gender-related issues. Programs and regulations deemed "gender blind" will be abandoned, while those deemed "gender neutral" would be modified, according to reports.

The gender cell is also tasked with regularly collecting data so that it can evaluate the performance of the programmes and suggest effective policy solutions. The cell will also provide workshops to strengthen the skills of government officials.

Additionally, the gender budget cell will lead specific initiatives to guarantee that women continue to have an active role in all decision-making processes and have increased access to services.