Empowering women for resilient recovery in East Asia and Pacific
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As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2021, we are about a year into an unprecedented health and economic crisis that has destroyed lives and livelihoods globally and in the East Asia and Pacific Region (EAP). This has been a difficult period particularly for women as they have been hit much harder than men.
Countries in EAP have made great strides in promoting gender equality in recent decades. Before COVID-19, the ratio of females to males enrolled in tertiary education stood at 1.15, surpassing all other developing regions except Latin America. The participation of women in the labor force was relatively high in Vietnam, Cambodia and China, and had increased in Indonesia. Almost half of all small, medium, and large firms were owned by women, the second highest rate in the world. However, the unequal impact of COVID-19 is threatening to reverse these gains.
more likely than men to have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. For example, in Papua New Guinea 27% of surveyed female workers lost their jobs compared to 19% for men. Gender differences in work stoppages widened in Indonesia and the Philippines in the second half of 2020, with women staying at home amid containment measures that restricted mobility and increased childcare responsibilities.
More women were already working in precarious service-sector jobs before the crisis, and retail, accommodation and food services have been hit hard by containment measures. In the first half of 2020, women in seven surveyed EAP countries wereWomen are overrepresented in the informal sector, in countries such as Fiji, where they represent less than a third of paid workers. Women also tend to occupy jobs without basic protection mechanisms such as paid sick leave and unemployment insurance, and this means they have no safety net when jobs disappear.
However, most countries in the region do not have robust regulatory frameworks that afford them such opportunities. For instance, the Philippines lacks a framework that would make it easier for women to find part-time jobs.
In addition, while anecdotal reports indicate a heightened risk of gender-based violence since the pandemic began, lockdowns impede women from reporting violence and seeking help through traditional channels. Papua New Guinea reports a 31% decrease in the number of clients accessing gender-based violence services.
Amid the challenges, however, there are also opportunities.
Globally, countries are losing US$160 trillion in wealth because of gender inequality. In EAP, the estimate is about $40-50 trillion in human capital wealth lost. In Indonesia, we estimate that growth can be increased by up to 0.9% annually in the post-COVID period, if female participation in the labor force increases 25% by 2025.The agenda for action is huge as significant gaps persist in addressing long standing challenges such as access for women to productive assets such as land, credit, insurance and savings. Faster progress on these long-standing challenges is needed.
In addition, there are a few newer areas the COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting for urgent action.
The first is women’s access to and use of digital technology. COVID-19 has accelerated digitalization across the globe and in EAP. In Indonesia for example 65 percent surveyed indicated that they have started to or increased their use of digital technology in response to COVID-19. But a World Bank survey on the COVID-19 impact on business operations of female-led companies and businesses revealed that many are struggling to make the shift to adapt quickly to digital operations. And women generally continue to lag behind men in use of digital technologies, particularly mobile technologies and are therefore less likely than men to have access to vital services such as cash transfers, medical information, educational content, or employment opportunities.
Bold policy and regulatory reform as well as smart investments and effective advocacy will be key.
A second area for much greater action is providing quality affordable childcare services. Even before COVID-19, our research confirmed the importance of such support for women’s ability to participate actively in employment.
The importance of such support for women to be able to work has been highlighted by COVID-19. Coordination and strong collaboration and partnerships between public and private sectors will be critical for success.And urgent action is also needed to prevent gender-based violence and provide online and offline access to services for survivors. Several governments in the region have already adopted measures to respond to increased gender-based violence during the pandemic, including China, where an online platform facilitates the processing of protection orders. More needs to be done including intensive communication campaigns to change mindsets and to remove stigma that leads to underreporting of the problem.
to contribute to strong, resilient and inclusive economies and societies in the region.