East Asia Forum Quarterly Vol.11 No.1: Investing in Women

This report summarises the findings and recommendations of the external review of Component 2 (C2) on impact investing of the Investing in Women Initiative (IW) funded by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

This updated Investment Design Document for Investing in Women reflects the opportunities and constraints of the evolving operational environments; the policy and budgetary settings of the Australian Government; and the lessons from Phase 1 implementation as identified through an independent Review process.

This report benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, education, health and political criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups.

This toolkit for gender lens investing supports the design of an investment strategy with considerations for how gender dynamics might present risks and opportunities. It provides a framework to consider building a gender lens into new or existing strategies.

This report examines the situation of women in Asia and the Pacific and analyses progress and obstacles in terms of gender equality in the world of work.

This report summarises the current situation of women in Indonesia and discusses how family responsibilities are holding women back in the workplace.

This report takes a comprehensive look at unpaid and paid care work and its relationship with the changing world of work. A key focus is the persistent gender inequalities in households and the labour market, which are inextricably linked with care work.

This report takes a comprehensive look at unpaid and paid care work in Asia and the Pacific and its relationship with the changing world of work. A key focus is the persistent gender inequalities in households and the labour market, which are inextricably linked with care work.

Based on a best-in-region scenario, if women could participate fully and equally in the economy, Indoesia could add USD 135 billion a year, and the Philippines USD 40 billion a year to annual GDP by 2025.

This report analyses the gender earnings gap in Vietnam and explores why women choose to work in lower paid occupations.

Information technology was the most common field of study for all female university students in 2017.
The labour force participation rate for women in the Philippines in 2017 was 46.2% (versus 76.2% for men), while the unemployment rate was 5.2% (versus 6% for men).

Female participation in the labour force lags behind that of males in all APEC economies. This is despite women often having higher levels of enrolment in tertiary education.

Women hold 40% of senior management team roles in the Philippines, the highest proportion out of 35 countries, according to 2017 data from Grant Thornton.
There is evidence of equity in the promotion process at all levels up to supporting roles in the senior management level (e.g., human resource officer and chief financial officer).

However this proportional equity drops at the level of corporate executives and memberships in boards.

The Philippines (ranked 10^th) ceded its position as the highest performer in the East Asia and the Pacific region to New Zealand, while Indonesia and Vietnam ranked 84 and 69 respectively.

This report exposes misconceptions facing women entrepreneurs in Vietnam and elucidates the opportunities for banks and related service providers to meet their needs.

Significant disparities remain in women’s labour force participation, job quality, and earnings.

In Indonesia, despite 50% of university graduates being women, the female share of senior management roles is just 23% and the female share of CEO/board-level roles is just 6%.

However the report finds that women in more traditional countries like Indonesia and Malaysia are just as keen to advance their careers as women in more liberal Singapore.

The analysis points to important opportunities to help improve the participation rate of women in business in Vietnam.

The analysis points to important opportunities to help improve the economic participation rate of women in Indonesia in general, and the participation rate of women in business in particular.

This report examines the global and regional labour market trends and gaps, including in labour force participation rates, unemployment rates, employment status as well as sectoral and occupational segregation.

In Indonesia, low levels of digital fluency are hindering women’s progress. Increasing women’s access to the internet as a first step to improving digital fluency should help open up new work opportunities.

While many of the Philippines’ laws on women and work have been aligned with global standards as far back as the 1970s, the absence of formalised monitoring systems has meant that the onus for compliance falls solely on individual companies.

This report concentrates on the significance given to female entrepreneurship in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam, and on the policies pursued to promote it.

This report provides a first-ever account of global attitudes and perceptions of women and men regarding women and work, based on the 2016 Gallup World Poll.

The study looks into the gender-specific effects of trade liberalisation on work participation and hours of work, as well as primary participation in domestic duties in Indonesia.

Results suggest that reductions in tariffs on inputs led to increased work participation by women, as well as increased work hours and a reduction in domestic duties.

This report examines Vietnam’s economy through a gender lens, analysing the distribution of productive resources across different groups of women and men; gender segmentation in the labour market; and female workers’ working conditions and pay.

This report is the fourth in a series of statistical handbooks and presents the available and relevant gender statistics in the Philippines from 2000 to 2015.

This article examines this board-level gender diversity issue for the case of the firms traded in the Philippine Stock Exchange during the period 2003 to 2014.

This report addresses the question of why progresses has been so slow on gender equality in Vietnam, exploring the challenges and barriers that hinder the efforts in bridging the gap between genders.

Women in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are facing challenges due to inadequate pension systems.
Indonesia ranked last last out of eight countries, and also ranked last in the following indicators: coverage, in terms of the share of women receiving pension benefits; expected years in wage employment; and pension level for women earning average wage.
The World Bank policy note on the adequacy of pension systems found women in Mongolia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea were in a relatively good situation.

University-educated Indonesian women are expected to generate additional income for the family as ‘secondary earners’ by choosing a career path that does not interfere with their primary roles as wives and mothers.
Policies advocating more egalitarian marriage roles would ultimately lead to more equitable outcomes in the labour market.

This report brings together the most recent statistics, trends and information on the situation of women in business and management in order to provide insight into practicalities, realities and understandings of companies in the Asia-Pacific region.

This report aims to provide a reliable estimate of the economic costs of domestic violence in Vietnam, including potential opportunity and productivity loss to the national economy.

A woman’s wage is consistently and significantly lower than a man’s wage in Indonesia due to non-market reasons.

On average, a woman’s real wage is 30.8% lower than a man’s — and the gap exists for any age cohort.
While the average wage is higher in urban areas, the benefits of urbanisation, in terms of monthly wages, also tend to fall more on male workers rather than female workers.

This report documents the nature and extent of gender inequalities in the Filipino labour market. The report also shares promising initiatives that have been developed to counter gender discrimination and promote equality for working men and women.

This report aims to provide a reliable estimate of the economic costs of domestic violence in Viet Nam, including potential opportunity and productivity loss to the national economy.

This report analyses the traditional, regulatory, and internal gender-based obstacles that influence Vietnamese women entrepreneurs in starting and running their businesses and provides policy implications for promoting women’s entrepreneurship and gender equality in Vietnam.

This study explores the extent of change and regional differences in gender roles in the Vietnamese family based on innovative surveys in northern and southern Vietnam.

This report provides a detailed analysis of the roles, constraints, obstacles, opportunities and development of women entrepreneurs in Vietnam.

This article provides a detailed analysis of “Vietnamese feminism,” and explores the concept of a positive collective identity of Vietnamese women – something with which all Vietnamese women can identify regardless of locale, generation, or ideology.

This report summarises the current situation of women in the Philippines and discusses their dual responsibilities in the family and the workplace.

This report discusses the connection between cultural expectations around gender roles and the degree of gender diversity in the workplace in Indonesia and the Philippines.

This report considers the relationship between labour legislation and women’s economic empowerment, and examines that current status of labour laws across the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

This Country Context Paper provides an overview of women’s contribution to Myanmar’s economy as farmers, entrepreneurs and wage workers. It identifies key barriers to women’s economic empowerment and provides a snapshot of factors either facilitating or inhibiting women’s economic empowerment in the country, focusing on: laws and their implementation; social norms; access to markets and productive assests; business and work; and political representation.

This Country Context Paper provides an overview of women’s contribution to Viet Nam’s economy as farmers, entrepreneurs and wage workers. It identifies key barriers to women’s economic empowerment and provides a snapshot of factors either facilitating or inhibiting women’s economic empowerment in the country, focusing on: laws and their implementation; social norms; access to markets and productive assests; business and work; and political representation.

This Country Context Paper provides an overview of women’s contribution to Indonesia’s economy in the formal sector workforce, in entrepreneurship and in leadership positions in the public and private sectors.

This Country Context Paper provides an overview of women’s participation in the labour market and as entrepreneurs in the Philippines. It identifies key barriers and provides a snapshot performance of women’s economic empowerment in the country.

The primary focus of the Vietnam government’s efforts to implement the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women has been on female entrepreneurship.

The primary focus of the Myanmar government’s efforts to implement the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women has been on female entrepreneurship.

The analysis points to important opportunities to help improve the participation rate of women in business in Vietnam.

The analysis points to the need to support the transition of micro enterprises to small businesses, and for small businesses, in turn, to further grow into medium and large enterprises.

The analysis points to important opportunities to help improve the economic participation rate of women in Indonesia in general, and the participation rate of women in business in particular.

The primary focus of the Myanmar government’s efforts to implement the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women has been on women and employment.

The primary focus of the Indonesian government’s efforts to implement the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women has been on women entrepreneurs and economic empowerment in recent years.

This literature review highlights that as a field of study, entrepreneurship is a relatively young domain. Research into entrepreneurship since its beginnings in 1934 has branched out into multiple spheres, thus resulting in a highly fragmented scholarly field from areas of strategic management, social psychology, and small business venturing and finance. While there is no clear and generally-accepted conceptual framework for entrepreneurship, some scholars have ventured to offer an integrative model for research in the field. One of these models attempts to distinguish between entrepreneurship and the entrepreneur.

After 11 years in operation, social enterprise Tòhe continues to face challenges of profitability and growth.

Difficulties associated with enforcement of laws and standards on women and work present a major problem in countries such as Vietnam, where many women work in informal sector occupations and few resources are allocated for labour inspections even within the formal sector.

The highly connected nature of the Philippines’s corporate governance structure has important implications on the vulnerability of the corporate sector to crises.

The speed at which information is able to travel is one of the advantages of Indonesia’s highly connected corporate governance network.

A look at the Philippine Business Coalition for Women: composition, challenges and opportunities.

In the Philippines, many of the domestic laws on women and work have been aligned with global standards as far back as the 1970s. However, the absence of formalised monitoring systems meant the onus for compliance falls solely on individual companies. As a consequence, pregnancy, childcare, and family responsibilities continue to be acknowledged as significant barriers to women’s career development, and women continue to be vulnerable to discrimination, harassment and violence in the workplace.

The lack of mechanisms for enforcement of international and national regulations on women and work is a major problem domestically in countries such as Indonesia.

A look at The Philippine Business Coalition for Women: composition, challenges and opportunities.

A look at the Indonesia Business Coalition for Women: composition, challenges and opportunities.

The relatively fragmented nature of Vietnam’s corporate governance structure has important implications on the corporate sector’s vulnerability to crises.

While the participation of women in corporate boards is higher in the Philippines compared to other countries in South East Asia, there may continue to be opportunities to further improve gender diversity in the management and control of capital in the country.

The fragmented nature of Indonesia’s corporate governance structure has implications on the corporate sector’s vulnerability to crises.