Gender rights

Across cultures and societies, people face pressure to conform to gender roles and stereotypes portrayed in media, marketing and advertising. These stereotypes can leave people feeling excluded, unworthy, inadequate, and invisible. Narratives can entrench harmful gender norms, roles, and behaviours, and have a disproportional impact on women and girls. They contribute to shaping different pathways, driven by gender stereotypes – in the family, in schools, at work and in the broader economy – through the different stages of life.  The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing gender inequalities, with increases in gender-based violence, deepened inequalities in learning for girls and young women, and escalating economic problems disproportionately affecting women and girls. Deeply entrenched gender norms keep women in traditional roles, carrying out the majority of care work in their families, which impacts their ability to access paid employment. Prevalent gender biases impede women’s equal access to finance and markets, resulting in women missing opportunities to equitably participate in the economy.   Stakeholders, including government policy makers and regulators, industry associations as well as businesses have a responsibility and an opportunity to collaborate to use the power of media, marketing and advertising as a force for good in challenging harmful gender norms and gender stereotypes to advance gender equality. They need to consider the entire ecosystem, understand the challenges, and dismantle the barriers to achieving gender equality across their value chains. This may include advertising messaging, gender parity in leadership, inclusive workplaces and marketplaces with products designed, produced, sold, marketed and advertised in ways that do not entrench harmful gender stereotypes.   This introductory brief presents key insights and evidence on how gender equality is impacted by media, marketing and advertising, supporting the case for businesses and stakeholders – including policy makers, industry aggregators, civil society and children – to foster a multi-stakeholder collaboration to dismantle stereotypes and to drive progressive gender and marketing action in Asia-Pacific.  

This guide supports teams to conduct remote user consultations with girls on digital platforms, in times or environments when face-to-face contact is not feasible. It provides practical tips for overcoming differences between in-person and online consultations as well as addressing challenges that affect girls’ digital use and participation. While this tool is focused on addressing the specific needs of adolescent girls, some of the tips may also be helpful for other groups participating in remote consultations.  

This paper builds on the first paper in series, Beyond Marriage and Motherhood: Patterns and Trends in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, by discussing a targeted approach to adolescent pregnancy, child marriage and early union. It explores evidence-based interventions to address adolescent marriages, unions and pregnancies and provides recommendations for tailored action, based on the respective drivers and context.

This paper explores adolescent pregnancies, child marriages and early unions in Southeast Asia and the Pacific by investigating their prevalence, trends, drivers, patterns and typologies. It highlights that whilst there is considerable heterogeneity across the region, in many settings, progress to address these issues has stalled. The paper proposes the differing patterns of adolescent pregnancy, child marriage and early union observed require different intervention strategies. In doing so, it lays the foundation for the second paper in the series Beyond Marriage and Motherhood: Tailoring Programme Interventions for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Across Asia and the Pacific, many girls have their adolescence disrupted by marriage and motherhood. A pregnancy, marriage or union, during this pivotal period of development, can have profound and life-long consequences for a girl, including negative impacts on her health and well-being, and that of her children. The Beyond Marriage and…, Download the Publications, Patterns and Trends in Southeast Asia and the Pacific - Cover Tailoring Programme Interventions for Southeast Asia and the Pacific - Cover A women standing Women standing A women standing A women standing

NEW YORK, 8 March 2022 – “On International Women’s Day, we acknowledge the international community’s hard-fought gains for the world’s women and girls. We celebrate the remarkable achievements of women and girls in our societies. And we redouble our commitment to extend those gains to every girl, everywhere. “But the fight for gender equality is…

BANGKOK, 24 September 2021 – UNICEF East Asia and Pacific and the Australian Government have partnered to scale up Oky, the first digital period tracker designed for and with girls, across the Indo-Pacific region. This digital menstrual health and hygiene application provides important sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information to adolescent…

There is a large gap in women and girls’ digital adoption and use compared to men and boys. We have data and insights into the gender digital divide for women (above 18 years), yet little is known about the digital gap for adolescent girls. With limited sex-disaggregated data or research into adolescent girls’ access to and use of digital…, Download the evidence briefs, What we know about the gender digital divide for girls Using big data for insights into the gender digital divide for girls: A discussion paper

This discussion paper describes the findings of a study that used big data as an alternative data source to understand the gender digital divide for under-18s. It describes 6 key insights gained from analysing big data from Facebook and Instagram platforms, and discusses how big data can be further used to contribute to the body of evidence for the gender digital divide for adolescent girls.

This desk review summarises existing key data points, data sources and trends in adolescent girls’ access to and use of digital technology. It also highlights the gaps in the evidence base and where more research is needed.

This report analyses how girls’ and young women’s capacity and agency for entrepreneurship and leadership are shaped by their household, community, and wider ecosystem as they move from adolescence into adulthood. The research aims to strengthen the evidence-base to support the advancement of gender equality and tackle gender-related barriers that adolescent girls and young women face in Asia-Pacific, focusing on Indonesia, Thailand and Laos. Taking a human-centered approach, the report aims to understand how girls’ and young women’s opportunities, capacity and agency for empowerment through entrepreneurial skill development is shaped as they move from adolescents to adulthood. Based on the findings, the research presents recommendations of key entry points to address barriers and strengthen enablers to unlock young women and girls’ capacity for entrepreneurship and broader empowerment. This report was commissioned by the UNICEF East Asia and the Pacific Regional Office and the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub under the Youth Co:Lab initiative co-led by UNDP and the Citi Foundation. In addition to providing country and regional policy recommendations to advance opportunities for girls and young women, the report serves as a strategic output for the regional UNICEF-UNDP partnership, “Empowering youth for more resilient societies in Asia Pacific”.

To strengthen the integration of gender in the WASH sector response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) developed a gender integration document for UNICEF staff and partners. This short guide offers six concrete actions that will help improve the integration of gender in the WASH sector response to COVID-19.