Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore the sustainability of gender budgeting practices of the local administrations in Turkey since 2013 and conduct a Well-Being Gender Budget analysis of the two municipalities that were involved in United Nations Joint Program-Women Friendly Cities Project between 2006 and 2014.

Paper long abstract:

Gender budgeting can be a powerful tool to reduce inequalities in the society, specifically if it is implemented by local administrations. A major flaw in the actual practice of gender budgeting is its lack of continuity in general. This paper intends to follow up our research on Well-Being Gender Budget audits carried out in Turkey for 2013 in a selected number of municipalities including those pilot cities, which committed to the United Nations Joint Program-Women Friendly Cities Project (UNJP-WFCP) between 2006 and 2014. Taking that study forward, this paper will explore the sustainability of gender budgeting practices since then and analyse public policy and budget documents of the local administrations from the two cities (which were involved in UNJP-WFCP ), Kars and Nevşehir, for 2013-2016 period from the women's well-being perspective. Our methodology takes its root from the capabilities approach and Gender Well-Being Budgets literature. Annual performance programs and the most recent strategic plans will be audited with a special focus on policies and related budget allocations which directly address women and gender equality. These will be mapped with capabilities to produce analytical tables to see whether there occurred a progress or retreat in mainstreaming gender into budget processes in the recent years. Reflections, if any, of disparities in scale, region and party politics on gender equality concerns at local level will be discussed. A comparative analysis of findings will unravel advantageous and disadvantageous conditions for sustainability of the gender budgeting framework in local administrations in Turkey.