What do women want from the Budget?

What do women want from the Budget?


The 2024 Budget marked a significant milestone by allocating the highest-ever amount to the gender budget, accounting for 6.8 per cent of the total Budget or 1 per cent of GDP.

While this is a step forward, it remains insufficient to address the vast resource gaps affecting 50 per cent of the population. There is an urgent economic imperative for the upcoming Budget to scale up the focus on gender-related budgeting.

As the government prepares for the next Budget, there is an urgent economic imperative to prioritise gender-responsive budgeting.

According to the World Bank, South Asian countries, including India, could boost their per capita income by an astounding 51 per cent if women’s workforce participation equalled that of men.

Though gender budgeting, the key tool for integrating women’s needs into policymaking, was introduced in 2005-06 under the leadership of late Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, it has remained little more than an accounting exercise — merely an additional document that comes out with the Budget. There is a need to give that document some much-needed attention.

Two decades after its introduction, the allocations are still inadequate to meet our gender goals. For instance, Bangladesh’s gender budget for FY2025 is 34 per cent of the total budget or 4.8 per cent of GDP. Some Indian States allocate more than 25 per cent of their budgets to gender goals.

Hike allocations

So what do we expect from the Budget this year? First, we want the allocation to the gender-targeted programmes to be increased significantly. Second, there is a need to innovatively utilise the allocations towards strategic goals that can economically empower women.

We need to adopt a multi-pronged approach to address both supply-side constraints — unpaid care work, lack of skills, cultural norms and demand-side challenges — limited demand for women’s work.

Here are four quick wins that the government can get on the gender side, which will also be electorally wise choices.

Four measures

(i) Increase the allocation to Palna Scheme and Address Women’s Unpaid Care and Domestic Work Burden

Indian women dedicate eight times more hours than men to unpaid care work, including childcare, Budget allocations must support the rapid expansion of the Palna-National Creche Scheme, with a focus on improving infrastructure at Anganwadi centres, providing comprehensive training for Anganwadi workers, and ensuring fair wages for care workers.

New centres should be prioritised in districts where women cite unpaid care work as a barrier to employment and in industrial hubs that employ large numbers of women, such as textile and garment clusters.

In 2024, only 0.6 per cent of the total budget addressed care work. However, scaling up allocations to care-related programmes also presents an economic opportunity, as investing in care infrastructure has a higher impact on GDP and employment than investments in the construction sector.

One estimate suggests that a 1 per cent annual increase in public spending on care services over five years could boost India’s GDP by 16.9 per cent and employment by 4.6 per cent.

Beyond childcare, the Budget must address the growing demand for eldercare services, including residential homes and community support networks. Programmes like the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE) and Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana should receive increased funding to reduce the financial dependence of elderly individuals on their children.

Additionally, as women spend nearly 18 per cent of their time on unpaid domestic activities such as cooking and cleaning, time-saving schemes like the Ujjwala Yojana, Rural Drinking Water Mission), solar rooftop initiatives, and the PM Awas Yojana should continue to receive increased budgetary allocations.

(ii) Prioritize Women in Urban Development

Female labour force participation in urban areas remains significantly low, and gender-based violence in public spaces is a growing concern. Given that half of India’s population will live in cities by 2050, gender-responsive urban planning must be prioritised in the upcoming Budget.

Allocations must be made for building safe, reliable, and accessible public transport systems, robust care infrastructure, and for upgrades to make public spaces safe and gender-responsive.

To achieve these goals, the government must scale up allocations under key schemes such as the Safe City Projects, the Scheme for Safety of Women on Public Road Transport, the PM e-Bus Sewa Scheme, and the Nirbhaya Fund.

(iii) Bridge the Digital Skills Gap

The 2025 Budget should prioritise funding for digital skilling programmes targeted at women. These programmes must provide both basic and advanced digital literacy to help women access better employment opportunities.

Investments in STEM education are also critical to addressing occupational segregation and opening pathways to higher-paying, future-ready jobs in technology and innovation.

The gender budget must scale up funding for programmes like the DISHA Program for Women in Science and initiatives under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, which received significantly higher allocations in 2024.

Additionally, a scheme to generate digital-based jobs for women in rural areas could be launched.

(iv) Enabling Schemes That Address Demand Side Challenges for Women’s Employment

Apart from women-specific measures, the overall Budget must prioritise growth in industries that employ a high share of women. Sectors such as textiles, leather, apparel, food, beverages, and tobacco should receive enhanced incentives and support through schemes like the Production Linked Incentive (PLI).

Additionally, schemes to boost demand in the construction, real estate, hospitality, and tourism sectors would create more employment opportunities for women.

Gender budget allocations could be incorporated into the Ministry of Commerce’s Market Access Initiative to support women entrepreneurs in trade. Similarly, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ internship programme, launched last year, could be expanded to encourage companies to hire more female interns.

In conclusion, Budget 2025 presents a critical opportunity to drive women-led development in India. By scaling up gender budget allocations and adopting a holistic approach, the government can unlock the full economic potential of Indian women and foster inclusive growth.

Also, to ensure that gender budgeting leads to tangible progress toward achieving gender equality goals, it is also crucial to move toward an outcome-based gender budget that clearly states gender equality objectives and identifies key areas of focus for government action.

Mitra is Senior fellow and Prakash is Consultant at ICRIER. Views expressed are personal





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