Blogs

Let’s call her Anita. Four years ago, her life took an unexpected turn when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted everything she knew. As businesses closed and economic uncertainty loomed, Anita, like countless others, found herself forced out of work.

“Everyone is doing it in our daily lives, we just may not realize it,” chuckles Myrah Nerine Butt, a Policy Engagement Advisor at Oxfam International, when asked to define care work. 

Selyn, a women-led handloom business, offers flexible employment and valuable income opportunities to about 1,000 women artisans and persons from marginalized groups in rural Sri Lanka. Selyn develops and exports high-value craft products in global markets. The bigger revenue margins of quality products translate into better incomes for women artisans.

In the bustling financial hub of Singapore, Rhea See, an early-stage fund manager, leads an accelerator platform dedicated to empowering women in technology. She firmly believes that investing in women transcends the conventional paradigm of merely 'doing good.' For Rhea, it represents a strategic move towards smart economics and game-changing innovation. 

The potential of e-commerce to drive inclusive development has been debated for decades. As far back as 2002, then-United Nations Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan, in the publication titled E-Commerce and Development Report 2002, called for leveraging information and communication technology (ICT) for poverty reduction.

The clarion call of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is to leave no one behind, and to reach those furthest behind first.

Imagine you are a woman residing in a rural community. Your daily existence is a relentless juggling act, balancing meagre paid work with a multitude of domestic responsibilities. Your day involves arduous tasks like fetching water and firewood, cooking meals for your family, tending to your young children, and managing household chores.

She lives on the periphery of a bustling city, dreaming of one day moving to a place close to the public transportation grid. Let’s call her Mai, a young mother with an unwavering smile and a heart full of love. Her day begins before the sun has even thought about rising. As her family sleeps peacefully, she quietly tiptoes around her home, preparing breakfast and laying out the clothes.

As the world celebrates Pride Month, we are confronted with the enduring reality of persistent inequalities that continue to shape the lives of marginalized communities worldwide. Gender equality, in particular, remains a resounding challenge, casting its shadow over the realm of infrastructure development.

As countries in Asia and the Pacific build back from the COVID-19 pandemic, they have a unique opportunity to empower women and advance gender equality by putting women at the heart of the recovery and response processes.