EQUAL HALF | a documentary film from India

Summary

The video script highlights the importance of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) in addressing the marginalized voices of women in policy-making. It showcases initiatives like UN Women's work with 65 countries to incorporate GRB, India's efforts in creating gender budget statements, and specific projects in Sundarbans and Nagaland that empower women through technology and agricultural support. The script also discusses Kerala's innovative housing scheme for working women and counseling centers for domestic violence survivors, emphasizing the need for broader macroeconomic engendering to ensure policies meet women's needs and empower them.

Takeaways

• 🌐 Women's voices are often marginalized in global social program planning, leading to a lack of recognition for their unpaid work and contributions to society.
• 🇮🇳 In India, despite women making up half the population and contributing significantly to the economy, they still lag behind in socioeconomic indicators.
• 💼 Gender-responsive budgeting is a tool used to ensure that budgeting processes consider the needs of women to promote gender equality and empowerment.
• 🌟 UN Women has collaborated with 65 countries since 2011 to incorporate gender-responsive budgeting, with 25 adopting gender-based policies in their national development plans.
• 🏝️ The Sundarbans project in West Bengal used science and technology interventions to empower women, teaching them banana tissue culture and business skills.
• 🌱 The Women's Technology Park in Sagar Islands was established to provide rural women with technological inputs to enhance their skills and income.
• 🏡 In Nagaland, the Atma initiative promotes gender mainstreaming in agriculture, ensuring 30% of funds go to women farmers and their involvement in decision-making bodies.
• 🏢 Kerala's planning board introduced an innovative housing scheme for working women, constructing apartments close to workplaces for safe and convenient stays.
• 🏥 The Bumika counseling centers in Kerala were established to support women survivors of domestic violence, providing integrated services under one roof.
• 💼 The Women's Development Corporation of Kerala launched the Reach Academy to provide professional grooming and employability training for women and girls.

Q & A

What is the significance of women's voices in social programs planning?

Women's voices are significant because they are often marginalized and not heard by authorities when planning social programs. Their unpaid work and contributions to family and society are not recognized in macro policy, which affects the overall development of families, societies, and countries.

Why is gender-responsive budgeting important?

Gender-responsive budgeting is important because it ensures that the entire budgeting process is carried out through a gender perspective, aiming to bring gender equality and women's empowerment. It helps governments to see how their allocations of public funds will contribute to these goals.

How has UN Women been involved in gender-responsive budgeting?

UN Women has been involved by working with 65 different countries since 2011 to incorporate gender-responsive budgeting. Out of these, 25 countries have adopted gender-based policies and plannings in their National Development Plans.

What is the role of gender budget statements in India?

In India, gender budget statements were initiated to create consciousness among policymakers about the importance of gender-responsive budgeting. This led to the creation of gender budget cells in 53 Ministries and Departments to spearhead the work on gender within these institutions.

What challenges do women in Sundarbans face, and how is technology helping them?

Women in Sundarbans face geographical challenges, health issues, and lack of basic amenities, pushing them into debt and poverty. The Department of Science and Technology is implementing a scheme to provide technological support to these women, training them in banana tissue culture, which is a high-end technology, helping them upgrade their skills and enhance their income.

How does the Atma initiative in Nagaland address gender issues in agriculture?

The Atma initiative promotes gender mainstreaming in agriculture by ensuring that 30% of the funds go to women farmers. It also involves women in decision-making bodies at various levels and provides agricultural extension programs led by women.

What is the impact of Kerala's patriarchal system on women?

Despite being the only 100% literate state in India, Kerala's patriarchal system manifests in violence against women, declining land rights, and poor employment profiles. To address these issues, the government has initiated programs focusing on social and economic needs of women.

How is the Kerala planning board's housing scheme benefiting working women?

The Kerala planning board's housing scheme for working women involves constructing apartments close to their workplace, ensuring a safe and convenient stay, which helps reduce the issues related to domestic violence and public place harassment.

What is the role of Bumika counseling centers in Kerala?

Bumika counseling centers, initiated as part of the GRB efforts in Kerala, provide support to women survivors of domestic violence. They offer assistance from police, advocates, and social securities like accommodation, all under one roof.

How is the Women's Development Corporation of Kerala helping women's employability?

The Women's Development Corporation of Kerala has started a professional grooming academy to provide employability training to women and girls in various sectors, including spoken English, computer operations, and other social skills, aiming to improve their job prospects.

What is the broader goal of gender-responsive budgeting in the macroeconomic framework?

The broader goal of gender-responsive budgeting is to integrate the needs of women into budgeting, which is a crucial component of macro policy. It aims to ensure that policies are appropriate for meeting women's needs and empowering them, but it also requires a broader approach to engender the entire macroeconomic framework.

Outlines

00:00

🌍 Gender Responsive Budgeting for Women's Empowerment

The paragraph highlights the global issue of marginalized women's voices being excluded from social program planning by authorities. It emphasizes the unrecognized unpaid work of women and the lack of importance given to their living conditions in macro policies. Gender responsive budgeting is introduced as a tool to ensure the budgeting process incorporates a gender perspective, aiming for gender equality and women's empowerment. The United Nations Women (UN Women) has been working with governments since 2011 to implement this approach, with 25 countries adopting gender-based policies in their National Development Plans. The paragraph also discusses the importance of creating awareness among policymakers and the establishment of institutional mechanisms within government ministries to spearhead gender-responsive budgeting.

05:01

🌱 Science and Technology for Rural Women's Development

This paragraph discusses the challenges faced by women in the Sundarbans, an island cluster in West Bengal, including geographical barriers, health issues, and lack of basic amenities. To address these, the Department of Science and Technology has implemented a scheme to provide technological support to rural women. The Vive Anand Institute of Biotechnology has been training local women in banana tissue culture, a high-end technology, to enhance their skills and income. The establishment of a Women's Technology Park at Sagar Islands is part of this initiative, aiming to provide rural women with access to technologies that can improve their livelihoods.

10:01

🌾 Empowering Women Farmers in Nagaland and Kerala

The paragraph focuses on the agricultural sector in Nagaland, where despite women constituting over 50% of farmers, they have limited access to land and resources and are rarely recognized as farmers. The Atma scheme, a gender-responsive budgeting initiative, aims to promote gender mainstreaming in agriculture by ensuring 30% of funds go to women farmers and involving them in decision-making bodies. The outcomes of Atma are visible in villages like Mok Chung, where women lead agricultural extension programs. In Kerala, despite high literacy rates, women face patriarchal challenges, including violence and poor employment opportunities. The Kerala Planning Board has introduced an innovative housing scheme for working women, constructing apartments near workplaces for safe and convenient stays. Additionally, the Bumika counseling centers provide support for women survivors of domestic violence, offering a range of services under one roof. The paragraph concludes with a discussion on the importance of integrating gender-responsive budgeting into the larger macroeconomic framework to ensure policies meet women's needs and empower them.

Keywords

💡Marginalized

Marginalized refers to groups or individuals who are excluded from participating fully in society, often due to their social, economic, or political status. In the video, marginalized women's voices are not heard by authorities when planning social programs, indicating a lack of representation and consideration in policy-making processes. The term is central to the video's theme of gender equality and empowerment.

💡Unpaid Work

Unpaid work encompasses all household and caregiving tasks performed without compensation. The video highlights that women's unpaid work at home, such as rearing children and maintaining the family, is not recognized in macro policy, suggesting that the economic value of this work is overlooked, which contributes to gender inequality.

💡Gender Responsive Budgeting

Gender responsive budgeting is an initiative that ensures the budgeting process considers the different needs of men and women. The video explains that this approach is used to promote gender equality and women's empowerment by ensuring that public funds contribute to these goals. It is a key strategy mentioned in the video for integrating gender considerations into macroeconomic planning.

💡Macro Policy

Macro policy refers to government policies that have a broad impact on the economy and society. The video discusses how macro policies often fail to recognize the importance of women's unpaid work and living conditions, which is a missed opportunity for promoting gender equality. The term is used to emphasize the need for policies that consider gender aspects.

💡Socioeconomic Indicators

Socioeconomic indicators are statistical measures that reflect the economic and social conditions of a population. The video mentions that women lag behind in almost all socioeconomic indicators, indicating a disparity in areas such as income, education, and health. This term is used to highlight the gaps that need to be addressed through gender-responsive policies.

💡Public Funds

Public funds refer to the financial resources collected by the government through taxes and other means, intended for public services and welfare. The video discusses how the allocation of these funds can be analyzed through a gender lens to ensure they contribute to gender equality and women's empowerment, emphasizing the importance of budgeting in achieving these goals.

💡Tissue Culture

Tissue culture is a scientific technique used for plant propagation, where plant tissues are grown in a controlled environment. In the video, rural women in the Sundarbans are trained in banana tissue culture, showcasing how technology transfer and gender-responsive measures can empower women and improve their livelihoods.

💡Agricultural Management

Agricultural management involves the planning, organizing, and directing of farming activities to achieve sustainable agricultural development. The video discusses the Atma initiative, which promotes gender mainstreaming in agriculture by ensuring that 30% of funds go to women farmers and involves them in decision-making bodies, highlighting the role of gender-responsive budgeting in agricultural policy.

💡Domestic Violence

Domestic violence refers to violent or aggressive behavior within the home, typically involving one partner abusing another. The video mentions the establishment of counseling centers in Kerala as part of gender-responsive budgeting initiatives to support women survivors of domestic violence, illustrating the video's focus on addressing gender-based violence.

💡Employability

Employability refers to the qualities and skills that make someone suitable or desirable for employment. The video discusses how gender-responsive budgeting and training programs can enhance women's employability in various sectors, such as through professional grooming academies, which provide training in spoken English, computer operations, and other social skills.

💡Macroeconomic Framework

The macroeconomic framework refers to the overall structure and policies that guide a country's economic system. The video concludes by emphasizing the need to engender the larger macroeconomic framework to ensure that gender-responsive budgeting is not a limited approach but part of a broader strategy for gender equality and women's empowerment.

Highlights

Women's voices are often marginalized and not heard by authorities when planning social programs.

Women's unpaid work at home and their role in rearing children are not recognized in macro policy.

Gender responsive budgeting is an initiative to ensure the budgeting process is carried out through a gender perspective.

UN Women has worked with 65 different countries to incorporate gender responsive budgeting.

25 of the 65 countries have adopted gender-based policies and plannings in their National development plans.

Gender responsive budgeting aims to create consciousness among policymakers about women's needs.

In India, gender budget statements and sales have been created in 53 Ministries and Departments.

The Sundarbans cluster of islands faces numerous problems for women, including geographical challenges and lack of basic amenities.

The Department of Science and Technology implements schemes to provide technological inputs to women in rural areas.

The Vive Anand Institute of Biotechnology trains local women in banana tissue culture, a high-end technology.

The Women's Technology Park in Sagar Islands aims to upgrade rural women's skills and enhance their income.

In Nagaland, where agriculture is the mainstay, women farmers have little access to land and resources.

Atma is a GRB initiative promoting gender mainstreaming in agriculture, with 30% of funds going to women farmers.

In Kerala, a patriarchal system manifests in violence against women and declining land rights.

The Kerala planning board's housing scheme for working women ensures safe and convenient stays close to workplaces.

Bumika counseling centers in Kerala provide support for women survivors of domestic violence.

Gender responsive budgeting is accepted as a way of integrating women's needs into macro policy.

Much work is needed across all sectors to ensure policies are appropriate for meeting women's needs and empowering them.

Transcripts

[Music]

around the world the most marginalized

women's voices are those that are not

heard by the authorities when they're

planning programs for social programs

for their own populations woman's unpaid

work at home her sustenance of the

family her rearing of children these are

not recognized in macro policy as far as

we are not giving importance to women

and their living conditions how a family

or a society or a country can be brought

up in Better Way women form half of

India's population and make enormous

contribution to its

[Music]

economy yet they lag behind in almost

all socioeconomic

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indicators though there have been

several government schemes and policies

for the welfare of women none of them

have a measurable impact in terms of

gender gender responsive budgeting is an

initiative to ensure that the entire

budgeting process is carried out through

a gender perspective in order to bring

gender equality and women's

empowerment gender responsib budgeting

is a very important tool that un women

uses to work with governments to ensure

that planning takes into account the

special needs of women around the world

un women since 2011 has worked with 65

different countries to incorporate

gender responsive

budgeting of the 65 countries 25 of

those countries have adopted

gender-based policies and plannings in

their National development plans we

think it's important important because

it enables the countries and leaders of

the country to see how their allocations

of public funds will contribute to

gender equality and women's empowerment

I think one important point about gender

responsive budgeting especially the way

it was done in India is that one hoped

that it would create an a Consciousness

among amongst policy makers we started

with the production of a gender budget

statement uh we moved on to creating

gender Budget Sales in 53 Ministries and

Department ments which is very important

because after all when we are saying

that all Ministries should do gender

responsive budgeting you need some

institutional mechanism some focal point

some cell within these Ministries to

sort of spearhead the work on gender so

again that's a good

[Music]

thing the Sundar banss a cluster of more

than 100 Islands situ ated in West

Bengal offers numerous problems to the

women living here in terms of

geographical challenges Health

livelihood and all the basic amenities

all of these pushing them into debts and

poverty the department of science and

technology has been implementing a

scheme called science and technology for

women and with a basic focus of

providing technological put to women in

the rural

areas the Vive Anand Institute of

biotechnology in sundarbans has been

working for the people at grassroot

level through relevant Science and

Technology

interventions along with the ministry of

Science and Technologies seed division

The Institute has been training the

local women in banana tissue

culture when we transfer

technology two women a handholding would

be required an absorption of Technology

May Pro probably require a different

technique and hence there are uh there

is a need for special gender measures to

be taken in this case what was

conceptualized is a women Technology

Park the tissue culture experiment which

was done in sundarbans is a part of the

women Technology Park set up at Sagar

Islands the women's Technology Park was

a place for the rural women to gain

inputs on technologies that help in

upgrading their skills and enhancing

their

income the women have learned a

technique called tissue culture which is

a highend technology and these are the

women who are not very scientifically

qualified but they have done it the

hardening is done by rural women who are

absolutely uneducated and they have

taken it up and they have also learned

the business of selling these

plantlets so I think it's a win-win situ

ation for all the groups the rural women

the scientists who develop the

technology the women who are selling it

and also the farmers who are producing

the

[Music]

bananas nagaland a state where

agriculture is the major economic

Mainstay has over 50% women farmers

despite this they have little access to

land and

resources are seldom seen as farmers and

do not benefit from any government

schemes or

subsidies Atma or agricultural

management technology agency is a grb

initiative to disseminate agricultural

activities for sustainable Agricultural

Development focused area of Atma is that

it promotes gender mainstreaming in

agriculture 30% of the funds of this

scheme have to go to women

Farmers we have a lot of committees you

know decision making bodies at the Block

Level at the district level at the state

level the scheme provides for

involvement of women in every such

decision- making

body the outcome of Atma is already

visible in The Villages of Mok Chung

where Agricultural Extension programs

are happening in full swing with women

leading the way

[Music]

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by way of having more women farmer

Friends by way of having women uh in

their advisory committees at the Block

District level by way of women attending

more of Village based trainings

demonstrations Farm schools so we

actually see a change happening you know

with the launch of this Atma scheme and

we see that the policy Intervention

which we had made at the government of

India level it is we see it happening in

the states and field

[Music]

area Kerala the only 100% literate state

in India is entrapped in the old

patriarchal system which manifests

itself in violence against women

declining land rights for women and

their poor employment

profile So based on a lot of research

which had come uh when uh the new

government came in power in 2006 just on

the eve of the 11th plan we had a big

program to uh address the social and

economic issues facing women in Kerala

we see a very purpose of kind of

planning in which a policy maker

actually sits and reflects on how can we

address women's needs in sectors like

infrastructure which are not

traditionally seen as as gender

related most rural women in Kerala are

compelled to travel long distances every

day to reach their

workplace those women who travel from

outside the city especially from long

distances either they have to stay there

alone or with their family because they

will be having small children everybody

is not

single so a basic thing is to give them

a better safe and affordable

accommodation in the nearest area where

they are being

employed so this is the basic idea by

which a planning board of Kerala came to

the field of constructing such building

in Kerala the Kerala planning board's

Innovative housing scheme for working

women involved constructing apartments

close to their workplace thereby

ensuring them a safe and convenient

stay

for a lot of Statistics says that the

domestic violence and uh issues related

to public places are increasing day by

day whenever a woman is subjected to

violence maybe physical or mental they

approach the doctor most often the

doctors do not understand that

particular uh lady is a victim of

violence

so such cases are neglected just like

any other medical legal cases when we

thought of gender budgeting we thought

of having some centers in our

institutions to cater the gender issues

especially those involved in the

domestic

violence the bumika counseling centers

were started at all district headquarter

hospitals by the government of Kerala as

a part of its grb initiative to rescue

and support the women survivors of

domestic

violence a beneficiary who are coming to

the cell they will get all the

facilities that is assistance of a

police assistance of an advocate and if

they want any Social Securities like uh

accommodation and all this all the

services will get under this one

roof well compar the other state of

India carala got very high score in

education health and other social living

conditions and standard but in the case

of

employability while we are coming to

that point it's little bit lower when

compared to

[Music]

men as a part of grp the women's

Development Corporation of Kerala

started reach a professional grooming

Academy to impart women and girls

employability training in various

sectors through spoken English classes

computer operations and several other

social

[Music]

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skills for

[Music]

slowly um with great counseling and

gender budgeting exercises of the

government plus training programs

organized by the department of women and

child there has been some triggering of

thought at all levels regarding what

should be done for women gender

responsive budget allocation coupled

with some policy directives coupled with

a procedure for involvement of women at

the at the grassroot level at The

Cutting Edge level can really bring

about change gender budgeting is now

come to be accepted as a way of

integrating the needs of women into

budgeting which is a very important

component of macro policy gender

responsive budgeting is goes a long way

towards ensuring that policies will be

appropriate for meeting women's needs

and empowering women but much work needs

to be done across all sectors I think we

have to come out and Peg the grb work in

the larger macroeconomic framework

unless and until the larger

macroeconomic framework is engendered I

think grb alone in a limited approach of

merely allocating of tracking and

interrogating expenditure will not

suffice and therefore our pitch our

approach has to be much broader to

engender the larger macroeconomic

framework