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Which countries support gender equality in their Official Development Assistance?

Published 24 March 2024 in Facts and figures , Updated 24 April 2024

Special edition on the state of gender inequality around the world in 2024: 

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 2024.

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).

Significant objective, principal objective: definitions

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:

Principal (score 2): gender equality is the main objective of the project/programme and is fundamental in its design and expected results. The project/programme would not have been undertaken without this gender equality objective.
Significant (score 1): gender equality is an important and deliberate objective, but not the principal reason for undertaking the project/ programme.
Not targeted (score 0): the project/programme has been screened against the marker but has not been found to target gender equality.

Source : OECD (2016).

On average, between 2021 and 2022, OECD-DAC donor countries and European Union institutions have committed to directing US$64.1 billion per year, or 43.3% of their bilateral ODA, towards gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. Of this amount, US$5.6 billion targeted gender equality as a principal objective (3.8% of bilateral ODA), and US$58.4 billion as a significant objective (39.5% of bilateral ODA).

Over the same period, DAC members disbursed an average of $57.8 billion in support of gender equality (42.1% of their disbursements of disaggregated bilateral ODA), including $6 billion in support of projects with gender equality as a principal objective (4.3%) and $51.9 billion for projects with gender equality as a significant objective (37.7%).

Commitments, disbursements: clarification

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, 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.

Since 2020, a significant drop in commitments to the direct promotion of gender equality

Between 2021 and 2022, ODA with gender equality as its main or significant objective rose by 19%. However, this was driven by an upturn in commitments to initiatives with gender equality as a significant objective (marker 1, +21%), while commitments to projects aimed at directly promoting gender equality (marker 2) fell again (-5%, after -8% in 2020 and -10% in 2021).

Six of the top eight donors of total ODA have seen their ODA commitments to gender equality increase between 2021 and 2022 (Japan, Netherlands, UK, Italy, Germany, USA), while two have decreased them (Canada and France).

France, a future champion for the promotion of gender equality in the world?

France ranks 13th, having allocated 46.8% of its bilateral aid to gender equality on average in 2021-2022. 5.9% of the amounts allocated targeted the pursuit of gender equality as a primary objective ($0.6 billion), and 40.9% as a significant objective ($4.2 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.

France stands out, however, for its level of support for women’s rights organizations, movements and government institutions, an integral part of its feminist diplomacy. On average in 2021-2022, it has allocated $145 million to them, far ahead of Canada, which ranks second with $63 million.