August 23, 2024
VIENTIANE – Members of the Lao Women’s Union and women from other ASEAN countries gathered in Vientiane on Thursday for the second day of the Pre-Summit Event prior to the 3rd ASEAN Women Leaders’ Summit, which will open in the Lao capital on August 23.
The theme of the summit is “Strengthening the Care Economy and Resilience towards ASEAN Community Piaya-2025”.
The meeting on Thursday was chaired by the President of the Lao Women’s Union and Vice Standing President of the National Commission for the Advancement of Women, Mothers and Children, Mrs Aly Vongnobountham.
Addressing the gathering, Mrs Aly said “The purpose of this second-day meeting is to provide an opportunity for ASEAN Women’s Committees and ASEAN Committees to promote and protect the rights of women and children in ASEAN member countries.”
“Today we will discuss important topics such as the violence faced by women, and empowering women economically so they can escape poverty. These issues are hugely important and affect many women,” she added.
“I have been informed that there is a lot of important information that you have highlighted about the gap in gender equality caused by disproportionately unpaid care work, which is not valued by anyone and is not added to GDP. According to data from UN Women, if the value of care work in the Asia-Pacific region is added to GDP, by 2025 this figure would amount to up to 4.5 billion dollars a year.”
Representatives of relevant sectors, ASEAN member countries, development partners, social organisations and others present at the meeting discussed lessons learnt and good practices in relation to the care economy, gender equality, and empowerment of women in the ASEAN region.
Mrs Aly observed that Wednesday’s meeting discussed lessons learned and good practices regarding the promotion of the digital care economy, migrant workers, and effective cooperation strategies in the care economy of ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific region.
The theme of the summit is “Strengthening the Care Economy and Resilience towards ASEAN Community Piaya-2025.” PHOTO: VIENTIANE TIMES
“I hope that all delegates will continue to participate, comment and share lessons that are full of rich content and creativity and formulate a long-term priority plan to solve issues related to the economy of unpaid caregiving and domestic work, thus contributing to gender equality and women’s empowerment,” she said.
The 3rd ASEAN Women Leaders’ Summit will highlight the important role, potential and strength of women leaders and all women in ASEAN in building the future of the ASEAN region in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
The summit will reaffirm ASEAN’s commitment to supporting women and girls in the paid and unpaid caregiving economy as a key regional agenda.
It will acknowledge specific challenges and opportunities to support women and girls in an empowering context, and adopt a final statement that sets out specific recommendations for addressing the challenges that women and girls face in the context of the paid and unpaid caregiving economy and building empowerment.