Women’s Entrepreneurship In The ASEAN Economic Community
Diana Rodriguez-Wong Associate Social Affairs Officer Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Section Social Development Division, UNESCAP 10 December, 2015
Content Overview
The Importance of Women’s Economic Empowerment
Women’s Economic Participation in SE Asia & the Pacific
Women’s Entrepreneurship in ASEAN
UNESCAP’s Initiatives on Women’s Entrepreneurship
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The Importance of Women’s Economic Empowerment A matter of rights and of development
Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all
women and girls • Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to
economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws.
• Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women.
• Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
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Rights •Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Article 23 •CEDAW, Article 11 •Beijing Platform for Action, Areas A and F • ILO Conventions
Development for All •Poverty reduction •Productivity • Increased – individual and national –
income
Women’s Economic Participation in South-East Asia & the Pacific
F: 69.9%
F: 63.2% F: 58.5% F: 59.2%
F: 35.6% F: 30.4%
M: 81.2% M: 77.7%
M: 82.7% M: 82.0% M: 83.2% M: 80.6%
2002 2012 2002 2012 2002 2012
East Asia South-East Asia & Pacific South Asia
Persistent gender gaps in labour force participation rates
Labour Force Participation Rates, by Sex (ILO , Global Employment Trends 2014: Risk of a Jobless Recovery)
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Women’s Economic Participation in South-East Asia & Pacific Reversed scenario for vulnerable employment
F: 64.0%
F: 51.2%
F: 70.7% F: 63.9%
F: 88.7% F: 81.1%
M: 52.2%
M: 42.9%
M: 61.9% M: 56.6%
M: 77.9% M: 74.7%
2000 2012 2000 2012 2000 2012
East Asia South-East Asia & Pacific South Asia
Vulnerable Employment (ILO, Global Employment Trends 2014: Risk of a Jobless Recovery)
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• SMEs are a key driver of economic growth, generating both employment and job opportunities.
• It is estimated that SMEs account for more than 96% of all enterprises in ASEAN and their contributions to GDP are calculated between 23%-58%.
• One of the outstanding features in ASEAN is high female to male entrepreneurship ratios among several member States (e.g. Philippines at 1.05, Indonesia at 0.96 and Thailand at 0.92).
• Catalyzing women’s entrepreneurial talent can have a positive impact in women’s economic empowerment, generate new ideas and create jobs.
Women’s Entrepreneurship in ASEAN Why Focus on Entrepreneurship?
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Women’s Entrepreneurship in ASEAN Women are a significant proportion of entrepreneurs in ASEAN. They are likely to be in their late 30s and show lower levels of higher education compared to men. They tend to be concentrated in micro and small enterprises in the retail and service sectors.
GEM Population Survey 2013-14
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11.5
16.1
4
5.4
18.4
17.5
5.8
9.2
14.7
23.1
4.7
7.9
16.4
20.6
13.6
11.8
4
4.4
11
12.2
18.4
22.9
54.4
50.3
20.7
19.7
46.9
50.4
22.9
30.3
27.5
24.7
28.1
26.3
17.4
12.7
53.2
54.5
34
31.7
54.9
44.1
44.1
37.9
47
41.3
0.4
0.3
8.5
8.6
0.7
0.3
12.3
12
2.7
2.1
1.8
1.5
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Male
Female
Indo
nesi
aM
alay
sia
Phi
lippi
nes
Sin
gapo
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aila
ndV
iet N
am
Percentage of entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurs without formal education Some secondary Secondary degree Post-secondary Graduate
Women’s Entrepreneurship in ASEAN Significant barriers remain. Lack of finance and personal reasons cited as key factors in business discontinuance for women .
GEM ASEAN Regional Entrepreneurship Report 2014-15
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Women’s Entrepreneurship in ASEAN Low levels of innovation and technology use are evident for both men and women. This could have important implications as the AEC brings more competition and the trend towards increasing digital economies continues to grow.
GEM Population Survey 2013-14
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UNESCAP’s initiatives on Women’s Entrepreneurship
• UNESCAP programme on women’s entrepreneurship (WE) launched in 2012.
• Two phases:
• Phase 1: • Aimed to address policy, legal and regulatory barriers to WE in four pilot
countries: China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Phase 2: • Currently underway and focusing on ASEAN. • Analysis of challenges and opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the
context of AEC. • ASEAN Forum on Advancing Women’s Economic Empowerment Through
Entrepreneurship to take place in 2016.
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Going Forward ASEAN vision 2025
• Economic Pillar and Social-cultural Pillar: UNESCAP will continue to assist ASEAN member States in developing policy and institutional frameworks to support women's economic participation, including enabling entrepreneurship.
• New plan of action for the ASEAN-UN Comprehensive Partnerships being developed (to be ready in early 2016) in support of achievement of the new vision.
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THANK YOU
