University of Sydney (July 2017), Aid flows and women and work in South East Asia

Although South East Asian countries have all increased their level of economic development over recent decades, development assistance continues to be important for many countries in the region.

When measuring the impact of aid, and the power it gives donor countries to influence policy on gender and other issues, it is also important to consider the relative size of aid flows as compared to the recipient country’s gross national income.

According to the OECD and World Bank data, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar have received the highest gross flows of aid from other countries over recent years. Yet while gross aid flows to Timor-Leste, Cambodia and Laos are relatively low, it is these countries that received the most development assistance as a percentage of gross national income.

Timor-Leste in particular received a very high level of support, with 7.8 percent of its gross national income coming from official development assistance in 2015. Similarly, Cambodia and Laos received relatively modest amounts, but in both cases it accounted for 4.0 percent of their gross national income. By contrast, the Philippines received the largest amount of official development assistance, but it accounted for 0.1 percent of its national gross income.

In Indonesia’s case, over USD 3 billion in overseas development assistance received in 2015 comprised just a tiny proportion of gross national income.

In recent years Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United States (USA) have all actively supported women’s projects in South East Asia. While some of these countries support workplace-related projects through their national trade union movements, the largest number of directly funded projects focus on the themes of leadership and peace.

An analysis of information published online by each of these country donors shows that most tend to describe projects in South East Asia as focused on general themes such as participation in decisionmaking and leadership; sexual and maternal health; the role of women in peace-building; gender-based violence; or women’s rights as human rights.

Far fewer projects address themes associated with women’s economic empowerment, including the issues of livelihoods, entrepreneurship, labour migration, or gender equality in the workplace.

Among this cluster, women’s livelihoods and entrepreneurship are the themes most commonly invoked. Far fewer projects target women as workers. In fact, only Australia and Finland describe some of their South East Asia work as involving a focus on women’s experiences of formal sector work.

The Investing in Women Initiative is a major new Australian initiative that focuses not only on women as entrepreneurs but on helping businesses improve gender equality in large-scale workplaces in Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam. In doing so, it is helping to stem the tide away from support for women in the workplace.

Professor Michele Ford is Professor of South East Asian Studies and Director of the Sydney South East Asia Centre. Dr Elizabeth Hill is Chair of the Department of Political Economy. This research was supported by the Australian Government through the Investing in Women Initiative, a program of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.