Transforming the Future of Work for Gender Equality

Welcome to the fifth edition of our bi-annual Gender Equality newsletter from UNDP in Asia and the Pacific!

Modern technology, automation, new mobility, and behaviour patterns, and the gig economy are changing the dynamics of work and the skills required. Harnessing these technologies presents both opportunities for creating gender-equal economic opportunities for women, as well as significant challenges. Women stand to gain or lose from the future of work due to persistent gender inequality, which is exacerbated during times of crisis and disaster, as seen by the current COVID-19 pandemic.

This newsletter is a special issue highlighting UNDP's regional initiative on Transforming the Future of Work for Gender Equality (TFOW4GE). TFOW4GE regional initiative is pioneering a multi-faceted approach to leverage the future of work as an opportunity for transformative change in addressing gender inequalities and furthering economic growth in the region.

Inside, you will find five original articles from UNDP Country Offices of the region that are part of the TFOW4GE initiative featuring the Maldives, Thailand, Fiji, Malaysia, and India highlighting country-level solution prototypes that are exploring innovations to bring about transformative change to women's access to opportunities, resources and time in the face of the changing world of work. Also, an article from UNDP Iran, presenting their work supporting the Economic Empowerment of Women Headed Households and an article from UNDP Indonesia on their work to address Gender-Based Violence in Indonesia's Papua.

You will also find a blog article on UNDP's innovative approaches to understanding local solutions to women's economic empowerment in Pakistan's tribal belt as well as when striving for gender parity in the civil sector in Mongolia. Finally, from our Regional Gender Team, Hanna Kankkunen gives her reflection on possible lessons from social psychology on changing social norms when working towards gender equality.

Index

1. Girls in STEM - Building the Future of Work in the Maldives island communities
2. Empowering women with technology in Fiji – Lessons learnt from a Talanoa Dialogue
3. Increasing employability of women with disability in Thailand - Changing Institutional Culture and Equipping Women with Digital Skills
4. Creating win-win solutions – Supporting care-preneurs to reduce the disproportionate burden of unpaid care in India
5. Turning unpaid domestic and care work into development dividends in Malaysia
6. In Extraordinary Times – Supporting the Economic Empowerment of Women Headed Households in Iran
7. “Dear Tree, thank you” – Ending Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Indonesia’s Papua
8. Blog | Positive Deviance – Understanding women’s economic empowerment in Pakistan’s tribal belt
9. Blog | Working towards gender parity in Mongolia's Civil Service
10. Blog | Your colleagues are normalizing gender equality through their projects. Are you? Signalling social norms to change behaviour.

Contacts
Koh Miyaoi, Regional Gender Team Leader, koh.miyaoi@undp.org 

Kimberly Maldonado, TFoW4GE Consultant, kimberly.maldonado@undp.org