Global Impact: ‘300 years to achieve gender equality’: UN chief issues warning as International Women’s Day highlights ongoing struggles

Name: Indonesian women call for protection of domestic workers’ rights on International Women’s Day
Uploaded: 2023-04-03T06:00:16.000Z
Duration: 1 min 55 s
Description: Indonesian women call for protection of domestic workers’ rights on International Women’s Day

Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world

In this edition, we look back at Women’s History Month, while the Post’s Women of Our Time conference took place a day before International Women’s Day on March 8

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The gong striking ceremony at the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited special market closing ceremony on International Women’s Day. Photo: May Tse

Lucy QuagginandCharmaine Carvalho

Published: 2:00pm, 3 Apr 2023

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Last month saw the world mark International Women’s Day. The United Nations’ general secretary painted a sobering picture in the lead-up to the day, warning that gender equality would not be achieved for another 300 years if the world continues on the same track.

Antonio Guterres said women’s rights are being “abused, threatened and violated” and previous progress is starting to vanish as “the patriarchy is fighting back”.

In March, the Post held its third edition of the Women of Our Time conference, which put the spotlight on women trailblazers in the Asia-Pacific region and highlighted the challenges they face in their careers across a range of sectors.

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Indonesian women call for protection of domestic workers’ rights on International Women’s Day

The event focused on empowering the future generation of female leaders. Through a number of panels, the conference looked at women in technology, the changing gender balance in the finance industry, digital career possibilities for young women, female entrepreneurship, upskilling and reskilling, and more.

In the region, a JPMorgan survey found that women are ‘miserably’ under-represented in Asia-Pacific businesses. According to those surveyed, only 5.7 per cent of 15,000 private businesses across multiple sectors were led by women or founded by them.

This year, the UN focused on innovation and technology for gender equality, noting that the “persistent gender gap in digital access keeps women from unlocking technology’s full potential” and the divide has led to massive costs to gross domestic product.

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“Women today make up under a third of the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and maths. And when women are under-represented in developing new technologies, discrimination may be baked in from the start,” Guterres said.