Media Release

ASEAN’s Response to Global Crises Must Prioritise Women

The Committee for Asian Women (CAW) is calling ASEAN governments to recognise the labour market disadvantage facing women and to consider DECENT WORK targets for women. The governments should include migrant and informal workers in the labour protection system, as well as invest in social infrastructure – education, public health, childcare and community services to stimulate growth.

Women must be central to crafting solutions to the financial crisis, particularly since 70 percent of the world’s poor are female, who make up 80% of the work force at the lowest and unskilled level of the economy, and yet are the primary food providers for their families and communities especially in Southeast Asia. But the predominant government response to the crisis has been stimulus packages focused on physical infrastructure, creating stop-gap employment and refinancing bad loans. None of these have targeted women, although the burden of the financial crisis has fallen heavily on them.

Gender equality should be a key principle in any policy response on finance, trade, economic development and labour.

ASEAN governments should revamp Export Processing Zones towards incorporating ILO labour standards, ILO gender equality conventions, and protection of union rights. Immediate and total repudiation of unfair and unequal “Free Trade Agreements” in favour of local investment generation and building self-sufficient economies (where women thrive) should be implemented. Public services should be nationalised so that basic healthcare, medicines, transport, childcare, retirement and other provisions benefit women. Essential goods such as food and fuel must be returned to public supervision so as not to be affected by constant market inflation. Unpaid family care work, reproductive and health care work contributed by women should be recognised and protected by laws.

We urge the ASEAN governments to:

-          Engage women’s genuine participation in economic reconstruction and in seeking sustainable solutions.

-          Address the disadvantaged position women occupy in today’s financial crisis; invest in social infrastructure — education, public health, childcare, social insurance – where these benefit women, this leads to benefit whole communities.

-          Invest in rural infrastructure that creates employment for women towards sustainable growth and a long term employment to rural women.

-          Adopt and implement the UN Convention on Migrant Workers, ILO Conventions 97 (1949) and 143 (1975), and the Durban Declaration and Program of Action on Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia.

-          Enforce a moratorium on trade agreements. Assess Free Trade Agreements in Southeast Asia in relation to the impact on local and migrant labour, access to equal rights in employment and extension of social protection measures.

END
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