Promoting gender-responsive budgeting - The basis for implementing the principle of gender equality prescribed in the Law on State Budget

Abstract

Gender-responsive budgeting, or gender budgeting, which has been identified as the key to promoting gender equality and adopted in more than 100 countries, is becoming an internationally recognised tool for achieving gender equality. In 2015, the National Assembly of Vietnam promulgated the Law on State Budget, which defines gender equality as one of the basic principles in the management and expenditure of the State budget (Article 8). However, the implementation of the principle remains challenging due to the limited capacity of the stakeholders and the lack of guidelines. The article provides a review of gender-responsive budgeting and assesses the advantages and disadvantages of applying it in Vietnam. On that basis, the article makes some recommendations relating to the provisions and some solutions to promote the implementation of gender-responsive budgeting in Vietnam.