The gender budget as a tool for gender equality?

Analysing its effectiveness through the lens of pragmatic constructivism

Abstract

This paper investigates which values are communicated by public universities through the elaboration of gender budgets and whether and how coherence is built with the respective performance measurement systems. In a society where increasing pressures are put by national and international institutions to guarantee gender equality and fight against any kind of discrimination, universities are expected to play a key role in pursuing such goals and support the development of a culture of integration, respect, and equal opportunities. Among the different initiatives, universities are adopting a gender budget to allocate resources and plan specific activities to achieve gender equality. To account for the results achieved and monitor whether the results are aligned with the expectations and the stated objectives, sound performance measures are required. In this regard, the current research analyses the content of three different gender budgets elaborated by Italian universities in order to investigate whether the performance measures and narratives adopted are aligned with the stated goals and values communicated, thus being able to guide universities toward gender equality.