This report provides a baseline for monitoring progress on gender equality within the SDG framework and identifies priority actions towards achieving gender equality in the region. It provides the first assessment for Asia and the Pacific of how the 2030 Agenda is to be achieved by addressing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
The report focuses on four transformative policy areas. These areas were selected because they are acutely relevant to achieving sustainable development in the region, underscore the strongly integrated nature of the SDGs, and highlight the potential to catalyze change across the SDGs and in the lives of women and girls. They are:
- Realizing sexual and reproductive health and rights
- Recognizing, reducing and redistributing unpaid care and domestic work
- Eliminating violence against women and girls
- Empowering women to build climate resilience and reduce disaster risks.
The report brings together key recommendations centred around how gender equality issues can be
tackled across the SDGs to support the attainment of the 2030 Agenda. It proposes key policy actions across sectors to advance a gender-responsive approach to SDG monitoring and implementation at national and sub-national level. These actions require a fundamental shift towards development approaches that recognize the synergies and interlinkages between achieving the SDGs and gender equality and women’s empowerment.
- Removing discrimination from legal frameworks and promoting change in social norms
- Strengthening the production, analysis and use of gender data and statistics
- Gender-responsive institutions and localization to mainstream and prioritize gender equality across all policy sectors
- Ensuring women’s active and equal participation, representation and leadership at all levels
- Increasing financing and investment
Source: ADB and UN Women
