August 17, 2021
APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (PPWE2) meetings August 17, August 19 and August 21. WomenBizPH represented by Chair Monette Iturralde-Hamlin and President President Mylene Abiva with Philippine Commission on Women Chair Sandy Montano, and the PCW team.
The meeting provided important updates on La Serena Implementation; the APEC Women and the Economy Dashboard; Planning for WEF 2021: New Zealand; the latest draft of the WEF statement: New Zealand; and other projects.
The pandemic has adversely impacted women and girls the most with employment dropping significantly due to job losses, business closure, or their having to leave the workforce to care for relatives affected by COVID 19. Recognizing that the impact of the pandemic will be felt for years to come, APEC PPWE is gearing up to ensure that the necessary policies are in place for women economic empowerment.
The Dashboard 2021 showed continued improvement in key areas regarding women’s opportunities during the period 2008-2020: access to assets and inheritance, access to labor markets, freedom of movement, and ability to start a business or sign a contract in the same way as men (in most economies).
However, there remain persistent barriers arising from weak and contrasting policies as well as socio-cultural gender biases, which hinder women’s participation in the economy. These include contrasting policies with regard to women’s access to credit, employment, education, technology and institutions. In addition, there are still data gaps, especially in sex-disaggregated data, that prevent an accurate depiction of the status of women’s empowerment in the region.
Thus, getting economies to work together collectively to raise awareness about gender biases and address discriminatory policies will ensure more effective participation and inclusive growth for women in the economy. As APEC PPWE Chair, Ms. Renee Graham said, “By sharing best practices with each other, economies need not reinvent the wheel.”
During the Public Private Dialogue : Women Led Businesses in Digitally Inclusive Economies WomenbizPH member Rosemarie Rafael (Air Speed International) gave a spectacular talk on “Building Lives of Women Entrepreneurs , Building the APEC Community”. WomenbizPH Chair Monette Iturralde-Hamlin was a Moderator in the sub-group meeting.
WomenbizPH honored to be part of this initiative that brings together economies across Asia Pacific to collaborate on areas that safeguard and improve women’s economic empowerment particularly during this time of pandemic.
