Gender Budget Politics in Stuntint Policy: Analyzing Piggyback Budget Allocation in TPPS Bengkulu

Gender responsive budgeting has been formally mandated in Indonesian policy since Presidential Instruction No. 9 of 2000, yet the mechanism through which this mandate fails to secure independent budget allocation for women is rarely examined in stunting governance research. This study revisits data from fifteen informants within the Stunting Reduction Acceleration Team, known as TPPS, of Bengkulu Province, applying Budlender, Sharp, and Allen's threefold classification of gender expenditure with Chappell's femocrat strategy concept, neither applied in the earlier Feminist Institutionalism analysis of the same case. Four findings emerged. First, gender specific expenditure exists only in narrow, community bound programs, while strategic budget lines remain absent. Second, equal opportunity expenditure is effectively absent, confirmed by interview testimony and a survey item on which eleven of fifteen informants disagreed that they were involved in budget drafting. Third, most of women's contribution is absorbed into mainstream expenditure, termed piggyback budgeting, illustrated by DP3APPKB, the one agency whose mandate centers on women yet which reported the weakest independent budget standing. Fourth, field observation across four TPPS offices found none displayed Gender Budget Analysis materials despite the mandate, while organizational charts showed all top strategic positions held by men. Individual women in technical coordinator positions expressed strong conviction about dedicated allocation but lacked the coalition needed for femocrat influence to shape budget outcomes. The study recommends institutionalizing Gender Budget Analysis within TPPS planning cycles and formalizing cross agency coalitions among women officials as a precondition for budget level, not merely representational, gender equality