Gender budgeting in Iceland

Abstract

Gender budgeting (GB) was introduced in Iceland in response to the worldwide financial crisis of 2008, as one of the methods to improve public governance at a state level and was enshrined in the Public Finances Act 2016. Following the initiative by the state, the City of Reykjavik began its own GB programme as did the largest academic public institution of the country, the University of Iceland. These initiatives are at different stages of the implementation process and have been received with various levels of enthusiasm. This chapter outlines the development of GB processes in Iceland at state, local government and public institutional level, and considers in particular the successes and hindrances relating to implementation.