3.5 Reducing gender inequalities
Over the past decades, very few policies were designed explicitly to reduce gender inequalities in employment. In fact, there is little evidence to suggest that the different work patterns and responsibilities of women and men had been considered at all in policy-making. The wider literature on gender and development shows that the required shift in thinking has not yet taken place anywhere in the region except in Australia, New Zealand and, to some extent, Japan. Nevertheless, most policies have had effects, often unintended, on women's employment and hence on gender inequalities. Moreover, the impact of macro-economic policies on women workers, when found to be adverse, have sometimes been countered only by small scale, fragmented policy initiatives characterized by low impact and few resources for implementation.
The strategy of export-oriented industrialization pursued by the East and Southeast Asian countries led to rapid growth of women's employment in formal sector manufacturing industries. Now emulated by neighbours in South Asia and the Pacific and some transition economies, these policies have indeed significantly widened women's opportunities in the labour market, even though questions have often been raised about the quality of the jobs created. But the policies were obviously not designed specifically to improve women's employment conditions. Indeed, the growth of women's employment in these countries is often attributed to factors such as their willingness to accept lower wages at the bottom end and to endure substandard working conditions, perceived docility and low unionization rates. The policies were nevertheless helpful, as shown by the fact that gender inequalities in employment were lower in East and Southeast Asian countries than in South Asian countries which did not pursue export-oriented industrialization.
On the other hand, the privatization of common property resources (such as common land near villages)
C a notable feature throughout the region C means that household-related work has become more time-consuming and arduous, especially in rural areas, with serious implications for women's labour market participation. Policies such as those of reducing subsidies to energy sources and to basic amenities such as sanitation and water supply, and public health facilities, also puts a special burden on women, who typically bear the responsibility for providing them within the household. In addition, the fact that many women have been forced to seek additional income outside the home has put pressure on girls, who have assumed some of the housework and childcare otherwise performed by their mothers. In extreme cases, this has even led to their withdrawal from schooling and other negative effects. All this points to a common gender-specific result of such policies: the increase in the unpaid labour of women.However, the World Summit on Social Development and the Fourth World Conference on Women, both held in 1995, have had a major impact at the policy level in Asia and the Pacific. The latter further confirmed the need to improve women's employment opportunities and to institute gender-sensitive policies. Almost all governments responded to these two global conferences with updated or new national plans of action, which identified priority areas and often presented detailed strategies for achieving the goals of women's empowerment and gender equality. The extensive involvement in many countries of various civil society groups, such as NGOs, workers
= and employers= organizations, academics and independent activists, ensured that these plans reflected the objectives of a large section of the population in the country concerned.Yet the comprehensive identification of priority areas of concern was in many cases not translated into concrete policy initiatives or realistic objectives. Appendix table 3.11 presents an overview of significant measures taken by Asian and Pacific governments in the wake of the two global conferences with respect to women's equality of opportunity and treatment in employment. The variety of measures points to improved recognition of the interrelated causes of women's disadvantages in the labour market, and the need to improve a wide range of socio-economic indicators in order to enable women to participate on an equal basis in the labour market.
The extent to which these policies have actually been implemented, however, is not as yet clear. Given the general level of economic development, the Asian crisis and the low priority accorded to women's empowerment and gender equality in employment, few new resources have been made available since 1995 for this purpose, with the possible exception of the industrialized countries. Furthermore, the time-lag in implementation and the slow shift in societal attitudes make any potential impact of such policies since 1995 difficult to measure through statistical data. As a result, it is difficult to say whether any evident changes in the gender gap in employment can be attributed to policies instituted in response to the global conferences. In general, the level of effectiveness of any of these policies in the face of adverse and mostly gender-blind macro-economic policies (i.e. policies which consider neither the differences in women's and men's roles and responsibilities nor their consequently different needs and priorities) remains open to question. Unless
C or until C the seemingly gender-neutral labour market policies take account of women's needs and priorities, such specific measures as outlined above will have only a small impact on the gender gap in employment.
