At the outset, I wish to express my appreciation to the Government of Thailand for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to me and the ASEAN Secretariat delegation.

I want to talk about three things this morning.

First, we are here to discuss how we can have more women’s participation in making decisions affecting our daily lives. Over the years, ASEAN has issued many statements and pursued several initiatives to recognize and strengthen the role of women in our life. This is important and we need now to talk about the concrete actions of our continuing efforts. We have to show tangible results.

Second, we are at a very historic point in time for the development of ASEAN. The ASEAN Leaders will convene in Singapore for their annual summit to adopt the ASEAN Charter.

The ASEAN Charter will confer legal personality to ASEAN and provide an enhanced institutional framework to carry out the Leaders’ commitment to establish the ASEAN Community by 2015.

The ASEAN Charter aims to help the region face opportunities and challenges posed by ASEAN’s regional integration process, rapid globalisation and impact of new technologies, as well as the pressing need for ASEAN institutions and processes to be strengthened and made more dynamic.

The ASEAN Charter is a very clear manifestation of the political will to establish the ASEAN Community based on three pillars – political and security cooperation; economic cooperation and socio-cultural cooperation. ASEAN’s community building is a multi-sector and multi-stakeholder process.

The ASEAN Committee on Women is technically placed under the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Committee pillar.  I hope that you will actively contribute in the implementation of the ASCC Plan of Action. 

Nevertheless, we know that women’s role and concerns go beyond socio-cultural.  We know that gender mainstreaming is as much political and it is social because of its implications on social and government power structures.  We also know that women’s role in development is as much economic as it is a social issue. 

Third, what is the position of women in ASEAN? In this respect, the theme of the 6th ACW Meeting, “Promoting ASEAN Women’s Partnership and Leadership”, is most appropriate. Indeed, more women should assume leadership in our workplaces, communities, and nations.

Women play critical role in families and many aspects of our societies. Wives and mothers are often not only the care takers but also the bread winners and heads of their households. In ASEAN societies today, women participation in the economy particularly in the informal sector and small and medium enterprises has become more significant than ever.

The 2005 UNFPA Report shows a high average participation rate of 61.9 for female ages 15-64 in the labour force in our region.  About three in every four women ages 15-64 in ASEAN are in the labour force.

In terms of political participation, women in the ASEAN region have made inroads at the highest levels of policy decision-making structures of governments, parliaments, business and civil society groups.

The ACW-commissioned Third Report on the Advancement of Women in ASEAN shows that the Philippines has 58% woman legislators, senior officials and managers in the country, followed by Thailand 27% and Singapore 26%. In Viet Nam, women occupy 27% of the parliamentary seats, which is close to the UN benchmark figure of 30%.

The number of female college graduates in ASEAN Countries is also increasing steadily. Significant progress has been registered in all ASEAN Member Countries.

At the same time, we recognize that challenges remain daunting, particularly in terms of women’s access to basic services, especially in the rural areas. The 2005 ASEAN Statistical Yearbook also shows that girls are not getting as much educational opportunity as the boys. Maternal mortality is still high and health provisions for women are not as complete as they should be.
 
The Road Ahead

There two important developments in ASEAN that are related to the work of the ACW and I am pleased to note that these will be part of our discussions today.

First, a coordinating mechanism has been set up to bring together sectoral bodies, including the ACW, under the socio-cultural pillar to synergize sectoral efforts in building the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community and to promote greater efficiency in ASEAN activities.

The Coordinating Conference on ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (SOC-COM) has been convened three times and, at its recent Third Meeting on 22 October 2007, discussed the draft ASCC Framework Blueprint as called by the 40th ASEAN Ministers Meeting in July 2007.

The draft Blueprint will be formulated to promote concrete and productive activities that are both ends in themselves and functional at the same time in contributing to the building of the ASEAN Community. The draft Blueprint is a work in progress and further consultations with all relevant sectoral bodies will be undertaken.

Second, the ASEAN Leaders called at the 10th ASEAN Summit in Vientiane in November 2004 for the establishment of an ASEAN Commission on the Protection and Promotion of the rights of Women and Children. I am pleased to note that the ACW will have a preliminary discussion later today on the women component to support this endeavour.

At some future time, the ASEAN Secretariat will coordinate a joint discussion session between the ACW and the SOMSWD to ensure that both women and children issues are attended to in the process of exploring the establishment of such a Commission.

In closing, let me say that as we concretize the necessary actions for getting more women in public-policy making and decision making, we must offer constructive ideas and projects. The ACW must realize the goals for advancing women’s interest by advocating a balanced and systematic approach. The more we have cooperation and dialogue, the more balance and understanding we can obtain to achieve our objectives.

I am confident that this 6th ACW Meeting will have fruitful discussions on the many important issues. I am also pleased to note that the ACW has initiated cooperation with the Plus Three Countries. The ACW+3 Preliminary Meeting tomorrow is indeed an important milestone that would broaden and deepen ASEAN cooperation with China, Japan and Republic of Korea.

Thank you.

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