The regional dialogue and subsequent brief have been made possible by funding from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF) of the Government of the Republic of Korea through the project “Gender-Responsive COVID-19 Recovery in India.” 

Gender-responsive procurement (GRP) is the selection of services, goods and civil works that considers their impact on gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Gender inequality is known to make women suffer disproportionately from the adverse effects of climate change; with social, economic and political barriers increasing women’s exposure and susceptibility to the negative impacts of climate change.

Women’s Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Energy programme aims to mitigate the barriers Indian women face as entrepreneurs and consumers of clean energy, by partnering with producers, stakeholders and distributors in energy value chains. Since 2017, UN Women has undertaken various efforts to provide clean energy through this programme. One such process was partnering with S4S Technologies and implementing the Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship through Solar Drying project.

UN Women’s Second Chance Education and Vocational Learning Programme enables women to re-enter formal education, learn vocational and entrepreneurial skills and connects them to employment and business opportunities. Since 2018, it has impacted more than 15,000 women in India from some of the poorest and most vulnerable areas.

As Nepal grapples with a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lives of people in Nepal have been drastically impacted. The most severe consequences are being borne by women, as well as vulnerable and excluded groups. To respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis, UN Women Nepal Country Office (NCO) has developed a comprehensive relief package to support women from excluded groups in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Women and girls have been disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic’s social isolation and economic fallout. They face increased violence, unpaid care work, and other inequalities and violations of their rights.

Case studies in this report provide entry points and lessons learned on how to adapt programming and integrate women and girls in the COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.

This document details how the work of Htoi Gender and Development Foundation has been crucial in sustaining the livelihoods of the women in camps of internationally displaced people in Kachin State and supporting the economic empowerment of the most vulnerable women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of the Gender Equality Update # 25 is to facilitate a multi-level and multi-sectoral approach through recommendations for humanitarian and development actors responding to COVID-19 to address harmful practices specific to Nepal.

This Action Brief builds upon the earlier work done by UN Women and UNDRR and other partners to progress the Leave No One Behind agenda in response to COVID-19 in the Asia-Pacific region. It aims to explore gender inequalities and their linkages to disaster manage and COVID-19, as well as identify key barriers to delivering disaster preparedness and response in the context of the pandemic.

The policy brief highlights the key barriers that women entrepreneurs and MSMEs are facing in Bangladesh; and how the overall situation deteriorated further due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, violence against women and girls has intensified globally. Analysis of social media suggests that the same is true for online misogyny and hate speech directed at women in South and South-East Asia. As COVID-19 lockdowns and other movement restrictions push more people online, digital platforms and online spaces are being increasingly used to spread sexist, inaccurate, and dangerous rhetoric about women, inciting hatred and potentially provoking violence – online and offline. This brief examines the links between the COVID-19 pandemic and online misogyny and hate speech directed at women in South and South-East Asia for the period of March – June 2020. It is based on the findings of research conducted by Mythos Labs for UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

The 20th anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda is a critical moment for the agenda and its relevance, which has been tested by the extensive impacts of COVID-19. This publication takes stock of the progress as well as the gaps in implementing WPS in the Asia Pacific region over the last 20 years, and builds upon the lessons learned to move the WPS agenda forward in the years to come.

Women are on the COVID-19 frontlines as healthcare workers, caretakers and community responders. In formal decision-making, however, women’s representation is far less visible. Only one in five parliamentary seats in Asia are held by women, and men hold the majority of health leadership positions. This gender disparity has been further highlighted during the COVID-19 crisis when, with very few exceptions, women are overwhelmingly missing from pandemic response and recovery.

The Gender Equality Update #22 recognizes the valuable efforts of women’s groups to promote and protect the rights of the most excluded and vulnerable groups in Nepal during the COVID-19 crisis.

According to new report from UN Women Asia Pacific on gender impact of COVID-19, the pandemic is triggering a mental health crisis in the region, as the emotional impact of the pandemic unduly falls on women’s shoulders in most countries. Increases in unpaid work, job and income loss, and the effects of the lockdown on gender-based violence are among the factors that may be contributing to higher rates of stress and anxiety among women.

The brief on Gender Based Violence against Women Migrant Workers was derived from Indonesian Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protections’ Protocols in Handling the Case of Gender Based Violence and Trafficking of Women Migrant Workers during the COVID-19, supported by UN Women.

In the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disproportionate impact on women and girls has been severe across the region. As previously highlighted in a regional analysis, the pandemic has particularly affected women and girls by exacerbating burdens of unpaid care work, increasing risks of gender-based violence (GBV), impacting livelihoods of women disproportionately especially in the informal sector, and reducing access to sexual and reproductive health.

Six months into the COVID-19 crisis, UN Women has played a central part in setting a course for Asia and the Pacific to make gender equality and women’s empowerment central to the pandemic response.