Key Players in Gender-Responsive Budgeting: An Empirical Analysis in Italian Universities

Recent literature has discussed the enablers of strategic processes regard-ing gender equality (GE) in the public sector. Policymakers, managers, and techni-cians have been found to be key to sustaining these processes towards the achievement of GE; however, additional research is needed. This study explores the contribution of managers and officials in higher education to decision-making processes for GE. Specifically, this research presents a comparative case study of three universities located in Italy, which have been actively engaged in the imple-mentation of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) in the past few years. The inter-views focused on the different roles that managers and officials in universities play in GRB processes and how they contribute to such process. The interviews highlighted the different involvements of the actors, especially those of key players who assume a boundary role between strategic and managerial activities. The results were analysed using the Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed matrix framework, which supports the comprehension of distribution of tasks. The findings contribute to deepening the understanding of the factors that could sustain or hinder decision-making processes related to GE in universities while providing practical examples for organisations that are willing to implement those processes.