How to Resist Austerity: the Case of the Gender Budgeting Strategy in Andalusia

While most countries have imposed austerity policies that risk jeopardizing the progress towards gender equality, there are examples of European regions that have maintained or strengthened gender-equality policies in a climate of economic downturn. Following a realist approach and adopting Kingdon's agenda-setting model as our framework, this explanatory case study examines how, why and under which circumstances the gender budgeting strategy has resisted austerity measures. This strategy represents a key tool for gender mainstreaming in Andalusia, a southern region of Spain. Results have shown that the existence of a strong left-wing government is a necessary context for the maintenance of gender equality policies. The feasibility given by the previous context of institutionalization of this strategy and its low cost, together with political commitment — with a decisive contribution from female leadership — have been the major factors allowing the maintenance of the gender budgeting strategy in Andalusia.