A gender-sensitive budget is the least expected from her: But is the FM her own boss? 

Very few Indian women join the workforce. And fewer manage to break the glass ceilings and escape discrimination and overcome odds. As a woman presenting the budget, hopes from her are high.

A gender-sensitive budget is the least expected from her: But is the FM her own boss? 
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Apsara Reddy

Whenever times are tough and things are dire, it is interesting to note that male leaders send a woman to the front to handle the situation. In England the Conservative Party threw Theresa May under the bus because of the policies and decisions that these men in suits from her party embedded in ink?

It is similar to what BJP has done with Nirmala Sitharaman, when you think about it: the men messed up the economy and decided to prop up a woman as the face of the finance ministry. I’m not one who believes that your capacity to do anything is a function of your sex or gender identity – but I’m also a good observer and this is what I noticed.

After the Demonetisation flopped and GST got into a mess, not to mention soaring inflation and unemployment, BJP needed to revive the much-battered image of the finance ministry. And an articulate, vociferous minister who also works well for the optics is perhaps what the BJP leaders felt would do the trick.

This in no way reduces her finesse or prowess but I can’t help but recall how the defence ministry under her was forced to go through budget cuts. Did Military Intelligence forewarn the attack on the convoy at Pulwama, India’s most-discussed and polarising suicide attack, ahead of the election ? Was there sufficient coordination between her ministry and agencies reporting to the Home ministry ? Was Defence Ministry a part of the plan to hijack Pulwama to build a political narrative that helped the Prime Minister and the BJP win ? In short was the Defence Ministry under Nirmala Sitharaman acted professionally ? The jury is still out on that.

Regardless, Nirmala Sitharaman’s appointment as Finance Minister goes to show the PM and the party’s faith in her despite her questionable stint as defence minister. India’s budget for 2019 is on its way: and one only hopes that the Finance Ministry under her invests as much in women.

The hopes are not just confined to gender sensitive budgeting, but also extend to examining the way our corporate sector operates. A cursory glance at the data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs shows that as many as 21% of the country’s publicly listed companies have not adhered to the provision of appointing a female director on to their respective boards. The fundamental cause for concern is that women continue to be discriminated and high levels of attrition, the proverbial glass ceiling, unequal pay, lack of safe workspaces and lack of gender inclusive hiring policies continue to result in poor representation of women.


It is a serious concern that the 2018 Budget chose to allocate far less funding support to Training and Employment Programme for Women, more popularly known as STEP: and it wasn’t even a small decline. Try a whopping Rs. 40 crores in the 2017 Budget to a measly Rs 5 crore in the 2018 Budget. It is as plain as day that Nirmala Sitharaman’s priority must be to ensure higher allocation to provide proper training and skills to the few women who enter the workforce.

To do this, it is vital to acknowledge all the prevailing pain points in workplaces that keep women away from engaging with it as is both a matter of their right and discretion.

Budgetary allocations shouldn’t be restricted merely to hiring decisions, but should also strive to make workplaces more accessible, women friendly, accountable, and safe. Implementing safety measures is a major prerequisite that cannot be compromised on.

Budgets should also encourage ways to enable safe spaces for women who have children, are nursing, or menstruating, as well as for people who are in the midst of a gender transition – true inclusion can only come from acknowledging that gender sensitized budgeting is not about oversimplifying the meaning of gender to imply it is for women alone.

Another major area for concern is the difficulties women face in returning to work after sabbaticals. Reskilling is vital for the workforce, regardless of the level in the workplace that a woman seeks to return to. Only by funding programs that encourage and engage in reskilling, upskilling and reintegration of women into the workforce can there be an appropriate premium attached to the stability of their careers in the future.

In the unorganized sector, small businesses and supporting access to funds for women who seek to engage in entrepreneurship, as well as funds to facilitate the right kind of mentorship are in order. Much of what exists speak to women who must necessarily have access to the Internet and knowledge of either English or Hindi in order to know that there are programs she can access.

When the Economic Survey of 2018 was tabled, it was done with a pink cover, it was a way to indicate the lawmakers’ sensitivity to gender in assessing and authoring economic policies. However, the gender colour stereotype was too stark to ignore like the appointment of Nirmala Sitharaman, who, I suspect, is inducted to further an agenda rather than chart her own course.

Left to her she’d perhaps make better decisions than ones that are guided by the nation’s most powerful duo and their corporate lobbies.

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