This paper reviews the literature on the links between public expenditure and gender responsiveness and outlines a number of gender-responsive expenditure management (GRPEM) reforms that could be taken forward by low-capacity states. The guide begins with a definition of GRPEM in the broader context of government policy, and outlines typical approaches to GRPEM, along with country examples of real-world experience.

The paper also addresses the reality of budget reform in low-capacity countries in order to discuss how GRPEM can best work in practice in these contexts, provides recommendations for how a ministry of finance or planning can begin to integrate gender considerations into public expenditure management systems as well as an annotated bibliography of key literature to guide further reading.

Report by the Overseas Development Institute