When more women work, economies grow: European Union and UN Women partner to boost women’s economic rights and opportunities in Asia

Date: Friday, March 8, 2019

The European Union and UN Women jointly launched today a 3-year WeEmpower Asia programme to encourage the private sector to expand economic participation and business opportunities for women in seven Asian countries: China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Funded by the EU, UN Women will implement the €8 million programme aiming to integrate gender concerns into business practices in the region. WeEmpower Asia will promote dialogue among women’s groups and the public and private sector so as to enable a business environment that empowers women; provide skills training...

From where I stand: “I have seen the impact women’s voices can have”

Date: Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Syar S. Alia is a young woman advocate for gender equality from Malaysia. Her journey as an advocate began with the first Young Women Making Change workshop for cis and trans women in Malaysia, supported by UN Women Fund for Gender Equality. For me, being a young woman living in Malaysia means maintaining an anger about the daily discrimination and harm [that women face], without burning out. Every day, there is...

Domestic worker rights video gets a staggering 15 million views in just one week

Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2017

The International Organization for Migration (IOM - UN Migration Agency) and the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) video Open Doors: Singapore has become an overnight sensation in Asia. The video, aimed at preventing the exploitation of domestic workers, was viewed more than 15 million times over the past week. Produced by IOM and USAID's innovative counter-trafficking campaign, IOM X, and in partnership with ASEAN and UN Women, Open Doors: Singapore tells the...

Maid about the house

Date: Monday, January 16, 2017

In Thailand, as in other countries of the region, employing domestic workers has long been a cultural and social practice as much as an economic one. In the past, such jobs were routinely filled by girls from the provinces and while often overworked and grossly underpaid, they were usually absorbed into the family, which provided them with some kind of security away...

Domestic help better off as 'not in family'

Date: Monday, January 16, 2017

Treating domestic workers as if they are "part of the family" may lead to attitudes that are likely to be detrimental to them, a United Nations (UN) Women study has found. In the study released on Tuesday in Bangkok, focusing on migrant domestic workers in Thailand and Malaysia, researchers noted that many employers referred to their live-in domestic workers as "helpers" or as "aunties" and likened them to "family members". While these terms...

Welcome Remarks - The Impact of ASEAN Economic Integration in Labour Sector

Date: Monday, March 21, 2016

Over the past two decades, the ASEAN region has seen impressive levels of economic growth. At the same time, we know that this growth has not been evenly distributed, resulting in rising inequalities within and between countries. Growing economic disparities, and the corresponding challenges for many States to ensure universal access to education, health, decent work and social services, provide both the push and the pull factors for labour migration...

Paving a path towards equality, with greater voice to grass-roots women

Date: Thursday, October 31, 2013

Three new programmes of UN Women’s Fund for Gender Equality seek to give grass-roots women a more active role in government in Nigeria and Georgia and counter cultural arguments to CEDAW in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.