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Asia-Pacific region urges more holistic
approach to achieving gender equality
Recommitting themselves to achieving gender equality and
empowering women for decades to come, Asia and the Pacific
countries gathered at an ESCAP high-level meeting in early
September called for a more all-embracing approach to understanding
the issue.
At the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting to Review Regional
Implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and its
Regional and Global (Bangkok, 7-10 September) to review
achievements, gaps and challenges since the 1995 Fourth
World Conference on Women in Beijing, participants agreed
on the need to promote gender mainstreaming, economic and
social rights, work with men and forge partnerships in order
to pursue gender equality.
The four-day Meeting, which was attended by more than 450
delegates from over 40 countries, highlighted five levels
of partnerships: between men and women; between governments
and civil society; among government ministries; between
and among countries as regional cooperation on transboundary
issues such as trafficking, migration and the spread of
HIV/AIDS; and at the global level.
Its recommendations and strategies, enclosed in the Bangkok
Communiqué, will serve as the regional input to the
global review and appraisal of the Beijing Platform for
Action to be held next March.
In the Communiqué, delegates reported significant
progress since 1995, such as national policies and action
plans to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment,
improvement in women’s health, longer life expectancy,
revision of discriminatory domestic laws and regulation,
and affirmative measures to improve women’s political
participation.
They also stressed increased access by women to education
and a significant decrease in women’s illiteracy rate,
as well as improved economic empowerment of women thanks
to micro-credit, micro-entrepreneurship development programmes
and income-generating activities.
However, several countries identified persisting common
gaps and challenges such as women’s disproportionate
representation among the poor, the high prevalence rate
of HIV/AIDS among women, women’s low level participation
in decision-making at various levels, and all forms of violence
against women including trafficking.
The Meeting highlighted the importance of ensuring linkages
and cross-fertilization with commitments to various relevant
convention, resolution and development goals, including
the Programme of Action of the International Conference
on ICPD and the MDGs.
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