Launch of the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) in Asia and the Pacific

This strategic, multi-stakeholder partnership will assist UN Member States, in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ and other key stakeholders, in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically Target 8.5 which calls for equal pay for work of equal value and Goal 5 which seeks gender equality and women’s empowerment.

This session will be chaired by Mr Greg Vines, ILO’s Deputy Director General for Management and Reform and moderated by Ms Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO’s Conditions of Work and Equality Department.

Panel 1: The challenges faced by working women across all sectors in the region, including the informal sector.

Panellist will respond to questions related to the ambitious goal set on achieving equal pay for work of equal value by 2030.

• Mr Jong-Cheol Kim, Director, Women’s Employment Policy Division, Ministry of Employment and Labor, Korea
• Ms Iswari Ayoma Madridevi Fernando, Assistant Director General and Gender Focal Point, Employers’ Federation of Ceylon, Sri Lanka
• Ms Farida Akter, Women Secretary, Bangladesh Free Trade Union Congress and ITUC Bangladesh Council, Bangladesh
• Ms Megha Desai, Senior Project Coordinator, Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India
• Ms Sriani Ameralunga Kring, Principal Researcher, Myanmar

Panel 2: How EPIC can contribute to achieving equal pay and its importance to women’s empowerment in the region

• Ms Yumiko Murakami, Head OECD Tokyo Centre
• Ms Anna-Karin Jatfors, Deputy Regional Director, Asia Pacific, UN Women
• Mr Graeme Buckley, Director for ILO Country office for Thailand, Lao PDR and Cambodia & Director of the Technical Team for East Asia, South East Asia and the Pacific