Women account for more than half the labour force in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies and make a major contribution to trade and investment in the region. The United Nations has estimated that gender discrimination and the marginalisation of women in the Asia Pacific costs the region as much as $US80 billion per year as women are excluded from economic opportunities to participate in the paid workforce and in business 1.
Australia is a member of the APEC Women Leaders' Network (WLN) which works to increase women's involvement in the work of APEC and ensure businesswomen's interests are represented.
This means promoting the increased participation of women in APEC's economic and trade-related activities and identifying key issues affecting women in the region.
APEC is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. Annual gatherings are hosted by one of the 21 APEC economies. Unlike the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other multilateral trade bodies, APEC has no treaty obligations required of its participants. Decisions within APEC are reached by consensus and commitments are undertaken on a voluntary basis.
WLN members meet annually at the same time as the Gender Focal Point Network for a conference and present formal recommendations to APEC Leaders.
2010
The 15th WLN is being held in Toyko from 19-21 September 2010.
WLN 2009 - Women and Sustainable Development in APEC
In August 2009, an Australian delegation attended the 14th APEC WLN meeting and the APEC Digital Economy Forum for Women in Singapore. Further details are available on the WLN website.
In October 2009, the WLN recommendations relevant to small and medium enterprises were presented at the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting, and subsequently incorporated into the SME Joint Ministerial Statement. The recommendations were also incorporated into the 21st APEC Ministerial Statement, the APEC Economic Leaders' Standalone Statement and significantly, the 17th APEC Economic Leaders' Declaration.
WLN 2008 - Gender issues in business, trade, technology and emerging global challenges
The 2008 WLN meeting in Peru focused on gender issues in business, trade, technology and emerging global challenges.
Conference and papers and resource materials from all WLN meetings are available on the WLN website.
Further information on gender and trade can be found at:
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APEC Gender Focal Point Network
The Office for Women has responsibility for Australia's representation on the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN). The GFPN promotes consideration of gender equality within the APEC process. One of the main responsibilities of the GFPN is to monitor the implementation of the Framework for the Integration of Women into APEC. The Framework sets out strategies for APEC economies and fora to undertake gender analysis, collect and better use sex-disaggregated data, and increase the participation of women in APEC.
The GFPN meets annually to discuss the implementation of the Framework across APEC. In addition to representing Australia at this meeting, the Office for Women works throughout the year with the APEC secretariat, other APEC economies to ensure the needs of women are part of APEC decision-making.
GFPN 2010
The 8th GFPN meeting will be held at the National Women's Education Centre in Ranzan-machi, Saitama Prefecture in late September 2010.
GFPN 2009 - Sustaining Growth, Connecting the Region
In 2009 Australia attended the 7th APEC GFPN meeting in Singapore on 7 and 8 August 2009.
GFPN 2008 - A New Commitment to Asia-Pacific Development
In 2008, Australia attended the 6th APEC GFPN meeting in Peru. Further details of the meeting can be found in Australia's summary report.