Step 5: Annual report and budget documents

The authorities' budget and annual reports must provide the government with a basis for monitoring, examining and budgeting the operations. Reporting of the activities must be based on the authority's instructions and the goals and requirements that the government has specified. Authorities and institutions of higher learning that are tasked with contributing to the gender equality policy goals need to report results and make analyses and assessments of the authority's results in relation to these goals.

The authorities' annual and budget reports form the basis for the government's budget process. That a gender equality perspective is included is therefore a prerequisite for the government's work with gender equality budgeting, that is, gender mainstreaming of the budget process.

The annual report, as well as the ongoing follow-up work carried out during the year, is an important basis for reflection and learning for continuous development of the business.

Kvinna betalar räkningar i bakgrunden. I förgrunden ligger en miniräknare i fokus.

5.1 Annual reporting of results to the government

Authorities and educational institutions must make analyses and assessments of the results of the activity and its development, based on the information that appears in instructions, assignments and the goals that the government has specified. Authorities and institutions of higher learning that are tasked with contributing to the gender equality policy goals therefore need to make analyses and assessments of the authority's results in relation to these goals.

The annual report needs to show what the results of the activities look like for women and men, girls and boys. Individual-based statistics must be gender-disaggregated. It must also be analysed and assessed, where relevant. To the extent that it is possible also for different groups of women and men. The starting point is to report the results of the operations in relation to goals and assignments. If concrete gender equality problems have been identified, you can report the development in relation to these. Authorities that do not have individuals as a target group report results linked to goals and assignments in the field of gender equality and how the work has affected the gender equality problems identified in the focus of the work.

5.2 Budget basis

The budget basis is a description of what the authority wants to do in the next three-year period and what funding is sought.

Gender equality issues are complex, similar to, for example, sustainability and other cross-cutting goals, and many actors influence development at the societal level. Each individual authority and institution of higher education has limited room for action in relation to solving gender equality problems.

Based on the role of contributing to social development, an authority and the educational institution can point out obstacles to equality even if it is outside the authority's or the educational institution's control. If, for example, you see that a business support is designed in such a way that only companies in male-dominated industries have the opportunity to take part in the support, you need to ask yourself whether the rules for the support are appropriately designed based on the relevant authority's social mission.

If you see that several authorities and higher education institutions would need to solve a gender equality problem in collaboration, or that there are regulations that prevent the authority or the higher education institution from contributing to a gender equality policy sub-goal, the authority or higher education institution can use the budget documents to report this to the government.

The legal support for doing this is that the authority must test the appropriateness of the rules that govern the authority (FÅB ch. 9 § 2). Incidentally, making a gender equality problem visible to the government that needs a political decision can be done at any time during the year.

If, as a result of work with gender equality budgeting, the authority sees that they need to redistribute resources between different appropriation items, this also needs to be reflected in the budget documents, similarly if the authority wants to increase the use of resources in an area as a result of gender equality work.

The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (MUCF) presents proposals regarding its activities in the budget document. For each proposal, they conduct gender equality analyses. See Budget documents 

5.3 Reflection questions – Annual report and budget documents

  • Are individual-based statistics in the results report gender segregated?
  • Do we make assessments and analyses of the individual-based statistics?
  • Do we make assessments and analyses based on perspectives or power systems other than gender?
  • Do we report results and possible effects linked to our overall equality goals and in relation to the gender equality policy goals?

Last updated: 22:27 - 2 December 2024