A Better World Volume 1

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actually worsened, with the female-to-male ratio declining

to 0.61 in 2016 from 0.67 in 1990. This decline stands in

stark contrast to the gender gap decreases witnessed in other

regions over the past 10 years and it has in large part been

driven by a low participation ratio of 0.36 in 2016 in South

and South-West Asia.

The current economic and social situation in Asia and the

Pacific has made closing the gender gap even more pressing.

Economic slowdown combined with weakening prospects for

decent employment in our region has raised concerns about

the extent of poverty reduction and rising inequality. In a

region where female labour force participation is below 30

per cent in some countries,

catalysing women’s economic

participation would not only empower individual women, but

could also positively boost economic growth and uplift large

segments of the population out of poverty.

Economic empowerment of women is one of the key

dimensions recognized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development. Empowering women economically involves

improving their economic status, power and agency through

increasing their participation in the labour force and ensuring

they have equal opportunities for economic leadership as well as

political representation, and equal access to economic resources,

inheritances, financial services, technology and natural resources.

It also involves increasing women’s ownership, use and control

rights over land and other forms of property.

Achieving the economic empowerment of women in Asia

and the Pacific will require considerable progress in all of these

areas. In addition to closing the above-mentioned labour force

participation gaps, sex-based inequalities in the ownership of

productive assets must also be overcome. For example, substan-

tially fewer women than men are agricultural landholders, with

less than 10 per cent of women holding land in Bangladesh, Fiji,

the Islamic Republic of Iran and Nepal.

The gender divide in

access to and usage of financial services is also pronounced in

the region.

Lack of access to financial services makes it more

difficult for women to save and invest in lifting themselves,

as well as their families, out of poverty. This in turn serves to

further entrench the cycle of inequality in the region.

Women in Asia and the Pacific also face hurdles in access-

ing productive technology. For example, the estimated global

gender gap in low-income and middle-income countries shows

that women are 14 per cent less likely to own a mobile phone

than men. Regionally, this gap is particularly marked in South

Asia, where women are 38 per cent less likely to own a mobile

phone.

There is also a gender divide in Internet usage, with

Internet penetration in Asia and the Pacific at 39.5 per cent

for females versus 47.5 per cent for males.

As information

and communication technologies (ICT) are the cornerstone

of our increasingly digital economies, these gender gaps will

only translate into women falling further behind.

These gender-based inequalities in access to land, financial

instruments and ICT tools demonstrate the multidimensional

nature of women’s economic empowerment and the integrated

response that is needed to tackle them. Recognizing this need,

the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia

and the Pacific (ESCAP), the regional development arm of the

United Nations for Asia-Pacific, is capitalizing on its multidis-

ciplinary programmes in social development, ICT, trade and

investment, and macroeconomic policy, to actively promote

enablers for women’s economic empowerment. Two initia-

tives in particular are being implemented towards achieving

these aims: capacity-building to promote gender-responsive

budgeting, and support for women’s entrepreneurship.

Promoting gender-responsive budgeting

Effective and responsive domestic resource mobilization is

imperative for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Asia

and the Pacific. Recognizing this, ESCAP, as a part of our

work to enhance member states’ financing for development

capacity, has championed the integration of gender concerns

into national planning and budgetary processes, otherwise

known as gender-responsive budgeting. Gender-responsive

budgeting aims to achieve equitable distribution and alloca-

tion of resources between men and women across sectors in

accordance with their different needs and priorities. Thus, it

is a powerful tool for ensuring an all-of-government approach

to empowering women and girls.

ESCAP provides gender-responsive budgeting technical

assistance to a number of countries, including Cambodia,

China and Lao People’s Democratic Republic, and helps

deepen the understanding and enhance the capacity of senior

officials in ministries of finance, planning and various line

ministries to apply gender-responsive budgeting in their

respective countries.

In addition to seeking technical assistance, a number of Asia-

Pacific countries are also taking concrete steps to expand the

uptake of gender-responsive budgeting in both the public and

private sectors. Some noteworthy best practice examples include

the efforts underway in Indonesia, the Philippines and China.

Following the adoption of gender-responsive budgeting in

Indonesia, the Ministries of Tourism and Creative Economy,

A woman entrepreneur in China. ESCAP works with governments and other

stakeholders to help remove barriers to women’s entrepreneurship

Image: Cai Cai/ESCAP

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