In El Salvador, the implementation of the gender mainstreaming approach began several decades ago. The first milestone in this regard was the Regional Seminar for Latin American Parliaments entitled “Parliaments and the budgeting process, including a gender perspective” held in the city of San Salvador in September 2005. In 2010, as part of El Salvador’s 2010-2014 Five-Year Development Plan, a strategy was launched to mainstream gender in the formulation of public policies. In 2011, with the enactment of the Law on Equality, Equity and the Eradication of Discrimination against Women, the incorporation of gender-responsive budgets as part of the public budget was explicitly promoted, and the decision was made to appoint the Salvadorian Institute for the Development of Women (ISDEMU) as the leading agency to assist in its implementation in all the State’s entities. At the same time, as part of the general standards for the formulation of annual budgets, the Ministry of Finance instructed all government bodies or entities to promote the actions necessary to incorporate the cross‑cutting human rights and life cycle approaches in institutional programmes and projects.

In 2015, the 2016-2020 National Equality Plan established the Strategy to Mainstream the Principle of Equality and Non-Discrimination, which includes, as part of its six areas of action, Public Policy Planning Systems with a gender perspective and Gender Responsive Budgets and Public Expenditure.

That same year, the National System for Substantive Equality (SNIS) was created as an interinstitutional coordination mechanism to ensure the mainstreaming of the guiding principles of the Law on Equality, Equity, and Eradication of Discrimination against Women

The SNIS has allowed for the gradual incorporation of the gender approach in the budgets of State institutions and the allocation of the corresponding financial resources. Available data shows that since 2015 the percentage of institutions with tagged budgets doubled, from 9% in 2015 to 18% in 2018.

In the context of the 2021-2025 National Equality Plan, as part of the area of Mechanisms for the Mainstreaming of the Principle of Equality, Non-discrimination, and Eradication of Violence against “women in the public administration, ISDEMU developed, in 2021, a series of institutional guidelines for the mainstreaming of equality, non-discrimination and a life free of violence by adding a specific section (3.6) that provides guidance on “Institutional Budgets for substantive equality and a life free of violence for women”.