Gender is a social and cultural concept. It is about social and cultural differences in identity, expression and experience as a man, woman or non-binary person. Non-binary is an umbrella term describing gender identities that are not exclusively male or female (ABS, Standard for Sex Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables, 2020).

The overarching process to assess/consider/investigate how a policy proposal might impact people in different ways based on gender.

A short description of the gender analysis in the New Policy Proposal (NPP) and the Cabinet Submission. The Gender Analysis Summary makes the potential gendered impact transparent in the decision making process.

Gender disaggregated data refers to data that is broken down by gender. This gives us a clearer picture of how women, men, and gender diverse people experience their lives, including any inequalities and gaps between these groups. Population data can be collected or presented as an aggregate (an undifferentiated whole). Differences between groups of people are hidden when this data is not broken down or ‘disaggregated’ to reveal those groups.

A Gender Impact Assessment provides more detail on the gendered impacts and responses. A Gender Impact Assessment ensures that policy makers have detail on gender impacts, as well as any policy responses and commitments to improve gender equality outcomes. A Gender Impact Assessment is required for proposals that meet certain criteria, and is completed using the Gender Impact Assessment Template.

Gender responsive budgeting weaves consideration of gender impact through the budget process and is a key way governments can identify and fund measures that close gender gaps and avoid measures that inadvertently exacerbate gender inequality. It helps shine a light on the distributional impacts of government actions so that decision makers can make choices based on the best information available about how potential budget measures support gender equality along with other priorities like boosting economic growth.

Intersectional analysis can provide insights into the causes of inequalities through the identification of compounding and interlocking advantages and disadvantages faced by diverse communities. The term ‘intersectionality’ was first coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw to describe how race and gender interact to shape black women’s employment experiences in the United States. It refers to the interconnected nature of different characteristics and circumstances such as race, income, class, disability, sexuality and gender as they apply to a given individual or group. These characteristics and circumstances overlap and create an interdependent system of discrimination or disadvantage. Intersectionality is sometimes applied to acknowledge both the ways in which intersecting identities can lead to the suffering of oppression and discrimination but that can also enrich individual’s lives (UNICEF; scholarship by Crenshaw, OECD Gender budgeting and intersectionality).

A division within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. OFW works across government to place women and gender equality at the centre of policy and decision making, including through gender responsive budgeting and gender impact analysis.

A person’s sex is based upon their sex characteristics, such as their chromosomes, hormones and reproductive organs. While typically based upon the sex characteristics observed and recorded at birth or infancy, a person’s reported sex can change over the course of their lifetime and may differ from their sex recorded at birth (ABS, Standard for Sex Gender, Variations of Sex Characteristics and Sexual Orientation Variables, 2020).