Empowering Women and Girls in Asia and the Pacific

ADB envisions a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific. To reach this goal, ADB employs Strategy 2030, its overarching approach to respond to the region’s needs and challenges. This approach includes seven operational priorities (OP), one of which is OP2: Accelerating Progress in Gender Equality. OP2 aims to empower women and girls.

Harnessing the potential of women and girls will substantially speed up sustainable growth in Asia and the Pacific. Samantha Hung, chief of ADB's gender equality theme group, said that “Asia and the Pacific’s greatest potential can be found in women and girls.” When women and girls are empowered, productivity increases, economies are diversified, and income equality becomes a reality.

ADB partnerships and the gender equality agenda

Partnerships boost ADB’s efforts in empowering women and girls. In 2022, ADB worked on 124 projects with various partners. More than 80% of these addressed gender equality, with particular emphasis on gender-inclusive recovery and resilience.

An example is the COVID-19 Response for Affected Poor and Vulnerable Groups Project in Vanuatu, supported by the Ireland Trust Fund for Building Climate Change and Disaster Resilience in Small Island Developing States and the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific (JFPR). This project is helping poor and vulnerable women in a comprehensive way. It provides them livelihood activities, supplementary income, and childcare support. It is also addressing gender-based violence (GBV) among adolescents and their parents or caregivers through multi-disciplinary programs focused on GVB prevention, sexual and reproductive health, and building confidence and leadership.

ADB also tackled the integration of gender equality in policy and the national budget. Through the Sustainable and Resilient Recovery Program, it worked with the governments of Australia and New Zealand, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency to support the rollout of gender-responsive budgeting, the provision of equitable benefits to women and men, and better targeting of expenditure programs for women, including after climate-related disasters, in Fiji.

These are two examples of how ADB partnerships in 2022 showed the importance of working together to promote the gender equality agenda, amid the disproportionate gender impacts of the various crises that have affected the region. They collaborated on initiatives that strengthen women’s resilience. They empowered them to make and pursue informed decisions about their lives and livelihoods, while ensuring that their government is ready to support women’s needs though fiscal reforms.

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