NEW YORK/BANGKOK, September 27, 2024 – The ASEAN Gender Outlook 2024, unveiled at the United Nations General Assembly today, presents new gender data spanning all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and highlights significant progress made by ASEAN Member States. While the region has seen advances in reducing poverty, food insecurity, school dropouts, violent crime, and the use of unclean fuels, the report stresses that climate change and environmental degradation continue to disproportionately affect women and girls, requiring urgent attention.

Over the past two decades, poverty in East and Southeast Asia has decreased tenfold – the most progress made by any region globally. However, women, especially during their peak reproductive years, remain more vulnerable to poverty than men, with 2.66 million women in Southeast Asia affected, compared to 2.31 million men. Climate change threatens to reverse these gains, with an estimated 2.5 million additional people expected to fall into poverty by 2030 if conditions worsen.

Food insecurity, while improving across the region, continues to affect 17% of women and 16% of men, and 38% of pregnant women are affected by anemia. The report highlights the need for more sustainable farming practices and warns that unsustainable land use and overreliance on cash crops will further exacerbate food insecurity, particularly for women and girls.

In the political arena, women’s participation in ASEAN parliaments has reached a record high of 23%, yet they remain underrepresented in key environmental ministries. The report calls for expanding women’s roles in decision-making across all sectors to ensure inclusive policies that address health, climate resilience, and unpaid care burdens.

Although access to clean drinking water has improved, women remain more likely to suffer from unsafe water. For instance, in Indonesia, 29% of water-related deaths are women compared to 25% of men, while in Lao PDR, the rate is 23% for women and 18% for men. The gendered impacts of climate change, including increased droughts and rising temperatures, have also led to higher rates of child marriage, adolescent births, and greater challenges in accessing clean water and cooking fuels, disproportionately increasing women’s unpaid work.

The report also draws attention to the deteriorating health of ASEAN oceans due to algal blooms and beach litter. Destructive fishing practices and overfishing are harming marine biodiversity, with significant repercussions for small-scale fishing communities, particularly women. The livelihoods of women in these communities are often restricted as they lack the resources to adapt to changing marine environments.

Deforestation is another major concern, with significant forest loss recorded in 2023, particularly in Lao PDR, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. This has led to increased carbon emissions and correlated health risks such as malaria, which disproportionately burden women with additional unpaid care work.

While the ASEAN region remains one of the safest in the world, 22% of women feel less safe today than they did five years ago, compared to 18% of men. For the poorest women, this figure rises to 25%. The report suggests that increasing women’s participation in peacekeeping and security roles could improve regional safety, yet women currently make up less than 20% of peacekeepers in ASEAN countries.

Currently, 47% of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the region targets gender equality. However, the report emphasizes the need for increased investment in gender data collection and analysis, particularly in traditionally gender-neutral areas such as environmental statistics.

With just six years remaining to achieve the 2030 Agenda, the ASEAN Gender Outlook 2024 calls for continuous investment in gender equality as a key driver of sustainable development, ensuring that no one is left behind.