Increasing women`s economic participation is not yet universally accepted despite three decades of global advocacy; and women empowerment and gender equality are still a work in progress. A mechanism that can be tapped to promote women`s economic participation is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). This Policy Note outlines some recommendations on how to enhance women`s participation in the APEC economies. The recommendations are organized into two strands: at the level of the national economy and at the regional level.
At the level of the national economy, efforts must now be taken to ensure that women`s economic opportunities are not eroded and that women are prepared to cope with the challenges of the new order. Women enterprises should be strengthened to prepare them to compete in the global marketplace amid environmental and business challenges. At the regional level, APEC has implemented a number of women-related directives and initiatives. One of the recommendations is more involvement of women in the business sector. Close collaboration with the business sector should lead to the formulation of initiatives that would promote women`s economic empowerment and enterprise growth. It is also important for APEC economies to continuously conduct labor market intelligence studies and monitor as far as possible the opportunities for women`s greater economic involvement in the APEC region and all over the world.