Israeli Budget to Show Gender Distribution

19 November 2014

Following years of campaigning by NIF grantee the Adva Center, the state budget will now include gender analysis. This victory follows the establishment of a special committee charged with examining the state budget from a gender perspective. The analysis will show how resources are divided between women and men and whether their distribution addresses their respective needs and priorities. Presenting a budget with a gender distribution been used effectively to reduce gender inequality in other countries.

For example, the budget now reveals that 69% of Ministry of Health employees are women, but they only receive 62% of the total salaries. More encouragingly, it also shows that more of the Welfare Ministry’s budget for seniors goes to women – however, this also reflects the fact that women have a longer life expectancy than men.

The hope is that this will have an influence on future policy, and help set priorities on the basis of gender.

Photo Credit: “Israel New Shekels” by Flickr user Michael Plump.