Advancing gender and business reporting to implement the women’s empowerment principles (WEPS) as part of an inclusive COVID-19 economic recovery

Building on the commitments of ASEAN Member States under Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the ASEAN Community Vision, the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework, and other regional framework agreements, this Brief has the key objective of providing actionable guidance and recommendations for ASEAN policymakers to advance gender-responsive business conduct in the private sector and enhance recovery from the COVID-19 recession through full engagement of women as leaders, workers, and entrepreneurs.

The ASEAN Policy Brief includes a summary of major issues around Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) in ASEAN, presents how the UN Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) can provide a useful framework for both the public and private sector to address these issues, and discusses the specific role ASEAN can take in leading real progress on women’s empowerment and gender equality.

This ASEAN Policy Action Brief is evidence-based and data-driven, leveraging the ASEAN-UN Women Ecosystem Landscaping Report and the ASEAN Gender Outlook 2021. It reflects strategies that are relevant both for each ASEAN Member State and their policymakers and regulators, and for ASEAN as a regional body and builds on the well-established framework of the WEPs.