What are the key findings of "The State of Gender Inclusion in Asia Pacific’s Regulatory Landscape" report in terms of the state of gender inclusion in Asia Pacific's regulatory landscape, and what are the notable challenges that inspired you to conceptualise this report?

Kathleen Chew: The current state of development in APAC shows that it will take another 42 years to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This glaring gap is further exacerbated for Sustainable Development Goal 5—gender equality in the region. While 2.4bn working-age women live without the same rights as men globally, in 2022, countries adopted the fewest gender reforms in over two decades, with legal rights and progress reversed in some countries.

This collaborative research effort came about when Radha and I discussed the impact and implications of policies and legal rights on gender inclusion and diversity in the region as part of AVPN’s Asia Gender Network—a network launched in 2020 that blossomed out of the desire to proactively work towards gender equality.

The State of Gender Inclusion in Asia-Pacific’s Regulatory Landscape report is an attempt to understand where policymakers and business leaders can come together and support learning and effective deployment of resources towards solving the problems of the disproportionate impact on women from the lack of access to quality healthcare and education to mitigating the impact of climate change on women.

Radha Goenka: The report focuses on what has worked and what has not in these four sectors, and discusses the possible ways forward. Some of the most crucial findings of the report are:

• Countries are beginning to reform legislation to broaden the definition of gender and be more inclusive. One of the examples is India’s National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgement that recognises human rights for transgender people.
• Governments in Asia Pacific are allocating budgets to reduce the gender gap. India introduced the Gender Budget Statement in the 2005-06 budget as a policy tool to further women’s and girls’ development objectives, such as education, health and access to public infrastructure.
• While policies cover an overarching population they tend to leave out people in the margins of society. For example, women in unorganised sectors are often not able to benefit from the policies and laws enacted for all women.
• While current policies partially cover certain aspects of gender-based violence, the digital space is largely vulnerable to abuse.
• Data segregated on genders is limited throughout the region, which impacts gender inclusive policy development. There are a few initiatives ahead of the curve, such as Malaysia, where the Statistical Training Institute collects national gender data and offers training in gender statistics.
• As a way forward, the report recommends digitalisation, education, and partnerships to build an ecosystem that could create a level playing field for all genders.

Having worked in this space for a considerable period of time, we understand that women don’t start from the same place as men and recognise that their challenges are unique to them. We put in extra effort to find innovative solutions to help them. This report, hence, was a natural next step for us and is a furtherance to our on-ground experience of working with women.

The report mentions the importance of dedicated government institutions for gender empowerment. Could you elaborate on the role and effectiveness of these institutions in driving gender inclusion in the region and what specific mechanisms they are developing from India and Malaysia?

KC: I think instead of investing in establishing dedicated government institutions, governments and organisations should focus on improving the capacities of existing functionaries to work with a gender lens. This could be done through gender sensitisation initiatives within ministries and mandates for the private sector towards gender-sensitive data collection, usage, and implementation of policies. Most countries still lack a deeper understanding of what it means to put a gender lens into policymaking.

In Malaysia, policymakers’ recognition of gender gaps catalysed the formation of newer initiatives to implement capacity-building training programmes for the respective ministries, and cooperation with other countries, like the US, to learn from experts about incorporating a gender lens across policies and programmes.

RG: While national governments have a central role to play in creating policies and ensuring their implementation, dedicated governing bodies for gender and related issues can enable the ecosystem that seeks to bridge the existing gender gap. Dedicated government institutions can coordinate with all governmental agencies to collect gender-disaggregated data, forge public-private partnerships, and bring forth civil society groups and like-minded private sector organisations. In India, the Ministry of Women and Child Development is the dedicated government body that deals with gender issues. It monitors India’s performance in improving our Global Gender Gap Index and also identifies reform areas and actions in consultation with other departments. This exemplifies the coordination effort of the dedicated government institution towards gender empowerment.

One of the findings suggests that existing policies may not capture those experiencing marginalisation due to the intersections of various sources of inequality. How can policymakers and organisations better address the needs of individuals at these intersections in their gender inclusion efforts? Are there any best practices that you would like to highlight from the work of your own Foundations or otherwise? 

KC: Often policies address a very limited or a specific scope of impact on gender empowerment. This continues to be a challenge the region grapples with due to several factors, some of them being lack of availability of sex-disaggregated data, differences in definitions of what gender equality means in the eyes of the law, provisioning for future impact and policies, and a constantly evolving social fabric of a nation. 

For instance, the report highlights that a large number of women cannot benefit from contributory social insurance schemes as they lack informal sector coverage, with nearly 64 percent of women in the APAC region being employed in the informal sector. In Malaysia, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) has institutionalised gender data collection and analysis to enable targeted solutions and monitoring of existing programmes. The country has three key priorities for developing national gender data over the span of five years—establishing interagency coordination mechanisms on gender statistics, creating gender-disaggregated dimensions in existing statistics, and improving existing data management techniques to address gender data gaps.

RG: I believe that to improve the coverage of individuals at intersections of gender inclusion efforts, collaboration between a broad range of stakeholders is required. This will help create access to funding and to build capacity. As an organisation, at the RPG Foundation, we focus on the real needs that exist on the ground and remain unaddressed. We aim to create an inclusive impact, and hence over 15 years, our approach has evolved to become more than just isolated efforts to empower women; it is now characterised by a comprehensive "women-forward" lens that informs and shapes everything we do. For instance, many women in rural areas and those employed in informal sectors often face exclusion from legal systems and policies designed to support working women. Several organisations in India are currently addressing these specific challenges, and we anticipate that our focus on various intersections will continue to grow.

The report highlights the need to address data gaps in driving gender inclusion. What are some of the next steps your Foundation or you can take to help address these gaps in the ecosystem? 

KC: It was because of the lack of such data that we embarked on this study with AVPN. It is important that we get data from credible sources and also benchmark how we are doing against both our peers and countries who are further ahead in driving gender inclusion. It is easy to believe that we are doing well by just examining limited data sets, for example that women’s participation in the workforce is improving in cities but that may not be the case across a nation. We need to build on the findings of this report and go deeper into the areas where data gaps exist. I believe that there will be a greater chance of driving change towards more inclusive policies when the data from research is presented to governments in a coherent manner.

RG: Today’s world is data driven. Data forms the basis of policy formulation and successful implementation. Hence, the need to have gender disaggregated data cannot be overemphasised. Governments have a unique ability to collect and share extensive data through national surveys such as a census. This kind of data is unmatched. Countries collect large datasets and make them public. I believe civil society organisations like RPG Foundation and others could work together with the government, offering ideas and solutions to ensure we have detailed information on gender. The last Indian census was done in 2011. Due to Covid-19, the 2021 census has been delayed. As per reports, the groundwork for this will be initiated from January 2024 and it presents an opportunity for government, industry and civil society organisations to collaborate to possibly enable India to further its work on gender-based data.