Gender stereotypes are among the most pervasive and complex forms of discrimination impacting women’s rights – and dismantling them isn’t easy. To guide countries on just how to address them, using the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the CEDAW Committee periodically issues General Recommendations.
To this end, from 2–3 April 2026, 30 experts, academics, activists and civil society representatives from across Asia gathered in Bangkok for a Regional Consultation on CEDAW General Recommendation No. 41 on gender stereotypes.
“This recommendation is intended as a practical tool for holding States accountable on gender stereotypes,” explained Bandana Rana, a CEDAW Committee Member from Nepal.
“Gender stereotypes are structural drivers of discrimination that affect the full spectrum of human rights,” added Katia Chirizzi, Deputy Representative of the UN Human Rights Regional Office for South-East Asia, which co-convened the consultation with the CEDAW Committee and UN Women.
Drawing on their diverse expertise and lived experiences, participants provided concrete, practice-based and solutions-oriented inputs to strengthen the draft recommendation.
- Educate families
Participants highlighted the role of family structures in shaping gender norms from an early age.
“Gender stereotypes are learned early in the family and carried throughout life,” said Jaya Luitel, Co-founder and President of The Story Kitchen in Nepal. “Change happens when we shift who gets to speak and who gets listened to.”
- Reform institutions
Participants emphasized that gender stereotypes are sustained by power and institutions.
“Addressing gender stereotypes requires changing how institutions work, not just attitudes,” said Miura Mari, Professor of Political Science at Sophia University in Japan.
“Real change came when institutional reforms made transgender women visible within State systems,” added Nayyab Ali, Executive Director, Transgender Rights Consultants in Pakistan. “Now people are seeing a transgender woman in police uniform, which has an impact.”
- Empower women economically
Participants also discussed how economic systems influence opportunities.
“When women were given access to loans, it changed how institutions saw them and what they were capable of,” said Naila Kabeer, feminist economist from Bangladesh.
“States need to recognize, reduce, redistribute and reward care work to address economic stereotypes,” added Lai Suat Yan, Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Malaya in Malaysia.
- Engage media
Participants further explored the role of media in reshaping narratives.
“Changing who tells the story and how it is told is key to challenging gender stereotypes in media,” said Sushmita S. Preetha, Associate Coordinator at Nijera Kori in Bangladesh.
- Shift social norms
Participants called-out culture and norms as evolving and no excuse for stereotypes.
“Many so-called traditions are not actually ancient cultural practices,” said Jelen Paclarin, Executive Director of the Women’s Legal and Human Rights Bureau in the Philippines, reflecting on how gender stereotypes are often incorrectly justified in the name of religion and culture.
UN Women’s new social norms framework, Ideologies, Institutions and Power: Addressing Discriminatory Social Norms, also helped frame these discussions, detailing how discriminatory norms underpinning gender stereotypes are produced and perpetuated.
Speaking at the event, Christine Arab, Regional Director for UN Women Asia-Pacific, said: “This consultation reflects the level of investment needed to address gender stereotypes at their root, and the strength of dialogue across the region shows how urgent and shared this agenda is.”
The consultation is part of an ongoing process by the CEDAW Committee to develop General Recommendation No. 41, which includes regional consultations alongside a global call for written inputs. In 2025, the CEDAW Committee also consulted with Pacific stakeholders on the draft during its first Pacific Technical Cooperation Session, in partnership with the Pacific Community, the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, UN Human Rights and UN Women. Contributions from these regional consultations will inform the final text of Recommendation 41, which is expected to be adopted in 2026.