ASEAN Regional Workshop on Gender Equality Legislation
Bangkok, Thailand; 13-15 February 2008

The three days workshop hosted by the Office of Women’s Affairs and Family Development, Ministry of Human Security and Social Development, Government of Thailand, brought together legal drafters and technical staff of the national women’s machineries, ministries of justice and gender equality advocates from ten ASEAN countries and Timor Leste to discuss gender equality legislation. The event was supported by UNIFEM East and South East Asia sub-regional office under its ASEAN-UNIFEM Framework of Cooperation.

The workshop provided participants a theoretical framework for drafting and analyzing gender equality laws in terms of the scope, substantive content and effective monitoring and implementation mechanisms as prescribed by the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). A comparative study of good practices from around the globe and from the Southeast Asian region was presented to offer practical guidance to legal drafters and gender advocates for better laws on gender equality. The workshop contributed to skills building of legal practitioners and helped to identify the strategies and ways for the harmonization of domestic legislation to comply with the CEDAW requirements, for the adoption of new laws, where necessary, and for the better implementation of gender equality laws in the ASEAN region.

The workshop further promoted ASEAN partnership and cooperation towards the effective implementation of CEDAW through better understanding of the importance of the de jure substantive equality and non-discrimination against women.

See Joint Recommendations of the workshop participants

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