MDG3 Gender Equality Torch
Remarks by
Haruhiko Kuroda
President
Asian Development Bank
31 July 2008
ADB Headquarters, Mandaluyong City
Thank you, Mr. Bellers.
Members of the Board, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to join nearly 100 other leaders all over the world, in accepting the MDG3 Torch. I applaud the Government of Denmark for championing such an important initiative to promote gender equality and women's empowerment, the third of the Millennium Development Goals, or "MDG3".
Yesterday, we launched the 2008 Report on the MDGs in Asia and the Pacific-a product prepared jointly by ADB, UNESCAP and UNDP. The report shows mixed progress on the indicators for MDG3. While most countries have made substantial progress in narrowing gender gaps in school enrollments at primary and secondary levels, women's participation in non-farm wage employment is still low. And progress in maternal health has been particularly slow. Indeed, maternal deaths in Asia and the Pacific account for a half of those in the world. The region's maternal mortality ratio remains high - second only to Sub-Saharan Africa!
Women bear the disproportionate burden of many other challenges. A decline in water resources threatens the life of billions, but the burden is directly borne by women and girls who must spend hours to collect and manage water for household use. The food price crisis is an additional burden, because all too often it is women and girls who first forego their meals when food supply is short.
We in ADB are strongly committed to gender equality and women's empowerment. Our Gender Policy stipulates our corporate principles for promoting and mainstreaming gender equality into our operations. We also have in place a Gender and Development Plan of Action to guide and monitor the implementation of the Gender Policy. The recently updated plan emphasizes enhanced efforts to mainstream gender principles in lending operations, proactive policy dialogue, and gender-focused capacity development assistance to developing member countries. The Governments of Canada, Denmark, Ireland, and Norway have generously contributed $11.3 million since 2003 to the Cooperation Fund on Gender and Development. This has accelerated implementation of the Plan of Action. We thank the members of the Board in this regard.
We are equally committed to gender equality in our own institution. Last December, ADB came out with its Third Gender Action Program (or GAP III, 2008-2010). GAP III includes a set of clear targets and indicators for increasing women's representation and leadership and further improving the institution's work environment. By 2010, we expect that more than 35% of professional staff and more than 25% senior level positions (Level 7-10) will be women.
Today, on this occasion of accepting the MDG3 torch, I am pleased to announce the following additional commitments to supporting MDG3 and gender equality goals in Asia and the Pacific.
First, our new long-term strategic framework, or Strategy 2020, highlights gender equity as one of the five drivers of change. Under Strategy 2020, we will stress support for investments in rural infrastructure, including irrigation and water management, rural roads, and rural electrification-services that particularly benefit women.
Second, we will strengthen the monitoring of our delivery on gender equality results. Our country partnership strategies will include results frameworks that duly reflect country gender assessments and gender strategies. Between 2004 and 2006, we have achieved nearly 38% of our projects including specific provisions for gender equality and women's empowerment. We commit to increase the number of such projects and report on the progress annually in our Development Effectiveness Review.
Third, we will scale up partnerships with the United Nations and multilateral and bilateral agencies to improve statistical capacity of developing member countries. Collection of sex disaggregated data and gender equality information will allow these countries to better monitor the gender-related MDG targets.
And fourth, we will strengthen policy research and advisory services on gender issues arising from looming regional and global challenges, such as the food crisis and climate change. In particular, this work will identify impacts and coping mechanisms in Asia and the Pacific and find ways to reduce vulnerability among women and girls.
Dear colleagues, ADB is determined to deliver on these commitments. Women represent half the world's population, and well over half of the world's poor. Let us all make a personal commitment to gender equality, and to doing everything in our power to help bring women and girls fully into the economic and social lives of Asian and Pacific communities.
Thank you for your attention.
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