Anasuya Sengupta at the Building Forward Better Women's Leadership and Participation in COVID-19 Recovery Efforts event, Bangkok, March 16 2023. We are pleased to launch our new publication with UN Women, OHCHR and UNFPA “Are governments investing in caring and just economies?” – a gender and human rights assessment of COVID-19 fiscal stimulus measures in nine countries in Asia and the Pacific.
On March 16 2023, Anasuya Sengupta (Senior Associate, Development Pathways) presented the assessment findings at the Building Forward Better Women’s Leadership and Participation in COVID-19 Recovery Efforts event in Bangkok.
The full report and advocacy brief were developed through collaboration with the UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the OHCHR Regional Office for South-East Asia and the UNFPA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
The report was based on an assessment of COVID-19 fiscal stimulus response and policy measures in Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Between March 2020 and August 2021, the nine countries deployed a range of fiscal stimulus measures to respond to the impacts of the virus and various containment measures leading to the sudden suspension of economic and livelihood activities.
The assessment finds that social protection and employment responses appeared as the main fiscal policy priorities. While they largely overlapped with other measures aligned with achieving different outcomes, notably protecting informal workers and improving access to health care, the bulk of fiscal response measures were near term, ending in 2020. The report examines whether governments have demonstrated commitment to meeting gender equality and human rights commitments. It finds that issues affecting women and at-risk groups have largely fallen outside the purview of fiscal decision making, including access to decent work, support for care work and protection from violence.