HIGHLIGHTS
- Gender inequality is a barrier to economic advancement in Southeast Asia.
- Through its Investing in Women program, the Australian Government seeks to accelerate women's economic equality.
- Abt-managed Investing in Women supports women to thrive in the workplace and succeed in business.
PROJECT
Investing in Women (IW)
The Challenge
Women’s economic equality is achieved when women—alongside all genders—can succeed equally and advance economically, make and act on economic decisions in a sustainable manner, and be recognised and rewarded equally for paid and unpaid work opportunities.
In the rapidly evolving and diverse landscape of Southeast Asia, gender inequality stands as a significant barrier to economic advancement. While some progress has been made, the region continues to grapple with significant gender gaps in economic opportunities and outcomes.
The evidence clearly shows that investing in women—unlocking their productivity, skills, talent, innovation and leadership—benefits not only the women themselves but also their families, communities, workplaces and nations.
The Approach
The Australian Government’s Investing in Women (IW) program applies innovative approaches to catalyse women’s economic participation and strengthen the enabling environment for women’s economic equality. This includes supporting workplace gender equality, enabling policy reform, supporting locally driven campaigns on gender equality and increasing gender lens investing.
IW’s second phase builds on the results, partnerships and lessons from the first phase of program—both managed by Abt.
The program’s target countries are Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and (in a limited way) Myanmar. IW focuses on women in the formal sector and small-to-medium-sized business owners, as crucial drivers of progress on gender equality.
Partnership and collaboration are central to the program’s approach. IW works with a diverse range of partners driving change in the region, including business leaders, capital providers, entrepreneurs and gender equality advocates.
Learn more: Home - Investing In Women
The Results
Since 2016, Investing in Women has:
- Supported partners to deliver over 500 services to businesses, including training, tailored advice and workplace gender equality assessments.
- Worked with 10 investing partners to bridge the finance gap for women entrepreneurs by investing in over 90 small-to-medium enterprises.
- Increased deal growth in the regional investment community via gender lens investing in partnership with market-building allies.
- Supported local partners to deliver targeted advocacy campaigns across Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.