Asia-Pacific (APAC), will require another 42 years to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2023).
At the current rate, East Asia will need another 189 years to achieve gender equality whilst South Asia will need 149 years to close this gap. Asia & the Pacific region alone have witnessed female labour force participation in the region drop by nearly 10% between 1990 and 2021.
With such a complex picture of progress toward gender equality, it is clear that a unified effort is needed between governments, philanthropists, and civil society to achieve the targets under SDG 5 and push for the successful implementation of progressive policies.
The study titled “The state of gender inclusion in Asia-Pacific’s regulatory landscape”, is a collaborative philanthropic effort by two of AVPN’s AGN members – Radha Goenka (RPG Foundation) and Kathleen Chew (YTL Foundation & Mangosteen), with research led by The Economist Impact.
The report aims to illustrate the gender policy landscape for gender inclusion in Asia-Pacific (APAC). It spans four sectors: access to 1. education 2. healthcare, and 3. workforce and 4. political participation. Throughout the assessment of the region, the guiding questions have been “Where is the region in terms of developing and implementing inclusive policies, laws, and regulations to reduce gaps in gender participation and influence in the selected sectors?” and “What is the way forward for driving meaningful change at the regulatory level?”
This collaboration is only a stepping stone laid by the AGN. The network aims to build onto this momentum along with the larger social investment community at AVPN and policymakers in the region to address and scale solutions towards gender inclusion.
