International Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day CHARLES & KEITH announces their support of The Asia Foundation’s work in gender equality and women’s empowerment in Southeast Asia. They will donate part of the proceeds collected in the month of March from their digital flagship store to The Asia Foundation. This donation will go to The Asia Foundation’s programs t… Read more

Globally, one in three women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. On March 6, The Asia Foundation in Washington, D.C., hosted a panel discussion on why gender-based violence remains so prevalent in Asia and the legal frameworks that exist (or don’t, but should) to protect women and girls. Here are four key takeaways f… Read more

In January, Pakistan’s National Assembly approved a government bill for out-of-court settlements, known as the Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) Bill. The move paves the way for non-traditional dispute mechanisms, such as the jirga or panchayat, to complement the formal system of justice and provide a means of settling disputes outside of Pakistan… Read more

Last month, iDE Bangladesh brought together international and Bangladeshi experts, practitioners, and policymakers for a workshop to discuss new ideas and approaches to market development in Bangladesh. After decades of strong growth, Bangladesh’s ambition to become a middle-income country by 2021 seems to be within reach, and many experts claim th… Read more

In Mongolia, informal businesses make up a significant portion of the business sector, and play an important role in driving the vast country’s local economies. While the female-to-male labor force participation rate in the formal sector is relatively high compared to other countries in the region, steep challenges for women in business remain in t… Read more

Women’s participation in the Indian workforce has been dropping for the past decade, and stands now at 27 percent, one of the lowest rates among big economies. This documentary analyses the implications of traditional gender roles on women’s empowerment, and the ways women are fighting to change those norms. The film is produced by Laura Seoane and… Read more

On the eve of this year’s Chinese New Year, 17-year-old Xiao Bao (alias used in the media) killed himself at home in a village in Yunnan Province, leaving a letter to tell how much he had suffered for years from neglect and abuse by his father. Xiao Bao’s parents made a living in the capital city of Yunnan Province, and lived there with his three o… Read more

In reflecting on International Women’s Day and the women’s rights movements across Asia in the past year, I am reminded of a trip to Bangladesh I took in November. My trip coincided with discussions that were happening in the government on draft legislation that would allow child marriage in “special circumstances,” such as accidental or unlawful p… Read more

Be Bold for Change: Fostering Gender Equality Around the World On March 7, The Asia Foundation, in partnership with World Vision, ACDI/VOCA, Knowledge for Health (K4Health), Chemonics, Promundo, WI-HER, URC, and Banyan Global is holding an all-day online Twitter conversation to celebrate International Women’s Day, titled “Fostering Gender Equality… Read more

India is one of the youngest countries in the world, with a significant segment of its 1.2 billion population in the age group of 20-35. By 2020, it is estimated that the average age in the country will be 29. For an economy that is growing at an annual rate of 7 percent…

March 8 marked International Women’s Day, and to commemorate this year, The Asia Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment team hosted a tweetchat relay using the hashtag #IWDchat16, titled Advancing Gender Equality in 2016 and Beyond.

Women in Myanmar were granted constitutional rights to equal political participation and the right to vote in 1932, quite early in comparison with other countries in Asia. Japan did not do so until 1945, China in 1949, and India in 1950. Yet the reality of women’s political participation in Myanmar…

On Monday, Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Verma called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to discuss pressing issues concerning law and order in the city. With eight out of 10 women in Delhi fearing for their safety, it is encouraging that the new commissioner views strengthening women’s security as a priority.

One year ago, the Cambodian government officially launched its second National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against Women (NAPVAW), reinforcing its commitment to eliminating violence against women. In the early 1990s, The Asia Foundation broke ground with a landmark study…

It has been more than a century since the world first celebrated March 8 as International Women’s Day. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women when representatives from 189 governments signed the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action…

It is estimated that every 20 minutes a rape occurs in India. Those who work on the front lines of providing legal and health services to victims say that the reported cases are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, it is widely accepted that close to 90 percent of rape incidences in India happen within the household…

On February 16, Dr. Rui Maria de Araújo delivered his first speech as new prime minister of Timor-Leste, driving home a commitment to peace, reconciliation, economic development, and poverty reduction. He also emphasized the need to build a more inclusive society…

As world leaders convene next week in New York for the 59th Commission on the Status of Women, The Asia Foundation just announced that it will honor two acclaimed women leaders – Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and author, Sheryl WuDunn, and women’s rights advocate and director of India’s Centre for Social Research, Ranjana Kumari…

Mongolia is no stranger to the scourge of human trafficking that takes place within Asia and beyond. As a source, transit, and destination for victims of human trafficking, Mongolia remains a Tier 2 country on the U.S. Department of State’s…

For a president who was so greatly influenced by his mother and surrounded by sisters, it’s perhaps not that surprising that Simeon Benigno Aquino III has appointed women to some of the highest positions of his administration. A confirmed bachelor…

A report from Oxfam released in late January put down on paper what many already feared was true: almost almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population. This is also the case in Asia, where income and wealth disparity is growing rapidly.

Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, In Asia editor Alma Freeman interviewed Nepali radio journalist and women’s rights advocate, Jaya Luintel, on women’s changing role in politics and society in Nepal, the country’s wide gender gap, and hopes of democratic momentum.

While Asian women are increasingly visible in leadership positions, political participation rates of men and women continue to be vastly unequal. In many countries, women are routinely discouraged from entering public office.

In Vietnam, a remarkable 95 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 have access to the internet, with social networking growing so rapidly that Vietnam is Facebook’s fastest growing market in the world, with an estimated 8.5 million users, according to a We Are Social report. No doubt, rapid economic growth in the past two decades has contributed to tremendous social transformation in Vietnam, while global integration and the communications revolution have connected young Vietnamese to outside information and views like never before. Despite these trends, a brand new survey reveals that traditional gender roles remain deeply embedded in Vietnamese society and institutions, permeating work, home, and the public arena.

For International Women’s Day, the UN declared 2013 a “time for action to end violence against women,” as the theme of the annual global event. In the lead up to IWD, on February 14 tens of thousands of events were held in 207 countries across the globe…

The violent attack on a young woman in New Delhi last December, and the nationwide protests that followed, were yet another indication that India’s youth are increasingly fed up. This case, piled upon countless other commonplace incidents of sexual violence directed at women and children throughout the country…

The UN estimates that the Asia-Pacific economy would earn $89 billion every year if women were able to achieve their full economic potential. Economically empowering women builds better educated, healthier families and stronger communities, and decreases poverty.

To mark International Women’s Day and broaden understanding of the importance of increasing women’s rights and creating political and economic opportunities for women, The Asia Foundation yesterday hosted a discussion on “Women’s Changing Roles in Asia,” as part of its Asian Perspectives Series.

March 8 marks the 101st celebration of International Women’s Day. A century of history has seen this global occasion imbued with varying levels of political, economic, social, and cultural significance in diverse cultures around the globe. The United Nations has declared this year’s International Women’s Day theme, “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty.” According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 578 of the world’s 925 million chronically hungry people live in the Asia-Pacific region.

Last month, the world watched as Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy brought home the first ever Oscar win for Pakistan for her short documentary, “Saving Face,” which recounts the brutal story of survivors of revenge acid attacks. Within minutes, social networking sites…

Presidential and parliamentary

While in Saudi Arabia this week for bilateral talks, Nepal’s finance minister, Barsha Man Pun, made a much-needed request to Saudi Arabia’s government to grant amnesty for at least six months for illegal Nepali migrant workers.

The Philippines has been noted as having one of the smallest gender disparities in the world. The gender gap has been closed in both health and education; the country has had two female presidents…

Over the past few months, Indonesians have been witnessing a procession of scandalous cases involving female lawmakers accused of bribery, embezzlement of state funds, and shady, back-door political bargaining.

The phrase “gender equality as smart economics” has become the mantra of such women leaders as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet. While some of Asia’s economies are booming, this does not always lead to greater opportunities for women. In fact, many women across Asia still lack access to basic educ… Read more

Mai and Hoa, both 15-year-old residents of Can Tho City with three more years of secondary school left before graduating, have decided to drop out in order to find work to support their families. Can Tho City is a major economic and tourist hub of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta…

Over the last decade, Mongolia has seen a rapid increase in human trafficking, especially of young women being forced into prostitution across Asia. While analysts say the resource-rich country could be one of the fastest growing economies of the next decade, many young women will be shut out of the boom…

This March 8th marks the 100th anniversary of the first International Women’s Day, a global celebration of the economic, political, and social achievements of women. It will be a day to commemorate the unprecedented number of women candidates who ran in Afghanistan’s most recent parliamentary elections; the women who make up approximately 33 percent of Nepal’s Constituent Assembly and 29.2 percent of Timor-Leste’s Parliament; the high annual growth rate of women business owners in Vietnam; and the gender parity in Bangladesh’s primary and secondary education system. Two million girls are now in school in Afghanistan and 509,000 women own small and medium sized businesses in Indonesia.

In recent decades, Asia has experienced transformative economic growth and reform, and women have made significant advances in gender equity, political participation, and personal security – but challenges remain. The Asia Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment Program seeks to identify change agents, create new political and economic opportunities for women, build constituencies for reform, develop leaders, increase women’s rights, and ensure their personal security.

This year marks the centennial celebration of International Women’s Day, and its theme – promoting equal access for women to education, training, and science and technology – resonates personally for Chroeung Sok Vorn, a rice farmer from Cambodia’s rural Kampong Cham province. “I’m a poor widow. Even though I have many children, I still encourage all of them to go to school…”