Introduction

Public budgets are often presented as neutral instruments designed to allocate resources efficiently across sectors and populations. practice, however, fiscal decisions operate within deeply embedded social and economic structures, producing differentiated outcomes for women and men. Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) has emerged as an approach that seeks to better understand and address these disparities by considering how public expenditure and revenue policies affect different groups. Central to this process is the availability of reliable gender-disaggregated data, without which the distributional consequences of fiscal policy remain difficult to observe.

South Africa has demonstrated a longstanding constitutional and policy commitment to gender equality. Initiatives such as the Women’s Budget Initiative, alongside more recent frameworks including the Gender-Responsive Planning, Budgeting, Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, reflect sustained recognition of the importance of integrating gender considerations into public finance (DWYPD, 2024). At the same time, progress towards full institutionalisation of GRB has been uneven. While policy awareness appears well established, implementation continues to be shaped by gaps in gender-disaggregated data, coordination challenges across institutions, and broader fiscal constraints – particularly those affecting Statistics South Africa, where resource limitations have restricted the expansion of critical datasets.

The implications of these constraints are evident across key sectors. Without robust sex- and age-specific indicators, it becomes difficult to assess how spending and revenue policies affect women and men differently. Within the social protection system, for example, an estimated 76% of older South African women depend on the Old Age Grant, yet fiscal projections seldom reflect this gender imbalance explicitly (Centre for Human Rights, 2018). Similarly, the design of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant during the COVID-19 period initially excluded many women, with only 35.7% of recipients being female in early 2021, reflecting eligibility criteria that did not fully account for caregiving roles (Government of South Africa, 2019).

International experience suggests that these challenges are not unique to South Africa. A growing number of countries have begun to incorporate gender considerations more systematically into budgeting processes through a combination of analytical tools, institutional reforms, and strengthened reporting mechanisms. While approaches differ across contexts, these experiences point to the importance of embedding gender analysis within fiscal systems and ensuring that it is supported by reliable and accessible data.

In comparison, South Africa’s current approach can be understood as potentially nascent and evolving. While recent Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) processes have begun to reference gender priorities, practical implementation, particularly in areas such as gender tagging, remains limited (Parliamentary Budget Office, 2025). At the same time, continued underfunding of Statistics South Africa has constrained the disaggregation of essential data, with implications for the depth and consistency of analysis (Khumalo, 2025). As a result, South Africa appears to remain in a “data-building” phase of gender-responsive budgeting, where strengthening the underlying evidence base is a necessary step before more systematic implementation can take place.

Why Gender-Disaggregated Data Matters

Budgets that appear neutral on the surface may generate uneven outcomes in practice. Without sex- and age-specific data, it becomes difficult to determine who benefits from public spending and who may be left behind. Gender-disaggregated indicators, such as differences in health outcomes, employment patterns, and access to social programmes, provide an important lens through which these dynamics can be understood.

In the health sector, expenditure patterns often reflect significant gender dimensions, including maternal health needs, HIV prevalence among young women, and differences in service utilisation. Yet, in the absence of sufficiently detailed data, these distinctions may not be fully incorporated into budget processes. A similar pattern is evident in social development, where programmes such as the Child Support Grant and care services are closely linked to women’s roles as primary caregivers. Globally, an estimated 708 million women are outside the labour force due to unpaid care responsibilities, compared to 40 million men (International Labour Organization, 2024). Where such dynamics are not reflected in fiscal analysis, there is a risk that policy design may underestimate both the contributions and the constraints faced by women.

Within the South African context, where progress towards gender equality remains uneven, the integration of gender-disaggregated data into budgeting processes may offer a way to improve both planning and accountability (Statistics South Africa, 2025). Detailed indicators can support more nuanced projections of revenue and expenditure by incorporating factors such as labour force participation and demographic change. They may also assist in identifying disparities across regions or sectors, allowing for more responsive adjustments over time. In this sense, investment in statistical capacity can be seen not only as a technical requirement, but as a broader enabler of more inclusive fiscal policy (Parliamentary Budget Office, 2025).

Life-Cycle and Demographic Perspectives

Gender disparities tend to emerge and accumulate over the life course, shaping both individual outcomes and broader fiscal dynamics. In early life, access to public services such as education, nutrition, and social support already reflects gendered patterns in practice. Social grants such as the Child Support Grant are typically administered through mothers, reinforcing caregiving roles that have longer-term implications for economic participation and financial independence.

During working age, gender differences in labour market participation become more pronounced. Women tend to carry a disproportionate share of unpaid care responsibilities, which can limit their engagement in formal employment and reduce contributions to tax and social insurance systems. Globally, two-thirds of women aged 25–54 who are out of the labour force cite care responsibilities as the primary reason (International Labour Organization, 2024). In South Africa, these dynamics contribute to a narrower contributory tax base and a greater reliance on tax-funded social assistance.

In older age, these inequalities often become more visible. Women make up a larger share of the elderly population – approximately 60% in South Africa – and are significantly more reliant on non-contributory pensions. As stated above, the majority of older women receive the Old Age Grant, reflecting cumulative disadvantages in employment and earnings. At the same time, older women frequently play a central role in supporting multigenerational households, extending the impact of pension income beyond individual beneficiaries.

These patterns suggest that demographic ageing is not gender-neutral. As the population aged 60 and above continues to grow, fiscal pressures related to pensions and healthcare are likely to reflect these gendered dynamics more strongly. Incorporating such patterns into fiscal analysis may therefore contribute to a more accurate understanding of future expenditure needs and distributional outcomes.

Health and Social Protection: Key Sectors

The health sector provides a particularly clear illustration of the importance of gender-disaggregated data. Women’s health needs, including maternal and reproductive services, as well as higher HIV prevalence among younger cohorts, create distinct patterns of service utilisation. While the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) system aims to expand access to healthcare, existing costing and modelling approaches rely only partially on gender- disaggregated information. This may limit the ability to design benefit packages and allocate resources in a way that fully reflects differences in need.

International evidence highlights the importance of sustained investment in women’s health outcomes. While progress has been made in reducing maternal mortality in parts of the region, further improvements remain necessary to eliminate preventable deaths (World Health Organization, 2026). Within the South African context, strengthening the availability and use of gender-disaggregated health data may therefore support more equitable and effective implementation of health reforms.

Social protection programmes also exhibit strong gender dimensions. Grants such as the Child Support Grant and Old Age Grant disproportionately benefit women, both directly and through their roles within households. The experience of the SRD grant provides an example of how policy design can produce unintended gendered outcomes. Eligibility criteria that did not fully account for caregiving responsibilities contributed to the underrepresentation of women among beneficiaries, despite higher levels of need (Government of South Africa, 2019).

Greater integration of administrative data across systems, including social grants, employment records, and tax databases, may offer opportunities to improve targeting and reduce such disparities. At present, however, limitations in data integration constrain the ability to assess programme impacts comprehensively. As noted in parliamentary analysis, efforts to identify gendered components of spending remain incomplete without stronger underlying data systems (Parliamentary Budget Office, 2025).

Linking Gender Data to Fiscal Forecasting and International Practice

Gender considerations remain only partially reflected in South Africa’s fiscal planning tools, including the Long-Term Fiscal Model (LTFM) and the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). Incorporating gender dynamics into these frameworks may enhance both their analytical depth and policy relevance, particularly in the context of demographic change and evolving service demands.

Population projections, for example, could take into account the gendered nature of ageing, recognising that women constitute a growing share of older cohorts and are more likely to rely on public support. Labour market assumptions may similarly benefit from reflecting differences in participation and earnings, which influence both revenue generation and expenditure pressures. In addition, the care economy – often excluded from formal modelling – may have important implications for labour supply and productivity, particularly where unpaid care responsibilities shape women’s economic participation.

International experience suggests that more systematic integration of gender into fiscal processes is possible, often supported by a combination of legislative frameworks, institutional arrangements, and analytical tools. In Canada, for instance, gender-based analysis has been embedded within fiscal policy processes, with the Gender Budgeting Act (2018) requiring annual reporting on the gender and diversity impacts of federal programmes (Government of Canada, 2025). Austria has adopted a similar approach by incorporating gender equality objectives into its constitutional and budgetary framework, requiring ministries to define and report on gender- related outcomes (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2025).

In Rwanda, gender budgeting has been institutionalised through the organic budget law, with gender budget statements required across all government entities and supported by dedicated monitoring structures (Stotsky, 2017). Sweden’s use of analytical frameworks such as “BUDGe” illustrates how gender considerations can be systematically incorporated into policy design (Government Offices of Sweden, 2021), while Uganda has embedded gender requirements within its budget guidelines, requiring ministries and local governments to include gender-specific targets and indicators (Stotsky, 2017).

These approaches can be understood as reflecting a common framework through which gender considerations are integrated into fiscal systems, as illustrated in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Gender-Responsive Budgeting Framework

United Nations ESCAP. 2018. Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Asia and the Pacific. Key Concepts and Good Practices. Available at: https://wrd.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/SDD_GE~1.PDF

Altogether, these approaches highlight several common features, including sustained political commitment, formalised requirements, and the availability of reliable data. While institutional contexts differ, these examples suggest that embedding gender analysis within fiscal systems often involves both strengthening analytical tools and ensuring that these are supported by clear accountability mechanisms. In the South African context, ongoing efforts to refine fiscal planning tools may provide an opportunity to gradually incorporate similar principles in a way that aligns with existing institutional frameworks.

South Africa’s Position and Challenges

South Africa’s approach to gender-responsive budgeting can be understood as being in an early phase. Policy frameworks and analytical awareness are increasingly evident, yet implementation remains shaped by structural constraints.

Data limitations remain particularly significant. Budget reductions affecting Statistics South Africa have contributed to delays in surveys and constrained analytical capacity, limiting the availability of detailed gender-disaggregated information (Khumalo, 2025). At the same time, administrative datasets across sectors are not yet fully integrated, which restricts the ability to develop a comprehensive picture of service utilisation and outcomes.

Institutional coordination also appears to influence progress. There is limited evidence of a central mechanism through which gender-disaggregated data consistently informs the budget process, and coordination between key institutions remains uneven. This can make it more difficult to align data collection, analysis, and budgeting practices in a coherent manner.

These challenges are situated within a constrained fiscal environment, where competing priorities shape resource allocation. While investment in data systems may appear secondary to immediate service delivery needs, it may also play a role in improving the effectiveness and targeting of existing expenditure.

Policy Considerations

Several areas emerge that may support the gradual strengthening of gender-responsivebudgeting in South Africa. These are not discrete interventions, but rather elements of a broader process of building the analytical and institutional foundations required for more inclusive fiscal planning.

Strengthening statistical capacity may be one such area. Enhancing the resourcing and operational stability of Statistics South Africa could support more consistent production of sex- and age-disaggregated data across key sectors. Over time, this may enable a more detailed understanding of service utilisation patterns and socio-economic trends, informing both policy design and budget allocation.

There may also be scope to explore how gender variables could be more systematically incorporated into existing fiscal planning tools. Incorporating assumptions related to labour force participation, demographic change, and service utilisation patterns could contribute to a more nuanced view of future expenditure and revenue dynamics.

The continued development of Gender Budget Statements may offer another avenue for strengthening integration. If implemented consistently, such statements could provide a structured way of linking gender-disaggregated data to budget allocations, potentially enhancing transparency and accountability over time.

Monitoring and evaluation processes may also play a supporting role. Strengthening oversight capacity to assess the gendered impacts of public spending could help ensure that analytical insights are reflected in practice and inform future policy adjustments.

Finally, improvements in administrative data systems, particularly in sectors such as health and social protection, may provide practical entry points for advancing gender-responsive budgeting. Greater integration of datasets could support more accurate targeting and a deeper understanding of how different groups interact with public services.

Conclusion

South Africa has established a meaningful policy foundation for gender-responsive budgeting, supported by growing analytical engagement and increasing recognition of the importance of gender-disaggregated data. At the same time, the transition from policy intent to consistent implementation remains ongoing, shaped by data limitations, institutional coordination challenges, and broader fiscal constraints.

Progress in this area appears closely linked to the development of robust data systems and the extent to which these are integrated into fiscal planning processes. While important groundwork has been laid, the current phase may be understood as one of consolidation, focused on strengthening the underlying foundations required for more systematic implementation.

A key question that emerges is whether South Africa is positioned to move beyond building its gender data base towards a more fully institutionalised approach to gender-responsive budgeting. The answer is likely to depend not only on improvements in data and analytical tools, but also on how these are embedded within broader budgeting practices and decision-making processes.

References

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