The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published two datasets detailing how governments around the world use fiscal policy—taxes and government spending—to promote gender equality. The first dataset contains information on 60 international case studies on gender-focused fiscal policy, such as earmarking government funds for gender equality in areas of health, education, and infrastructure. The second dataset details gender equality indicators from the period of 1990 to 2013, including female life expectancy, ratio of female to male wages, and expected years of schooling for females, for most countries in the world. Using this data, IMF studied macroeconomic policies in low-income countries and found that that gender-focused fiscal policy efforts are most effective when aligned with national growth strategies and ministries of finance can play a critical role in advancing gender equality.
Image: UK Department for International Development.
