| Project Detail |
Project No.
GOS-PPWE 01 2024S
Project Title
Enhancing women’s economic empowerment in APEC through greater participation in high-skill digitized service sectors
Project Status
Project in Implementation
Fund Account
Self-Funded
Project Year
2024
Two-thirds of women in the APEC region are engaged in services activities (APEC/GOS, 2023[1] and APEC, PSU 2020[2]). Empirical evidence shows women are overrepresented in low-paid services jobs, underrepresented in high-paid services jobs and are rarely in a decision-making role when engaging in services trade. Furthermore, there are approximately 600 million women in the region’s labor force, with only 60 percent of these women included in formal economic sectors (APEC, 2021).[3] Their limited participation as a workforce in the formal sector across the Asia-Pacific can cost the regional economy tens of billions of dollars every year (McKinsey, 2018)[4].
The project “Enhancing women’s economic empowerment in APEC through greater participation in high-skill digitized service sectors” aims to deepen understanding on how better policies can lift women’s participation in selected service activities and how greater participation by women in higher-skilled digitally-delivered services can advance their economic empowerment. It will provide an evidence-based study focused on four selected service sectors in APEC as case studies [5], analyzing how women’s employment in these sectors has evolved, identifying barriers to greater women’s participation, and discussing how digitalization can impact women’s formal participation in these high-skilled services sectors.
The study will constitute the basis for the development of a set of policy briefs to guide services trade policy makers in APEC in ways to increase the participation of women in these high-skilled, digitally-enabled services sectors. The project will collaborate with APEC economies, representatives from the private sector, and multilateral fora through workshops and dialogues to inform evidence-based policy making for APEC officials and policy makers to draw upon. |
