Women’s Committee Launches a Study to Review Gender-Based Policies
ICA-AP Committee on Women has launched a new study on the ‘Review of gender-based policies in cooperatives in Asia-Pacific’, and the kick-off meeting with Lead and Country Researchers was held on 14 May 2025.
Since its establishment in the 1960s, ICA-AP has focused on gender issues and advocated for the enhancement of women’s participation in cooperatives. This study is being commissioned by the Women’s Committee, which aims to promote gender inclusion and equality in cooperatives in the Asia-Pacific region. The Committee has undertaken two research studies in the past (2005 and 2017) to ascertain the availability of sex-disaggregated data in cooperatives and determine the level of participation of women in managerial and leadership roles. According to the Committee, the availability of gender-disaggregated data in cooperatives has created room to analyze the status of gender equality in cooperatives more effectively and come up with relevant policy-advocacy programs such as the Regional Workshop on Advancing Women CEOs in Cooperatives in China (2018) and Women’s CEOs in Cooperatives Summit in Vietnam (2024).
The existing literature on gender and cooperatives highlights the issues faced by women in participating in cooperative structures. The study will bring a research lens towards understanding the existing policies and practices developed by apex cooperatives and respective governments, with relevance to women’s empowerment in cooperatives, and how they are being implemented. The study will also investigate the impact of policy interventions aimed at women’s empowerment in the cooperative sector, highlighting good policy practices from selected countries in the region.
Specifically, the objectives of the study are to provide insights into the existing gender-based policy frameworks promoted by cooperative apex federations or Government departments for all cooperatives across sectors in a country; the effectiveness of such policies; monitoring processes; challenges faced in implementation; and good practices that can be replicated or scaled. The review of such policies would help in assessing how cooperatives are implementing gender mainstreaming, promoting women’s leadership, and supporting gender equality in the cooperative sector in the region.
The main findings from the study will be used in future policy-advocacy work on gender mainstreaming in cooperatives by ICA-AP and its Women’s Committee. The study report will be released during the 13th Asia-Pacific Regional Women’s Forum in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in November 2025.