What is Australian gender equality aid spent on? What brings better outcomes for women?

More than 40 per cent of Australian bilateral aid is focused on gender equality. In recent years Australia has more accurately reported which of its aid projects are focused on gender. It has also improved the robustness of its aid performance reporting. This paper takes advantage of these changes and asks the following questions: what types of projects are most likely to be focused on gender equality? And what features of aid projects and recipient countries are associated with better project outcomes for women?

Key findings are that education, health and governance projects are more likely to be focused on gender. Projects in the Pacific are less likely to have a gender focus. Projects are more likely to have a gender focus in countries where women’s empowerment is already higher. In terms of outcomes for women, projects with an explicit focus on gender clearly perform better. Education projects also perform better, and there is some evidence that projects in countries where women’s empowerment is already higher have better outcomes.