Feminist Budgeting in the Age of Austerity – The Work of the Women’s Budget Group in the UK

The crisis processes from 2007 and the political decision of UK governments since 2010 to address these processes with austerity have resulted in major changes in social security provision. As both academics and public advocates have highlighted, the crisis and austerity have a disproportionate negative effect on women. A Gramsci-inspired understanding of political struggle will build the foundation of an investigation into the work of the women’s budget group in the UK in order to highlight the work of a progressive think tank in adverse circumstances. The women’s budget group provides feminist analyses and more often than not critiques of the federal government’s budget plans and formulates recommendations to improve the gender balance in budgeting. This paper will try to assess the impact and scope of the women’s budget group in the past years using a tentative framework that investigates the women’s budget group’s reach and role in the state-civil society complex in the UK.