A N A LY S I S Independent Analysis of Gender Responsiveness Pakistan’s Federal Budget FY2025-26

Imprint Publisher Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES), Pakistan Office 1st Floor, 66-W, Junaid Plaza, Jinnah Avenue, Blue Area, P.O. Box 1289, Islamabad, Pakistan Responsibility for content and editing Felix Kolbitz| Country Director Sidra Saeed| Programme Advisor Contact Tel:+92 51 2803391-4 info.pakistan@fes.de The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES) Pakistan Office. Commercial use of the media published by the FES is not permitted without the written consent of the FES. FES publications may not be used for election campaign purposes. J u n e 2025 © Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES) Pakistan Office Further publications of the FES Pakistan can be found here: ↗ paki stan.fes.de/publications

The analysis of the Executive Budget Proposal presented by the Government of Pakistan on 10 June 2025 was conducted by Omar Asghar Khan Foundation for Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Its findings were presented at a roundtable convened by the Women's Parliamenary Caucus on June 1 2, 2025.

-' :; ,. ,;,� I Pakistan Federal Budget FY2025-26 Total Rs. 17,573 billion Development Rs. 1,287 billion Current Rs. 16,286 billion

Gender Responsive Budgets(GRB) are not about separate budgets for women and men, but about equity in to help create equal opportunities, reduce social exclusion, promote poverty reduction and good governance.

Gender Budget Tagging Methodology is the exercise of assigning gender codes to cost centres in the budget (current and development) based on a methodology for identifying and assigning scores to each gender-relevant item& classifying them. The analysis uses the Gender Budget Tagging(GBT) Methodology designed in 2023 by Omar Asghar Khan Foundation for the Sub-National Governance Programme implemented by Oxford Policy Management.

GBT SCORING High Funds designed for women, girls and gender-diverse persons, likely to directly support gender equality. Medium Funds that do not deliberately aim to support gender equality, but may do so by providing women, girls and gender-diverse persons access to public services, capacity building opportunities, jobs, etc. Low Funds that may create an enabling environment for gender equality, for example, by supporting research that may improve the access of women, girls and gender-diverse persons to incomes and livelihoods. Scoring apadted from OECD markers.

&ODVVLŦFDWLRQ 1. Social Services budgets that support access to education, heath and other basic services like drinking water, etc. 2. Gender Based Violence budgets that help prevent or respond to GBV, typically relates to police, prosecution, law and justice and facilities like shelters and helplines. 3. Women’s Economic Empowerment budgets that support girls, women and gender-diverse persons to generate incomes and use infrastructure that supports mobility and access to income opportunities.

4. Climate Change budgets that support adaptation and mitigation measures. 5. Social Protection includes social safety nets to the poor and other vulnerable groups like PWDs and religious minorities, and also disaster relief. 6. Institutions for Womenn ’s Empowerment budgets that support government and statutory institutions that play a leadership role on advancing women's empowerment.

FY2025-26 High, medium and low gender-relevant aggregate(current and development amounts of the total budget of PKR17,573 Billion 11.75% PKR 2,064.9 Bn 5HFRPPHQGDWLRQV 4.26% PKR 748.2 Bn 0.19% PKR 34.01 Bn Generate granular information, including sex-disaggregated data, to help claim investments on empowering women and girls in all their diversity. Integrate gender and social inclusion assessments in planning and monitoring government projects to track their impact in reducing vulnerabilities based on poverty, gender, ability, faith, etc. Invest in changing public attitudes that perpetuate gender and social exclusion.

17.4 Climate Change 188.4 GBV 37.2 8.1 Institutions 0.5 Social Protection 0.2 Social Services 171.7 120.6 Women’s Economic 80.6 Empowerment 400.2 &ODVVLŦFDWLRQ PKR in Billions FY2025-26 1,831.6

Low PKR 12.17 Bn High PKR 16.5 Bn Medium PKR 254.84 Bn Include supplemental teaching material to promote gender sensitivity and social inclusion. Enable women, especially those at risk of intersectional vulnerability, to access higher education scholarships. Introduce robust initiatives on family planning for women and men: include a focus on removing social barriers, addressing provider bias& making products easily available. Remove taxes on women's basic menstrual hygiene products. Introduce mental health services. Implement public information campaigns on the harmful impacts of child and consanguineous marriages. 5HFRPPHQGDWLRQV

Low PKR 17.6 Bn Medium PKR 454.2 Bn High PKR 8.5 Bn Provide more granular information to shift medium relevant amounts to high relevance. Increase labour force participation of women, especially by promoting their entry into the formal economy including platform economy through measures like vocational& technical training and access to resources. Provide incentives to increase the percentage of women entrepreneurs. Formalize home-based workers and give them access to social security. Allocate resources to implement the Islamabad Capital Territory Domestic Workers Act 2022. Introduce childcare facilities to assist working parents. 5HFRPPHQGDWLRQV

Medium PKR 45.13 Bn 5HFRPPHQGDWLRQV High PKR 0.1 Bn Low PKR 0.1 Bn Implement public information campaigns on GBV. Improve forensics and prosecution capacity. Establish counselling centres& other response mechanisms, including helplines and legal aid. Support social reintegration of women survivors or at risk of violence. Design and rollout gender-sensitization responders. Enhance compliance of laws against sexual harassment of women at the workplace.

PKR 1,109.03 Bn Medium PKR 722.7 Bn High disaggregated by sex, age, disability, ethnicity, religion and geographical location. Ensure social protection reaches the most disadvantaged, including those facing or at risk of intersecting vulnerabilities due to ability or religious identities. Support nutrition-sensitive social protection interventions. 5HFRPPHQGDWLRQV

Medium PKR 201.6 Bn Low PKR 4.2 Bn Include funds that have high gender-relevance, i.e., designed with the objective of empowering women and girls. Take into account the needs& interests of women and other vulnerable groups in designing actions to build resilience to climate change. Raise awareness about climate change and its impacts, especially on women, girls and other vulnerable groups. Include updated knowledge on climate change in the education syllabus. Use a climate change lens on projects and take actions to build resilience to its impacts in rural and urban areas. 5HFRPPHQGDWLRQV

Institutions for Women's Empowerment PKR 0.35 Bn(high) and PKR 0.1 Bn (medium) are allocated for government and statutory institutions empowering women and children. These need increased and continued support.