“Imagine a world where women’s and girls’ rights are equally respected, valued and protected. Imagine a world where women and girls could have equal access to leadership positions in any sector. Imagine a world where women and girls live fearlessly. Imagine a world where women and girls are no longer the prisoners of any culture. Imagine a life where no one tells any woman and girl that they can’t do something, or they are not good enough for something. That’s the world I want to live in.” Nugrahanti, 2020.
When we talk about poverty eradication, it also means inclusion and equality. As my host organization, CARE, believes that poverty can’t be defeated unless everyone has equal rights and opportunities, hence women and girls must be the focus. Most of the time, poverty affects women’s and girls’ rights, for example, one of the violations of women’s rights in many communities is the forced marriage. The main reason for this is the need to improve resources for their families. When the communities are struggling with poverty, marriage is seen as an economic proposition. Therefore, empowering women and girls could be beneficial for everyone in their families.
Poverty elimination is the goal of every nation. The government national budget will reflect their social and economic plans to address this issue. The budget is the implementer of government policies. There will be no development if the government has a great policy but does not have enough money to implement it. For that reason, the national budget should be constructed properly with a clear explanation about the resources, the beneficiary, and the activities which tied to the main goal of the budget. By designing a gender-sensitive budget, the government will be more inclusive and focus on marginalized groups. Gender-responsive budget can be used as a tool to examine the impact of the government policies on gender equality because it helps the government to allocate their resources efficiently into closing gender gaps. It does not mean allocating half and half budget to men and women, but to make in-depth analysis in expenditures and revenues policies based on the forecast of what men and women needs (from different social groups), their contributions, and their interests, for example, women might need reproductive health care more than men, men and women might have different employment situation, and others. This strategic analysis will help to determine whether the budget available is enough to respond to their specific needs, provide specific services and implement activities designed for each targeted group. Not only GRB can be used to improve incomes and resources, but also to enhance transparency and accountability of the national budget.
