Women in Emerging Asia: Welfare, Employment, and Human Development

Abstract

Women in Asia now find themselves at a crossroad. While most of the Iong-term trends in demography, education, and employment opportunities, if sustained by supportive policies and gender-sensitive crisis management, are likely to rei gender inequities, the outlook in the short to medium term is not very bright. Gender bias in mortality persists in parts of Asia. The gaps in literacy and schooling are still high in South Asia. The interaction of gender-based indicators of welfare, capability, workforce participation, and earnings reflects the centrality of female education for economic growth, mortality and fertility reduction, and equity. Educational inequality will weightier source of income inequality in the next decade. Lastly, during stagflation, recession, restructuring, and transition, women relatively suffer in earnings workload increase, and educational setback. Economic growth is not a sufficient condition for gender equity, and public policies must consistently pursue it in distribution of opportunities and adjustment costs. Improving women's employment opportunities (both quantity and quality) involves addressing labor-market rigidities, credit-market barriers, and the lack of infrastructure and utilities that aggravate their workloads.