Gender Dimensions of Regional Cooperation
30 September 2014
The South Asia Department of Asian Development Bank (ADB) will host a validation forum on the Gender Dimensions of Regional Cooperation and Integration in South Asia, on 28-29 October 2014 at ADB Headquarters in Manila, Philippines. Results of two complementary studies (i) “Gender, Trade and Green Growth in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal” and (ii) “Gender and Safe Mobility: Promising Global and Regional Practices” will be presented. Participants in the forum will include representatives from the government, non-government organizations, private sector, academic and research institutions, and sector specialists from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal.
Gender, Trade and Green Growth
Emerging findings of the study demonstrate that trade has expanded in the four South Asian countries, leading to some positive outcomes on women’s empowerment. Increased women’s employment in the green sectors has facilitated their increased control over their own finances, contributed to greater access to information through ownership of mobile phones, and improved their mobility. Yet, the study also shows some intensification of women’s multiple burdens as they are continue to be the primary managers of households, even as they take on more employment and livelihood activities. Furthermore, as more women integrate into the market economy, there is some indication of threatened food security on households that used to grow food in their own farms.
The study identifies some entry points that can help address gender issues in trade, including (i) creating and strengthening backward and forward linkages on the supply chain, (ii) enhancing women’s entrepreneurial capacities through training and improved business support services, (iii) facilitating women’s access to markets, (iv) improving access to information on prices at different markets, and (v) encouraging cross-border trades and markets.
Gender and Safe Mobility
Recent studies in South Asia show that remittances have become a significant source of income, emphasizing the impact of labor migration on social and economic discourse. The steady rise of labor migration includes the increasing feminization of migration, as more women join men in seeking alternative sources of income. While migration offers empowerment opportunities to women through increased economic independence, their involvement in labor migration is often through undocumented and unsafe channels of emigrating.
The study documents good practices that various governments have adopted to mitigate the risks of labor migration on women and enhance the benefits they can derive from emigrating for labor purposes. These include (i) revision of current laws and policies as governments consider their commitments to bilateral agreements, (ii) institutionalizing internal mechanisms for safe migration, (iii) implementing capacity building programs for service providers, (iv) strengthening information dissemination for potential and current migrants, and (v) setting trans-border cooperation mechanisms between governments and civil society actors, among others.
These studies were carried out in partnership with UN Women and the International Organization for Migration, as part of the implementation of a regional technical assistance project on Development Partnership Program for South Asia, and financed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia.
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