Regional Cooperation

Gender and Development

One of the commitments made in ADB's Policy on Gender and Development (1998) is for ADB to play a key role in regional cooperation to promote gender equity and women's empowerment.

As a catalyst for regional cooperation, ADB's role is timely and urgent as new and emerging issues and concerns conspicuously appears in the region. The most critical of which include

• feminization of poverty -- women make up two thirds of Asia's poor population
• absence of protective legislation and regulatory mechanisms to prevent exploitation and ensure protection of the increasing number of migrant women workers
• disproportionate burdens of structural adjustment and economic transition
• prevalence of HIV infection among women
• gender-selective abortion, female infanticide, trafficking in women, abuse, and malnutrition among girls
• violence (homicides, domestic violence, rape) against women

In solving these challenges, ADB has been supporting regional policy dialogue and mutual learning among various stakeholders such as governments, NGOs, and research organizations. It also collaborates with other donor agencies for more effective regional activities on gender and development.

Some specific regional cooperation initiatives include:

• trafficking in women and children
• socio-legal status of women
• gender-based discrimination in the labor market
• women's participation in political decision making
• networking among women mayors and councilors
• collaboration with UNDP's Regional Gender Program in the Asia Pacific

ADB is also making sure through its subregional programming and lending activities that women and men equally benefit from new opportunities arising from regional and global economic integration.