Which countries support gender equality in their Official Development Assistance?
Published on13/03/2024, modified on27/02/2026.
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This overview focusing on the access to contraception around the world is one of the components of a special report dedicated to gender inequalities in the world in 2025. |
In 2015, all countries in the world committed to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Among these goals, SDG 5 aims to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls worldwide. However, achieving gender equality requires sufficient investment, especially in the poorest countries.
Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) is an important source of funding in this regard. To what extent do DAC member countries take into account the promotion of gender equality in their ODA? What trend has been observed in recent years? Analysis.
Gender equality, an issue that remains underfunded by donors
Monitoring of ODA for gender equality is carried out by the OECD DAC, using the aid policy marker in support of gender equality (see box).
As part of the annual reporting of their aid to the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC), DAC members are required to indicate for each project/programme whether it targets gender equality as a policy objective according to a three-point scoring system:
Source : OECD (2016). |
On average, between 2023 and 2024, the 32 OECD-DAC donor countries and European Union institutions have collectively committed to directing US$70.8 billion per year, or 48.2% of their screened bilateral ODA, towards gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Of this amount, US$6 billion targeted gender equality as a principal objective (4.1% of bilateral ODA), and US$64.9 billion as a significant objective (44.1% of bilateral ODA).
Over the same period, DAC members disbursed an average of $60.7 billion in support of gender equality (43.8% of their screened bilateral ODA disbursements), including $6.3 billion in support of projects with gender equality as a principal objective (4.5%) and $54 billion for projects with gender equality as a significant objective (39%).
In addition to the detailed database, the OECD communicates ODA amounts for gender equality and women’s empowerment expressed as commitments, in order to reflect the intentions of donor countries. As these commitments may be made over several years, their total sum may vary significantly from one year to the next without signifying a change of direction, which is why the OECD communicates on the average of two years. |
In terms of volume, the largest ODA donors to gender equality are also the largest donors of total ODA (Germany, Japan, USA, United Kingdom, France).
However, no country has reached the international target of directing at least 85% of its ODA to gender equality, and only the Netherlands and Spain have devoted at least 20% of their ODA to the direct promotion of equality.
Decreasing commitments to gender equality
ODA commitments to gender equality have been on an upward trajectory. A temporary drop was observed in 2021, a year after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, during which donor countries concentrated their resources on other priorities linked to the health crisis and its economic repercussions. This decrease was reversed in 2022, when the commitments made at the Generation Equality Forum, where international players collectively pledged to mobilize $40 billion for the promotion of gender equality, were taken into account. However, commitments to the direct promotion of equality fell sharply between 2020 and 2022, and the slight upturn in 2023 did not restore the 2019 levels.
However, the widespread decline in funding for international solidarity directly threatens funding for gender equality. Commitments in this area fell by 15% between 2023 and 2024.
After several years of stagnation in disbursements for projects and programs promoting gender equality, a 16% increase was observed between 2023 and 2024.
Is France no longer a champion for the promotion of gender equality in the world?
France ranks 16th, having allocated 50% of its bilateral aid to gender equality on average in 2023-2024. 9% of the amounts allocated targeted the pursuit of gender equality as a primary objective ($657 million), and 41% as a significant objective ($3.1 billion).
On 4 August 2021, France enacted a new law to frame its development aid policy: the Programming Law on Inclusive Development and the Fight against Global Inequalities. This law establishes gender equality as a cross-cutting objective of French ODA. It provides that 75% of projects financed by French ODA should have gender equality (according to the OECD gender marker) as their principal or significant objective by 2025, of which 20% should have it as their principal objective. This commitment could result in €3.3 billion being allocated to the direct promotion of equality in 2025, four times the amount dedicated in 2021.
While France previously stood out for its level of support for women’s rights organizations and movements and government institutions, an integral part of its feminist diplomacy, the share it allocated to this area decreased significantly between 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. While it spent an average of $105 million in 2022-2023, it spent only $30 million in 2023-2024, a decrease of 71%.
