By Tinuade Adekunbi Ojo
Tinuade is the director of the Center of Race, Gender and Class and the associate professor of the department of politics and international relations at the University of Johannesburg, where her interdisciplinary work bridges multiple fields to address complex issues related to women and gender.
She integrates political science, economics, sociology, and environmental studies perspectives in her research.
Tinuade says: “Despite South Africa’s progressive constitutional and policy commitments to gender equality, gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) has struggled to gain sustained institutional traction.
“A core challenge is the gap between policy aspirations and effective implementation. Although gender equality is frequently emphasised in public discourse, budgeting processes largely remain gender-neutral, insufficiently addressing the distinct needs and experiences of women, especially those from marginalised communities.
“The highly technical nature of budget formulation, compounded by the lack of gender-disaggregated data and constrained institutional capacity, hinders the integration of gender analysis into fiscal planning. GRB remains unevenly institutionalised across government levels, and its prioritisation is often inconsistent, particularly during periods of fiscal austerity.”
