White Paper on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Asia

As a high-level guiding document for the private sector, the white paper is envisioned to strengthen Plan International’s engagement with ready-made garment (RMG) and hospitality and tourism (H&T) actors through the provision of contextualised and empirical evidence, and actionable recommendations.

White paper on women's economic empowerment in Asia report cover image

The Girls’ Advocacy Alliance (GAA) white paper articulates the business case for women’s economic empowerment by demonstrating the financial and non-financial benefits of investments in young women workers of the RMG and H&T sectors in Asia. It also identifies good practices for promoting women’s empowerment and outlines recommendations for how these could be embedded by other private sector actors.

Bangladesh is the second-largest global exporter of ready-made garments, and the RMG sector is widely credited with contributing to an improvement in living standards in the country, particularly for women. Though the number of women working in the RMG sector has declined, it continues to employ 50-60% women. In fact, 80% of the women working in the country’s manufacturing sector are employed in RMG factories, making female employment highly crucial to the sector.

The H&T sector in Nepal is estimated to be directly responsible for providing employment to 1 million people, 20-25% of whom are women. Women’s participation in the sector is primarily concentrated in lower-skilled occupations with 60% working in housekeeping, 30% in reception or the front desk and food service, and the remaining 10% hold managerial or executive-level positions. Among the different H&T businesses, the majority of women work in homestays. 

Despite the importance of female participation in the RMG and H&T sectors, women are evidently at a disadvantage in accessing jobs or thriving in their careers. Although these sectors have brought unprecedented opportunities for women, especially for those in rural areas, problems still persist with women lacking access to decent job opportunities, occupying the lowest-paid positions within the businesses, and facing discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

The Girls’ Advocacy Alliance (GAA) white paper articulates the business case for women’s economic empowerment by demonstrating the financial and non-financial benefits of investments in young women workers of the RMG and H&T sectors in Asia. It also identifies good practices for promoting women’s empowerment and outlines recommendations for how these could be embedded by other private sector actors. The paper draws from evidence gathered from several Plan International publications: 

  1. Cashing In: The Business Case for Empowering Women in the Bangladesh RMG sector
  2. Female and Thriving: The Business Case for Empowering Women in the Nepal H&T
  3. Valued, Paid, Recognised: Desk Review of Business Efforts in Promoting Women’s Empowerment in the Mekong Hospitality and Tourism Sector.
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