Analysis of the Political and Economic Factors that Influence the Decision to Integrate the Gender Dimension in the Budget Process in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

The Republic of Moldova does not yet have a comprehensive gender budgeting framework in force. The Republic of Moldova legislative and policy framework for gender equality is expressed in Law no. 5 of 09.02.2006 on ensuring equal opportunities between women and men. Moldova’s Parliament and Ministry of Finances are responsible for its national budget cycle (planning and budgeting processes). Recently, the integration of the gender perspective was achieved in the Budget Circulars and the Methodological Set regarding the development, approval and amendment of the budget (Order of the Ministry of Finance no.209 from 2015), which was implemented for the 2022 budget. It is well known that gender budgeting can be applied to any type of budget system at all levels of government, be it central government level or regional and local government levels. Examining the factors that underline introducing gender budgeting at central government level is important because budgetary decisions on both revenue and expenditure are made at this level. Effective implementation of gender budgeting requires enabling factors: political commitment, technical capacity, disaggregated data etc. The purpose of this article is to examine the common elements needed to implement effective gender budgeting, as well as to answer how gender budgeting works in the Republic of Moldova. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53486/cike2023.60; UDC: 336.143.2:[338.23:342.724-055.22](478); JEL: A13, E62, H61, H75, I18, I28, I38, J16, J88, O11