Gender Issues in Budgeting Function Decisions in Local Parliaments: A Comprehensive Analysis of Gender-Aware Policy Mapping

Global gender equality only reaches 68%, while the remaining 32% still encounter gender discrimination. Politics has made the least amount of progress of any field; only 22% of it has achieved gender equality. This mainly illustrates the lack of representation of women in politics. Researchers explore how policy is developed in male-dominated environments. This article delves into the legal aspects related to budget formulation that integrates gender-aware policies. Budget policy is crucial as it allocates resources for economic stability and growth, while also promoting gender equality by funding initiatives that address gender disparities in key areas. The analysis was conducted using the social relations approach (SRA) and conflict theory. The data analysis method used in this qualitative study includes content analysis, with the assistance of Nvivo software. The study employed secondary data gathered from document analysis of plenary meeting minutes. The research findings indicate that the most frequently appearing gender policies, in order, are gender neutral, gender-redistributive, and least gender-specific. The lack of women proposing specific gender programs reveals deeper issues in their policymaking participation, highlighting barriers that prevent them from advocating for gender-specific needs. Therefore, it is expected that men and women respond equally to gender aware issues. In the meantime, the relationship between the budget politics and the gender-aware issue proposal submitted by the policy-making actors indicates that they have the authority to determine the gender-aware budget and implement it for the program with actual impact.