While trail-blazing women have achieved a great deal in the last century, many struggles lay ahead in achieving gender equality. Whether it be in the education of girls in the developing world, tackling violence against women, or securing opportunities in global leadership, women in Australia and the world are rightly demanding that policymakers, communities, and the world break the bias.
This International Women’s Day, on 8 March, the world will celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, and take the time to reflect on how to achieve gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow. To mark the occasion, Policy Forum is hosting an In Focus: International Women’s Day section, which will shine a light on the state of gender equality in Australia and the region, invite authors to discuss barriers to progress, and highlight the ideas of women – both policymakers and researchers – across Asia and the Pacific.
Readers, we encourage you to join the discussion, and share your thoughts on all the policy progress yet to come.
India must realise that gender equality is an issue for all its citizens, and combat bias against women for the benefit of everyone in the country, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt writes.
8 minute read
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Government and governance | Southeast Asia
For those that hoped Malaysia’s 2018 change of government might deliver reforms, the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government and its reform agenda has been a tough lesson, Amrita Malhi writes.
7 minute read
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Government and governance | Australia
Researchers have a responsibility to link their work to the issues facing the world – to provide general insight, but also to help policymakers evaluate how best to solve them, Jacquelyn Zhang writes.
4 minute read
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Arts, culture & society | East Asia
Although public feminist movements have been suppressed in China, a growing sense of the importance of equality has been marinating in the country for decades, Fan Yang writes.
7 minute read
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The Asia-Pacific region must stay focused on using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a roadmap to a fairer recovery from COVID-19, Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana writes.
4 minute read
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Environment & energy | South Asia
With COVID-19 fading from television screens and policy debates, India’s attention must turn to the major economic downturn the pandemic has caused, and especially its impact on women, Kaveri Mishra writes.
5 minute read
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Despite focusing on the country’s COVID-19 recovery, Indonesian policymakers cannot afford to sideline low carbon development projects and other sustainable development initiatives, Hening Wikan writes.
5 minute read
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Government and governance | Australia
On this episode of Policy Forum Pod, Elise Klein from The Australian National University and Kay Cook from Swinburne University join us to discuss how to improve Australia’s social security system, especially how it serves women.
45 minute listen
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Government and governance | Australia
The Set the Standard report has shown that workplace culture in the Australian parliament is in a full-blown crisis that demands national leadership, Intifar Chowdhury writes.
6 minute read
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