APWW Commission on the Status of Women 68th Session Written Statement (2024)
Priority theme : Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective
Review theme: Social protection systems, access to public services and sustainable infrastructure for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-third session)
Gender inequality is a major cause and effect of hunger and poverty; it is estimated that 60 per cent of chronically hungry people are women and girls. We are concerned at the slow progress to implement concrete actions and accountability to achieve gender equality across our region. There is clear global and local backlash against human rights and dignity, justice and women’s human rights and those who work on women’s rights. We have observed a profound shift in the current social, economic and climate landscape. We are witnessing a shrinking space for women to express their opinion or ideas in public, in the mainstream media and social media. Women human rights defenders and journalists and women’s rights organisations face threats, intimidation, arrest and in some cases death. The push back of Women’s Rights and the slow commitments by governments to implement their promises to global commitments is growing and we demand that governments go beyond rhetoric to reality and work on real transformation for women on the ground. There is an urgent need to accelerate progress on gender equality and a dire need to address the multidimensionality of the current crises and this needs urgent, efficient and sustainable redress of systemic and structural barriers, including asymmetrical power relations, inequalities of wealth, power and resources, unjust trade and investment agreements, militarism and conflict patriarchal authoritarianism and marginalising governance.
APWW Commission on the Status of Women 67th Session Written Statement (2023)
Priority theme: Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls
Review theme: Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls (agreed conclusions of the sixty-second session)
APWW recognises the work of the Generation Equality Coalition, the Government of Finland and the International Telecommunication Union (Development Sector) in their work in addressing cyber-bullying and providing tools for Child Online Protection. Gender justice for all women and girls is a core human right, and indispensable for gender equality, development, poverty reduction and is crucial to achieving human progress. Information Communication Technologies are a systemic, pervasive set of technologies that are associated with fundamental institutional, social and economic restructuring with uneven growth in accessibility across countries. Large Technology companies run platforms of a scale that is a significant threat to safety and security of information and democracy. We have seen during COVID-19 across the entire Asia and Pacific Regions education threatened by closure of schools and education moving from face-to-face classrooms to online teaching, women and girls are being severely hampered by this modality. Education has a key role to prepare societies for global changes let alone the 4th Revolution and digital age. We must recall the role of equitable and inclusive quality education and promote access of girls and women to scientific and technical training for professional equality between women and men.
APWW Commission on the Status of Women 66th Session (2022)
Priority theme: Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls in the context of climate change, environmental and disaster risk reduction policies and programmes;
Review theme: Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work (agreed conclusions of the sixty-first session);
Climate change and the accompanying issues of environmental change and disasters have been very apparent across the Asia and Pacific region. Rural , remote and urban communities have faced bushfires, drought, floods, earthquakes and tsunami threats. All this overshadowed by Covid-19. While Covid-19 has in some respects diverted attention away from climate change and environmental issues it has also raised and highlighted issues around preparedness and structures for coping with and managing disasters.
Women and girls are disproportionately affected by disasters and events such as pandemics. In the Asia and Pacific Region these effects are experienced even more keenly by Indigenous, Māori and Pacific women, migrant women, women with disabilities, women from the LGBTQI+ community and sole parents (predominantly women). The impact of disasters or pandemics on women and girls compared to men are seen in health with more severe impact in both physical and mental health, an increased risk of gender-based violence, increased caring responsibilities and a greater loss of income. The pandemic has highlighted the inequities in society and the high levels of distress experienced by women and children, especially those in the marginalised communities. Disabled women, Indigenous, Māori and Pacific women and women from other marginalised communities who suffer pay inequality and related poverty, frequently with decreased income at this time, experienced increased food insecurity as a result of the pandemic. Many families had to resort to food handouts to feed their families. The lockdowns which were used as a tool to contain the viral spread resulted in increased family and gender based violence. Women’s refuges also noted an increase in cases when lockdowns ended. Not all women have access to a phone or online facility so were unable to have assistance during the lockdown period. In times of disaster usual access to services and supplies is disrupted. For women these are significant; routine screening such as breast screening was stopped delaying diagnosis for a number of women. Maternity care was limited with women having to give birth without partner or family support. Period poverty remains a significant factor for many women and girls. A number of girls access free period products at schools. School closures not only resulted in girls not being able to obtain period products but for families relying on school meal programmes food insecurity was a major concern.
Note: Due to COVID impact on APWW – no Statement was presented to the UN for CSW 66th Session. We supported our member organisation statements, and gave input at the national and regional level.
APWW Commission on the Status of Women 65th Session Written Statement (2021)
Priority theme: Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls;
Review theme: Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development (agreed conclusions of the sixtieth session)
Asia Pacific Women’s Watch recognises the CSW 65 thematic area as critical, especially in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a disproportionate impact on the lives of women in all their diversity.
The reality is that despite normative and developmental frameworks to advance gender equality over the last 25 years, and national and regional Gender Equality Plans and Declarations, women in all their diversity remain under-represented in leadership at all levels of political and high level decision making. Women in parliaments across the Asia Pacific is below 25 percent, 2 countries in this region have crossed 30 percent representation and 3 countries have no women in Parliament. Women’s representation in the Pacific is the lowest at 19.4 per cent. Asia recorded the slowest growth rate of any region, having gained only 6.8 percentage points over the last 25 years. This is far from the 30 percent target committed to in the Beijing Platform for Action and falls short of the Sustainable Development Goal targets
Full Statement Click Here
APWW Commission on the Status of Women 64th Session
Written Statement (2020) – Beijing + 25
For the last 25 years women’s advocates, human rights defenders and feminist groups in the Asia and Pacific region have been actively involved in shaping a new development agenda that adequately addressed human rights, including women’s rights and gender equality. As the development agenda changes and the goalposts move under the guise of a new global development agenda spaces for activism shift and change. The negotiation processes are complex, frustrating and at times dangerous but with each new development paradigm new opportunities arise to re – shape global understandings of development in a struggle towards social, economic, ecological and gender justice. The internet and social media for communication has given rise to new advocacy spaces, quicker mobilising and connecting across different feminist groups and movements around the world; it is allowing speedy responses to key issues. Many younger feminists have come into the movement, championing new forms of protest and movement building. New feminist agendas are emerging, linking intergenerationally, documenting progress and gains, providing evidence of lives’ realities, changes and challenges in the women’s human rights agenda. There is also constant political push back and an increasing militaristic climate that continues to impact on safety and security of human rights defenders.
Over recent years feminist groups and networks in the Asia and Pacific region have experienced increasingly harsher push back in civil society participation in national, regional and global processes, including United Nations bodies and processes. Civil society advocates have been facing ever more repressive and securitized political environments. Intimidations, restrictions and reprisals have been common tactics used by Member States, as well as non-state bodies, to silence and fragment women’s groups and networks. Individual and collective activism is facing a global pushback from Member States, corporations and the politically far right. This push back is felt at the national, regional and international levels
APWW Commission on the Status of Women 63rd Session Written Statement (2019)
Social protection systems, public services and sustainable infrastructure are at the heart of achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Without scaling up investments in this area, virtually all of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals — be they social, economic, environmental or political — will remain out of reach.
Social protection, public services and sustainable infrastructure play a critical role in“transforming our world”. As such, their provision must be geared to changing unequal gender relations to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Social Protection and security must be viewed through women ’s rights perspective. Gender responsive social protection should not be perceived only about women in labour markets, it has to be about women at home, in farms and forests and fields where women are. There is need for social security discourse to be redefined to look at the strategic and practical needs of women especially from the socially and economically vulnerable groups.
Final Declaration Asia Pacific NGO Forum on Beijing +15 (2009)
Following the NGO Forum on Beijing + 15 held 22-24 October, 2009 at Miriam College, Quezon City , Phlippinnes – the Weaving Wisdom, Confronting Crises, Forging the Future Declaration was drawn up to reflect the position of the Asia Pacific Region – this Declaration was tabled at ESCAP at the Intergovernmental Meeting on Beijing + 15 and read out in the opening ceremony by Dr Patricia Licuanan, Chair Asia Pacific Women’s Watch (APWW)
Research Report – ‘Linking the Networks – Enhancing Social Media Strategies to Advance UNSCR 1325 in Asia – A Grass Roots Research Initiative’
Hash tag advocacy : young women explore social media for UNSCR 1325 at CSW 58th Session.
In 2014 a number of countries in Asia already had, were working on, or were thinking about implementing a National Action Plan on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (Women, Peace and Security). This research brought together feminists and peace advocates from countries in Asia to investigate how social media and networking on line could be used to promote real advocacy work to advance UNSCR 1325 in their countries and in Asia.
This video contains a summary of the research training, key issues and reflections of the research participants ‘Status Update : Women, Conflict and Social Media’ was launched at CSW 58th session to a packed audience of over 200 international feminist and peace advocates.
This research was partially funded through AusAID in Australia.
Research Report – ‘Joining the dots – Exploring the economic empowerment of women in conflict affected areas – combining UNSCR 1325, CEDAW, BPFA and MDGs’
Joining the Dots shares the findings of an Asia Pacific regional research inquiry conducted collaboratively between Justice Equality Rights Access (JERA) International, an Australian based women’s NGO; Asia Pacific Women’s Watch (APWW) a regional network of women’s organizations and groups in the Asia Pacific Region; and Women and Media Collective (WMC), a Sri Lankan based NGO.
The research was carried out in six countries from the Asia Pacific Region; Aceh (East Asia), Fiji (the Pacific), Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia), and Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka (South Asia). These countries were identified as having been affected by conflict; by the overthrow of governments and the institution of repressive regimes, or by other military operations, resulting in large numbers of people being killed or becoming Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) and by the destruction of property.
The inquiry explores the reality of the lives of women affected by conflict and the effect on opportunities for livelihood enhancement and economic empowerment.
As part of this study, a short documentary was produced
Joining the Dots Documentary part 1
Joining the Dots Documentary part 2
Beijing + 10 Review Report – The Little Purple Book (2005)
In 2005 for the ten-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing +10) Asia Pacific Women’s Watch worked with counterpart organisations and networks to develop The Little Purple Book, consisting of regional statements and recommendations for each critical area was a key advocacy tool for the advancement of women in the Asia and Pacific Region.
- Critical Area A : Poverty
- Critical Area B : Education and Training
- Critical Area C : Health
- Critical Area D : Violence Against Women
- Critical Area E : Armed Conflict
- Critical Area F : Economy
- Critical Area G : Power and Decision Making
- Critical Area H : Institutional Mechanism for the Advancement of Women
- Critical Area I : Human Rights of Women
- Critical Area J : Women and the Media
- Critical Area K : Women and the Environment
- Critical Area L : The Girl Child