Gender Impacts of the Global Economic Slowdown
Dear Colleagues,
Welcome to the 2009 issue of SeaGen Waves - a newsletter highlighting the gender and development initiatives and activities of the Southeast Asia Regional Department (SERD).
The global economic and financial crisis has been the "hot" topic of 2009. The impacts of the crises on economic growth, foreign investment, capital flows, government spending, unemployment and poverty has all received much attention along with the gender impacts of the crises. Various media, United Nations and other reports have highlighted the gender-differentiated impacts of the crises due to pre-existing gender inequalities. Some reports suggest more women have lost jobs since women workers dominate the sectors hardest hit - garment, electronics, footwear and tourism; retrenched women workers will find themselves in more precarious employment situations; more women migrants return home and the likely additional burden of unpaid care work on women and girls as governments reduce spending on public services. To assess whether this is indeed the case in SERD countries, SESS commissioned a rapid gender assessment of the crises impacts on 4 GMS countries - Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam.
This issue of SEAGEN WAVES presents the preliminary findings of the ongoing gender study of the crises impacts.
This issue also features articles that showcase a sample of SERD GMS regional and country-specific initiatives addressing social development and gender issues.
We hope you find this issue of SeaGen Waves informative and that it inspires you to do more for gender equality and women's empowerment. As always, we welcome your contributions, your ideas, and your feedback on improvements of future issues.
Anupma Jain
Social Sector Specialist
Social Sectors Division
SeaGen Waves would not have been possible without the support of the Project Team leaders and contributions from the following individuals: Shireen Lateef, Camilla Holmemo, Lisa Kulp, Ruly Marianti, Emiko Masaki, Nguyen Nhat Tuyen, Karin Schelzig-Bloom, Sonomi Tanaka, Theonakhet Saphakdy, Toptosseda Uk, Charmaine Cu-unjieng, Eugenia (Jenny) McGill, Arlene de Guzman-Bacasmas, Fatima Bautista, and Joji M. Bautista.
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Table of Contents
- GMS: Gender-related Impacts of the Global Economic Slowdown- Preliminary Overview Highlights
- GMS: Managing Social Risks and Enhancing Social Development
- GMS: Gender, HIV and Infrastructure-Developing Capacity along the Transport Corridors
- GMS: Using Drivers License Tests to Raise HIV Awareness
- GMS: Showcasing Human Resource Development Initiatives
- Lao PDR: Gender Empowerment in Water and Sanitation
- Philippines: Enhancing Midwives' Entrepreneurial and Financial Literacy
- Philippines: Improving the Lives of Mothers and Infants
- Philippines: Enhancing Gender-responsiveness in the Justice Sector
- CAM: Rural Water and Sanitation-Can a Gender Action Plan Make a Difference?
- Get to Know Your Gender Specialists in the Resident Missions-CARM, IRM, LRM, and VRM
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What are some of the impacts on women of the global economic slowdown in the GMS?
Are there any different impacts on women and men?
Did more women than men lose their jobs?
To answer these questions, SESS commissioned a rapid study of the gender-related impacts of the global slowdown in the GMS. Some preliminary findings of the study indicate the vast majority of garment workers retrenched are women; factory workers (males and females) in export-oriented industries have been hardest hit; Lao and Cambodian migrant workers in domestic, agriculture and fisheries in Thailand are still in demand and; some retrenched female migrants have turned to sex work. The study finds the tourism sector to be suffering a significant decline. But the economic crisis is only one of the "perfect storms" of factors affecting tourism including-perceived political instability in Thailand, Cambodia/Thailand border tensions, the global economic slowdown, and tourist concerns about the H1N1 virus. Read more.
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Lao-Vie border crossing.
Photo by Anupma Jain, SESS. |
Human trafficking is one of the social risks associated with increased regional integration given the links between improved rural-urban and regional connectivity, and the increased risk and vulnerability to unsafe migration and human trafficking. A regional technical assistance, Integrating Human Trafficking and Safe Migration Concerns for Women and Children into Regional Cooperation (RETA 6448), was approved in 2008 covering two regions-the GMS and South Asia. In the GMS the project supports: (i) strengthening the capacity of the Human Resource Development Working Group to partner with transport, tourism, and trade working groups to address safe migration and human trafficking concerns; and (ii) continuing support to the Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking (COMMIT).
An Analysis of Gaps in the Regional Response to Human Trafficking, was completed under the RETA. It identifies gaps and priorities in the area of: (i) victim identification and support; (ii) safer migration; (iii) targeted vulnerability reduction; (iv) awareness raising and behavior change; (v) policy framework to respond to human trafficking; (vi) area of information; and (vii) criminal justice. Read more.
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Factory Workers in Special Economic Zone in Svay Rieng along the Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh Highway near the border of Cambodia and Vietnam.
Photo by: Emiko Masaki, SESS. |
Construction of transport corridors in the GMS expands trade and economic activity and promotes greater mobility and movement of people. While this brings many benefits to communities along the corridor, it can also bring unwanted and negative consequences for vulnerable groups, including women and ethnic minorities. These impacts need to be managed and mitigated.
A regional technical assistance, HIV Prevention and Infrastructure: Mitigating Risk in the Greater Mekong Subregion, was approved in 2008. The RETA is cofinanced with AusAID and aims to reduce the incidence of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) diseases in communities and population groups directly associated with ADB-financed infrastructure development. A gender strategy and action plan is included in the Project to ensure that each subproject is designed and implemented in a gender-responsive manner. Read more.
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 In an effort to increase HIV/AIDS awareness among drivers-particularly professional truck drivers, many of whom visit commercial sex workers while on the road-the Royal Government of Cambodia approved guidelines for integrating HIV prevention in driving school curricula. Questions about the disease were added to the driver's license exam administered by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT). Nine questions about HIV were added to the driving theory test in August 2009. The Ministry receives about 2,000 applications for licenses monthly.
The Project was supported by ADB under its HIV and Infrastructure activities implemented over 12 months from August 2008 to August 2009. Aside from HIV-related questions in driver's license exams, the Project also supported a training of trainers course for 24 driving school trainers and development of a monitoring and evaluation system within MPWT. Read more.
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The 9th GMS Working Group Meeting on Human Resource Development was held in Guilin, People's Republic of China in May 2009. Participants included Government representatives, development partners, academic institutes and individuals from around the GMS. The Meeting showcased results from a number of GMS HRD projects, including: (i) GMS: Communicable Disease Control Project; (ii) GMS: HIV/AIDS Vulnerability and Risk Reduction among Ethnic Minority Groups; and (iii) GMS: HIV and Infrastructure. Read more.
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A woman goes to collect water from the river.
Photo by: Anupma Jain, SESS. |
Women are primarily responsible for the use and management of water resources and sanitation facilities as well as health care at the household level. However, women's voices are often unheard and they have little or no influence on crucial decisions about cost and technology of water or sanitation systems. Lack of sanitation poses health hazards to women and girls and can be an impediment to girls' education, especially in schools where no specific provisions are made for girls.
ADB's Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project (STWSP) approved in 2009 includes grant assistance from the Gender Development Cooperation Fund (GDCF) to address current gaps in the water and sanitation sector in Lao PDR by increasing the pool of women engineers in the sector, and piloting a demand-driven and performance-based capacity development program for gender equality in participating provincial water supply utilities (provincial nam papas [PNPs]). Read More.
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Each year, over one half million women die in child birth
-- WHO 2005 Global report
The Philippines is unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal target of reducing maternal mortality. About 60% of all births in the Philippines take place at home. In 2006, the maternal mortality ratio was estimated at 162 per 100,000 live births-a long away from the 2015 target of 52 per 100,000 live births.
Health staff with patient
Photo by: Anupma Jain, SESS. |
The Government has introduced a new maternal and newborn health care package to enable qualified medical providers to be reimbursed for pre-natal, delivery, and post natal care to reduce out of pocket costs for patients. Will this lead to more women giving birth under medical supervision? Can this have an impact on the maternal mortality ratio in the Philippines? ADB believes it does and can. The Credit for Better Health Care Project, approved in 2009, provides a credit line for midwives and small health entrepreneurs to upgrade and expand their services. An associated technical assistance project - Enhancing Midwives' Entrepreneurial and Financial Literacy, is included in the Project to facilitate midwives access to financing. Read more.
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 Imagine you are a woman from the Mangyan tribe in Central Mindoro, the Philippines...your probability of death during childbirth and that of your newborn is perhaps the highest in the country.
ADB is working to reducing maternal and newborn mortality rates among the Mangyan indigenous group in the Philippines through its Indigenous People Community Maternal and Newborn Care Program. Approved in May 2009, this project aims to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality among the Mangyan through the development of a culturally responsive maternal and neonatal care community system. Read More.
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Gender-related judicial decisions are not just the product of the laws and the administration of justice in a society. These decisions reflect the layers of culture and the overburden of history.
Women are often subject to a different set of crimes. Gender based violence, for example, requires specific sensitivity, knowledge, behavior, and language on the part of the justice system agencies. Women continue to face major barriers in seeking justice including understanding their rights, insensitive case management by police, prosecutors, and courts, financial cost and emotional damage caused by a prolonged process, and fear of social stigma.
ADB's Governance in Justice Sector Reform Program approved in 2008, includes an associated technical assistance (TA) project, jointly financed by the Gender Fund to enhance the gender-responsiveness of the justice sector. It also supports enhancing gender responsive policy development and capacity building for the Police and the Judiciary. Read More.
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Photo courtesy of Mr. Nuon Pichnimith, MRD, Cambodia. |
High levels of women's participation is reported in the CAM Tonle Sap Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project according to Mr. Nuon Pichnimith, project director, who delivered a seminar in ADB on how the Project Gender Action Plan is assisting the government to mobilize and involve women in the implementation of the Project. To date, 5,330 water and sanitation user groups (WSUGs) have been set up with 43% of women board members (15,105 male and 11,546 female members). Women also constituted 55.6% of participants in village level meetings on the formation of water user groups and information dissemination sessions on community management of ponds and piped water supply systems, and community-managed rainwater tank construction. Training of WSUG members for O&M included 53.7% women. Read more.
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