CAREC Gender Strategy 2030: Inclusion, Empowerment, and Resilience for All

By Asian Development Bank

Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) countries face several common challenges in improving the quality of lives of women, and the coronavirus disease pandemic has exacerbated existing inequalities. The CAREC Gender Strategy 2030 complements national plans for gender mainstreaming. It provides a regional approach for pursuing gender equality, women’s empowerment, harnessed potential, and strengthened capacity for equal access of women and men to economic opportunities from CAREC investments. Under the overall CAREC 2030 strategy and aligned sector strategies, the gender strategy provides strategic directions and key entry points that will serve as a roadmap to mainstream gender in the CAREC operational clusters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Jan 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9789292627041

Book preview

CAREC GENDER STRATEGY 2030

INCLUSION, EMPOWERMENT, AND RESILIENCE FOR ALL

JANUARY 2021

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2021 Asian Development Bank

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Some rights reserved. Published in 2021.

ISBN 978-92-9262-703-4 (print); 978-92-9262-704-1 (electronic); 978-92-9262-705-8 (ebook)

Publication Stock No. TCS210028-2

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS210028-2

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Cover design by Jasper Lauzon.

On the cover: Women and girls in CAREC member countries (photos by ADB Photo Library).

CONTENTS

TABLES

ABBREVIATIONS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

INTRODUCTION

The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Gender Strategy 2030 is intended to complement CAREC 2030, providing strategic guidelines for mainstreaming gender into CAREC’s five operational clusters: (i) economic and financial stability; (ii) trade, tourism, and economic corridors; (iii) infrastructure and economic connectivity; (iv) agriculture and water; and (v) human development. The CAREC Gender Strategy 2030 draws on findings and insights from a comprehensive CAREC Gender Assessment of the program’s operations conducted in 2019, which is available on demand through the CAREC Secretariat.

RATIONALE AND PURPOSE OF THE CAREC GENDER STRATEGY 2030

The purpose of this strategy is to increase the potential and capacity of women in the participating countries to benefit equally from CAREC investments and interventions, and to have equal access to any opportunities created through the regional cooperation mechanism. To these ends, implementation of CAREC 2030 requires the active participation of women and men living in the CAREC countries, and targeted efforts to promote gender equality and reduce gender disparities. A regional strategy that supports equalization of opportunities for women and men is needed for the following reasons:

CAREC countries have several common challenges and bottlenecks to improving the quality of lives of women. There is a systemic gender gap in labor force participation across all CAREC countries, with disparities in employment rates, pay scales, and quality of employment. There are also common gender biases in hiring practices and promotion opportunities, and failures to implement national policies on flexible working arrangements, parental leave, and equal pay. In many countries, female entrepreneurship is undermined by factors that include lack of finances for start-ups and expansion because of women’s limited ownership of assets to leverage credit. Women’s political participation in all CAREC countries falls well below 33%, and the proportion of women in senior management positions remains low. Women in the region are also often among the most affected by external shocks, such as drought or flooding, linked to climate change; food and oil price fluctuations; and global pandemics, such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), because of their disproportionate exposure to risk and increased