This year’s Women and the Economy Forum will take place against the unique and devastating backdrop of COVID-19, according to an APEC release.
A more inclusive post-COVID world is the goal of the 21 APEC ministers and senior leaders who will meet at the forum, it said.
A recent report has shown that women have been hit the hardest by the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, it added.
According to a report by McKinsey & Company, women made up 39 percent of global employment, and yet, they accounted for 54 percent of overall job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The disproportionate impact of the pandemic has made it clear that APEC economies are currently not resilient or inclusive enough, according to the press release.
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Therefore, this year’s forum will present a unique opportunity to ensure that APEC members rebuild economies to be more inclusive, locking in the work APEC has set out to achieve in the La Serena Roadmap, it said.
The La Serena Roadmap was developed in 2019 to provide concrete direction and to catalyze policy actions across APEC to drive "greater inclusive economic development and participation of women in the Asia-Pacific", it added.
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At the APEC Women and the Economy Forum, ministers and senior leaders will re-visit the La Serena Roadmap, it said.
The roadmap runs till 2030 and contains defined action areas and targets ranging from laws and policies to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex to improving the region’s gender balance in leadership positions.
The Women and the Economy Forum will culminate in a ministerial statement, which will underscore the need to accelerate efforts towards women’s economic empowerment to aid recovery and highlight important steps being taken across the region to achieve this end, the press release informed.
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Reporter: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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