On March 23, AGENDA held a webinar to commemorate International Women’s Day on “Women’s Leadership and Participation in Mitigating the Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Lives of Women in Southeast Asia.” H.E. Yuyun Wahyuningrum, Representative of Indonesia to ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), delivered a keynote speech on increasing women’s participation and upholding women’s rights in ASEAN during and after the pandemic.
Opening remarks were given by Melika Atic, Asia-Pacific Deputy Regional Director of IFES and Jillian Ray, Counsellor for Australian Mission to ASEAN of DFAT. The webinar invited four women speakers, with various backgrounds in disability rights, human rights and the private sector to share their experiences, knowledge and expertise on mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women, reducing the gender gap and protecting women’s rights in their respective countries. The speakers included Rachel Arinii Judhistari, East Asia and ASEAN Advocacy, Programme Manager of Forum Asia; Gina Rose Balanlay, women’s rights activist and member of Nationwide Organization of Visually Impaired Empowered Ladies (NOVEL), Philippines; Emilie Pradichit, Founder & Director of Manushya Foundation, Thailand; and Josefhine Chitra, Senior Manager, Public Affairs of Gojek.
Sixty-seven people participated in the webinar of which 53 were women.
The discussion was live-streamed via AGENDA Asia’s YouTube Channel.
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