Policy Context

Empowerment of women and girls is a central aspect of Austria’s strategic priority of democratic governance, empowerment of women and inclusive societies, according to its 2022-2024 Development Strategy. The strategy defines the following priorities for gender equality:

• Empowerment for societal, political, and economic participation and self-determination;
• Strengthening the role of women in armed conflicts and implementing the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda;
• Protection against any form of GBV or conjugal slavery;
• Promotion of SRH and related rights with a large focus on female genital cutting;
• Strengthening gender-sensitive budgeting;
• Inclusion of men and boys in all areas of gender equality work;
• Collection of gender- and age-specific data; and
• Gender mainstreaming within bilateral development cooperation and actively working towards ambitious and systematic application of gender mainstreaming in the entire multilateral context.

Beyond the development strategy, Austria uses the European Union’s GAP as a central guideline for policy-making in gender equality.

ODA Spending

How much ODA does Austria allocate to gender equality?

In 2021, 36%, or US$165 million of Austria’s ODA targeted gender equality, below the DAC average of 42%. However, 9% of Austria’s ODA targets gender equality as a principal goal, slightly above the DAC average of 6%.

In 2021, Austria ranked 21^st among DAC donors for total gender funding, and ranked 20^th for gender funding as a percentage of bilateral allocable ODA.

How is Austria's gender equality ODA changing?

Since 2017, Austria’s gender funding has increased by 33%. While significant gender funding has only increased moderately, principal gender funding has almost tripled between 2017 and 2021. The share of ODA targeting gender fluctuated during the same period. Within principal gender funding, Austria focuses on government and civil society, emergency response and agriculture.

Multilateral Spending

Austria did not contribute to UN Women or UNFPA between 2017 and 2021.