Towards gender equality in Asia and the Pacific: response, progress and challenges.

Abstract

The Millennium Development Goals and the Plan of Action on Population and Poverty adopted at the Fifth Asian and Pacific Population Conference in 2002 provide a broad framework for assessing the progress made towards attaining gender equality in the region. Within this purview issues and challenges confronting countries are identified and the trajectory is prognosticated based on current levels and trends. Although there has been progress in narrowing the gender gap in many countries of the region results were uneven and in many cases the education levels remained relatively low. There has been a significant increase in the number of Governments that have developed and institutionalized mechanisms for addressing gender inequality and promoting womens empowerment. This was done through the establishment of national machineries and focal points for gender-sensitive policy development incorporating gender into sectoral and local plans promulgating laws dealing with violence against women and initiating poverty alleviation measures directed towards poor women. Increasing concern has been expressed over the marginalization of women in the midst of globalization and trade liberalization; the feminization of migration poverty and ageing; girl child labour exploitation; insufficient male responsibility and involvement in reproductive health; lack of capacity to generate and analyse sex-disaggregated data and translate gender-based research findings into policy and programme inputs. Recognizing that gender equality is vital to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals Governments are enjoined to enhance efforts in translating commitments into concrete actions.