In the last few months, we’ve heard that the Trump administration has proposed funding cuts to several women’s programs, such as the State Department’s Office of Global Women’s Issues. And he isn’t alone. A recent assessment of the EU budget showed that funds allocated for gender equality had significantly been cut down between 2015 and 2016.
Some might say that President Trump is anti-women. But even if that’s part of it, there is a more structural reason why it’s so easy to cut funding to women-focused programs.
A better way to address gender equality and the empowerment of women is through what some call “gender responsive budgeting.” The idea behind this approach is recognizing that every line in the budget can have very different impacts on women and girls than on men and boys.