WOMEN'S BUDGET PRIORITIES IN MYANMAR

Women are less able to make their views heard in public decision-making processes in Myanmar. Therefore, budget priorities can fail to reflect their specific situations and priorities. This research looks specifically at what women understand and think about government budgets. It reveals that health and education spending are the top priorities for women, yet the government continues to under-invest in these areas. It also indicates that women do not see defence spending as a priority.

The research also looks at how women engage with budgets. Two primary obstacles to women’sengagement in public decision-making processes are a lack of awareness of budget processes and constraints on women’s participation in formal leadership roles. Women do want to engage, however, and gender-responsive budgeting processes and efforts to reduce these barriers are needed to ensure access to information and participation in the future, so that women’s priorities can be reflected in government decisions about taxation and public spending and so that women can hold the government to account on how taxes are raised and budgets spent.