THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A Gender Department, with a principal secretary and the entire departmental paraphernalia to boot, will be opened this fiscal. The announcement will be made by finance minister Dr T M Thomas Isaac in the Alteration Memorandum to be presented on July 8. Government departments have already been asked to brace themselves to conduct gender audit every two years. At least 10 percent of the budget will be earmarked for women-specific projects.
Gender audits analyze the income and expenditures of the government from a gender perspective based on the basic assumption that public policy impacts differently on men and women. “A gender audit is similar to an audit. The process would assess the ways and means by which a scheme or a programme created conditions conducive to gender equality,” a top Finance Department official said.
Each department has to constitute a gender audit team with a senior level officer as the Team Leader. The team should report directly to the Head of the Department and would be given the authority to examine any office under the department, to obtain any record, to raise queries and to obtain replies in writing without delay. All these activities will be coordinated by the proposed Gender Department.
A gender audit team should comprise senior level government officers having a sound understanding and knowledge of gender issues. The government is also planning to co-opt civil society representatives or gender experts. The Gender Department will ensure that all projects, programmes and schemes for which funds are allocated are viewed through a gender lens.
“This will call for a gender forecast of sorts to be undertaken so that gender requirements are factored in before a project is finalised,” the official said. This means: one, identifying gender-related barriers and constraints to accessing and enjoying development benefits; two, understanding the specific consequences of such barriers and constraints; three, finding solutions; four, identifying the outputs needed to implement the solutions; and five, scrutinising whether the outputs are likely to lead to the desired outcomes.
