Extending women’s access to social protection can help ensure their income security and autonomy, a rebalancing of their care work and a breakdown of deep-rooted and discriminatory gender norms and attitudes. Recognizing this, regional leaders recently convening at the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+30 Review underscored the urgency to expand women’s access to social protection.

Women’s access to social protection lags men, with only 51.9% of women in Asia and the Pacific receiving benefits compared to 58.2% of men (Figure 1). Particularly concerning is that less than a third of working-age women contribute to old age pensions, meaning when they reach retirement age, many will depend on low-benefit, tax-financed pensions or no pension at all, depending instead on family or other support. 

Source: ILO estimates, 2024; World Social Protection Database, based on the Social Security Inquiry; ISSA Social Security Programs Throughout the World; ILOSTAT; national sources.

One key factor behind this gap is the lower labor force participation among women, at just 48.4% compared to 71.4% for men. A key factor for this is the “motherhood penalty". Figure 2 illustrates that women with young children are less likely to be employed compared to men with children of similar ages. Social protection schemes that fail to account for women’s intermittent work patterns—such as contributory schemes with strict minimum contribution requirements—further widen the coverage gap. 

Figure 2. Prime-age labour force participation rate for men and women, all household types and presence of children under age 6 (%), latest data available

Source: ILOSTAT. Accessed on 18 November 2024.

A second factor is that, where women are employed, a majority work informally. The vast majority of self-employed women in the region live in countries without adequate coverage of maternity leave cash benefits for them. Domestic workers, who make up 25% of all global care workers, are largely informally employed without adequate labour and social protection (ILO).

Furthermore, the large proportion of working age women who remain outside the labour force are also left without access to contributory or non-contributory schemes. The lack of quality care work increases women’s unpaid care burden and influences her employment choices (WIEGO). Unpaid care and domestic work are a primary factor cited by almost one in two women outside the workforce in Asia and the Pacific (ILO).  The demand for care work, specifically long-term care for older persons, is projected to increase as our populations grow larger and live longer. 

Expanding universal non-contributory benefits, especially maternity and old age pensions, help ensure that all women, regardless of work histories and employment status, have access to income security at critical life stages. The ESCAP SPOT Simulator shows that introducing a universal maternity benefit across 27 countries in the Asia-Pacific region could reduce poverty by, on average, 22.1% at a cost of just 0.1% of GDP (Figure 3a), while a universal old age pension could reduce poverty by 44.1% at a cost of 1.5% of GDP (Figure 3b). 

Figure 3a. Impact and costs of providing universal maternity benefits 

Source: ESCAP SPOT Simulator

Figure 3b. Impact and costs of providing universal old age benefits

Source: ESCAP SPOT Simulator

The Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+30 Review served as a platform to amplify the call for social protection for all women of all ages, regardless of employment status. Introducing universal, non-contributory benefits and services can also enable governments to build a more inclusive care economy. Steps towards this include:

• Ensuring gender-sensitive design of social protection schemes, such as:

  • Contributory schemes: review eligibility requirements and enable flexible payment arrangements to accommodate workers, especially self-employed women, who have irregular or intermittent job trajectories; consider explicit (e.g matching contributions) and implicit (e.g adequate minimum benefit levels) subsidies for low-income women workers, especially those in self-employment; provide pension credits to compensate for time spent in caregiving; promote social insurance over employer liability that can disincentivize employers to hire women. 

  • Non-contributory programmes:  remove conditionalities that increase time burden for caregivers; provide benefits to individuals to ensure benefits aimed for women reach them.

• Recognizing, reducing and redistributing unpaid care work, whilst also enabling access to social protection for unpaid and paid caregivers. 

• Ensuring adequate level and duration of maternity benefits that meet standards set by ILO Conventions and Recommendations.

• Introducing paternity leave for adequate durations and encouraging its uptake, such as through paid leave or encouraging parents to share leave.

• Ensuring accessible, quality and affordable child care services near home or work and open during working hours for all women workers 

• Strengthening policy coordination with gender equality and labour market policies so social protection systems complement strategies to promote women’s economic empowerment, including the care economy.

The data is clear, the cost feasible and the urgency undeniable; it is now a matter of political will and coordinated action to make these solutions within reach. For more insights and actionable recommendations, explore ESCAP’s 2024 flagship report Protecting our Future Today: Social Protection in Asia and the Pacific and visit the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on the Beijing+30 Review website.