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Women’s Unpaid Work

Moderator: Carmelita Ericta, UNIFEM-ESCAP Expert on Gender Statistics
Opening remarks: Andrew Flatt, Chief, ESCAP Statistics Division
Panelists: Saraswati Menon, DRR, UNDP Kathmandu
Indira Hiraway, India
Lorraine Corner, RPA UNIFEM E&SEARO

This panel presentation on women’s unpaid work was organized by UNDP Asia-Pacific Gender Equality Network (APGEN) in collaboration with UNIFEM and ESCAP Statistics Division. The presentation built on the work that the UNDP Regional Programme, ESCAP, and UNIFEM has been involved in since 1997 when the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia Pacific held a conference in Seoul on women’s time-use. At the Seoul conference, India, Korea and Philippines which were all engaged in time use surveys funded from other sources were chosen inclusion in the UNDP-funded project which aimed to link together and add values to the ongoing country studies. Saraswati noted that the 1995 UNDP Human Development report which focused on Gender had set the stage for increased interest in time-use surveys. Indira described the survey experience in India and presented some preliminary findings. Lorraine then shared the policy implications of the time-use survey and pointed out that the following key gender policy messages can be drawn out from time-use surveys:

• all women work
• women’s unpaid work contributes to national economy
• unpaid work contributes to paid work
• gender roles change
• unpaid work is linked to gender inequality.

The panel discussion was a good example of the strong collaboration that exists among the three agencies and showed the synergy of their work on gender sensitive data collection.

Advocating Gender-Sensitive Media Codes of Conduct

Moderator: Lorraine Corner, RPA UNIFEM E&SEARO
Panelist: Susanna George, Executive Director, Isis-Manila
Ubonrat Siriyuvasak, Chulalongkorn University

The panel presentation built on the review of BPFA Section J that ISIS Manila is coordinating in the region with the support of the UNIFEM Violence Against Women Trust Fund. Lorraine opened the discussion by askinging the question: whose responsibility is it to make the media gender-sensitive? She discussed the role of media watch groups, and consumer groups whose members provide the market for media products, as well as of the media itself. Susanna pointed out to the contradiction that occurs as some groups of women push for a more diverse representation of women in media while others complain of increasingly negative portrayals of women. Ubonrat presented some examples of codes of conduct in media organizations and asked whether they really make a difference. She concluded that codes of conduct could only be effective if they were developed in a participatory manner with consumers and media working together.

SAARC Women for Peace

The presentation was organized by Women for Women from Bangladesh and UNIFEM. The panel presented the work of SAARC Women in Peace that grew out of the 1996 Biennial commemorating Beijing Conference organized by UNIFEM. NGOs at the 1996 conference noted that SAARC country representatives reporting on BPFA had not mentioned anything on one of the Critical Areas of Concern “Women and Armed Conflict”. There was a strong feeling that women in the region should take urgent and concrete action for Peace. As a result, the formation of an NGO, SAARC Women for Peace, was recommended. UNIFEM facilitated the endorsement of NGO SAARC Women for Peace by the UN Secretary General and the SAARC Secretary General, and has been the key partner of the movement since its inception. Recently, a Regional Conference was held in Dhakar, where the partners from the region came together to develop a common perspective and understanding of peace in South Asia and build a strategy for mobilizing public opinion nationally and regionally around the issue.

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Dated: 21Nov1999