Chapter 23: Gender Responsive Budgeting Approach to Combating Climate Change

Gender inequalities and climate change are global problems that concern the whole world. These two basic questions also have intersections with each other. Disruptions in natural life, usually due to human activities, lead to climate change over time. Climate change, on the other hand, deepens the already existing gender inequalities. Problems such as water scarcity, natural disasters, lack of access to clean water, and energy shortages are gender-responsive issues that affect women and men in different ways. All these factors, as supported in the literature, cause women to be in an even more disadvantageous position against climate change. One of the policy tools of states in the face of this problem is fiscal solutions. As a fiscal policy tool, government budgets can be used to eliminate the negative effects of climate change on women. This is called gender responsive climate budgeting (GRCB) in the literature. In order to apply GRCB, firstly sex-disaggregated data are required. In addition, institutional structures should be strengthened and strategic plans should be designed in a way that establishes the link between gender and climate change. This process should be carried out in a multistakeholder manner and the resources allocated for the financing of the problems should gain a gender-responsive structure.