This study analyses ten years of South Africa's government budgets from a gender perspective. It considers the budgets of four government departments - Labour, Social Development, Justice and Constitutional Development, and Safety and Security - assessing the role each department has played in implementing gender equality during the first ten years of post-apartheid democracy. Questions addressed are: whether policies are gender- sensitive; whether sufficient budgets are allocated to implement gender-sensitive policies; whether expenditure is made as planned; and the impacts of such policies in promoting gender equality.