Summary
This brochure provides an overview of Investing in Women’s (IW) impact since 2016 and how it continues to tackle constraints to gender equality in the rapidly evolving and diverse landscape of Southeast Asia.
IW is a multi-country Australian Government initiative in the region that seeks to accelerate women’s economic empowerment (WEE) through increased and equitable opportunities in the private sector, contributing to inclusive, sustainable economic recovery and growth in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Myanmar.
This document introduces WEE as a fundamental aspect of promoting gender equality, and briefly discusses how women continue to be underrepresented at all levels of economic participation despite the immense potential of WEE.
It also offers a glimpse of the program’s achievements in collaboration with its partners and other gender equality actors. Lastly, it describes the innovative approaches that IW uses to catalyse women’s economic participation.
Highlights
- IW’s achievements since 2016 include:
- Establishing Business Coalitions for workplace gender equality in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Myanmar.
- Working with 10 investing partners, that catalysed over AUD 525 million to bridge the finance gap for women entrepreneurs.
- Increasing deal growth in the regional investment community via gender lens investing in partnership with market-building allies.
- Supported local partners to deliver targeted advocacy campaigns across Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.
- IW drives impactful change for gender equality through four approaches: workplace gender equality, enabling policy reforms, campaigns and communities of practice, and gender lens investing.
- IW’s success hinges on collaboration with those driving change in the region — corporations and business leaders, policymakers and implementers, capital providers, entrepreneurs, and advocates.
