A World Bank policy research working paper with the title Mapping the Gender Dimension in Taxation and Budgeting: A Cross-Country Study of Laws, Policies and Practices was published on 4 December 2025. The research paper, written by H. Niesten, L Ferraz di Ricco and A. Sakhonik analysed new data from the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law project. The paper presents evidence and descriptive insights from 81 economies in relation to taxation, and from 50 countries in relation to gender-responsive budgeting, on the gender dimensions of taxation and public spending.
The authors look at the problems and limitations of fiscal systems in relation to consideration of gender differences, including limited gender information and analysis in tax laws and administration, and gaps in data systems. The authors make suggestions on revising tax and spending policies to address the gender differences in the economic impact of policy. They look at ways to strengthen gender responsive budgeting frameworks.
Despite the progress made, the data still indicates that there is a greater need for integration of gender into fiscal systems and this involves overcoming systemic barriers to integration. There are still gaps in the compiling of gender-disaggregated data, and these gaps obscure the way in which tax burdens, compliance and enforcement have a different impact on men and women. There is often insufficient beneficiary-level data on public spending to assess the fairness of outcomes for men and women. There is inconsistent use of gender impact assessments (GIAs) and this is also a barrier to gender-responsive tax and spending policy.
The authors note that there is only limited recognition of the economic and time costs of unpaid care work in fiscal policy. As a result, policymakers have only limited scope to design reforms to support participation by women in the labour market. Care work could be valued by the use of gender-disaggregated date for time use. Care-related needs can be addressed through government spending and through investment in care services and infrastructure.
The paper finds that tax provisions in support of women are often poorly designed and not monitored or evaluated. Incentives relating to employment in the formal sector often do not cover the position of women in the informal sector. Some public spending programs may reinforce gender stereotypes. In many countries the fiscal processes are opaque and difficult for most citizens to interpret. To improve transparency and accessibility, governments need to use standardized documentation in accessible formats and make them available on digital platforms to enable public discussion.
Going forward, the World Bank data can help to identify legal and policy gaps and this can guide further work on the issues. Researchers can use the data to set global standards for gender-responsive taxation and evaluate gender-targeted public spending to identify priorities for reform. In addition to the World Bank data, researchers can use other tools developed by international institutions such as the OECD, IMF, ADB and UN, to ensure that fiscal policy is more evidence based.
