The ICA-AP Committee on Women (Women’s Committee) is celebrating its 25th anniversary on 19 and 20 September 2023. A special event is being hosted by the Japanese Consumers’ Co-operative Union (JCCU) in Tokyo in collaboration with the Women’s Committee. The programme on 19 September will be hybrid and ICA-AP member organizations are invited to attend online upon registration. On 20 September, a field visit to local cooperatives is arranged by the JCCU for Committee members and other guests who will be present onsite.
Established in 1998, in Seoul, South Korea, the Committee promotes gender inclusion and equality in cooperatives in the Asia and Pacific. The activities of the Committee are driven by the objective of promoting gender equality in cooperatives and serving the interest and needs of women in the cooperative sector. Since its establishment, the activities of the Committee are supported by the JCCU, an ICA member since 1971.
From the beginning of the 1960s, the ICA-AP Regional Office focused on gender issues and on enhancing youth and women’s participation in cooperatives. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, seminars on promoting women's participation and empowerment in the cooperative sector were held in the Region. During the United Nations Women's Decade from 1975 to 1985, initiatives for integrating women and gender concerns in cooperatives were accelerated by the Regional Office.
In 1990, the Human Resources Development Project of the ICA identified the need for gender inclusion and women’s participation in cooperatives. Between 1990-1991, the ICA-AP conducted a series of surveys in 14 countries in the region to study the existing issues in achieving gender integration in cooperatives within a broader socio-economic environment of each country. These surveys resulted in 14 country studies and one regional study which were considered as the stepping stone to formulate gender policies and promote activities in the region based on facts. In April-May 1992, a ‘Regional Consultation on Gender Integration and Women in Cooperative Development in Asia and the Pacific’ was held in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was the first such consultation that was organised to identify appropriate strategies for gender planning in cooperatives at the national and regional levels. A year after the Colombo consultation, the ICA-AP, the Japanese Cooperative Union, the Swedish Cooperative Center and the ICA Women's Committee jointly organised the ‘Asia-Pacific Conference on Gender Planning in Cooperatives’ in Tokyo, Japan in 1993. Based on the results of the fact-finding surveys conducted by the ICA-AP in 1991, the conference concluded that the establishment of appropriate policies at all levels of cooperatives is essential to achieve gender equality.
In September 1995, the fourth ICA World Conference on Women was held in Beijing, China to advance the goals of equality, development and peace for all women. The conference was attended by more than 17,000 participants, including around 4,000 accredited NGO representatives and a host of international civil servants, as well as 6,000 government representatives. The ICA members from Asia and the Pacific Region also participated. The conference adopted the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action towards respect for women's human rights and the realisation of gender equality. The Beijing Women's Conference marked a significant turning point for the global agenda for gender equality and it was a great encouragement for women cooperators in the region. The conference also had a positive impact on the cooperative movement in the region and shaped the perspective further on promoting gender equality and gender mainstreaming in cooperatives. In June 1996, during the second ICA-AP Regional Assembly in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a proposal to create a regional women’s committee was formally approved. Later in September 1996, women cooperative leaders from the Region organised a ‘Regional Consultation Meeting on Gender Integration in Cooperatives’ in Bangkok, Thailand, where it was collectively recognised that awareness of gender equality needs to be generated and promoted at all levels within the cooperative sector.
A pro-tem Regional Women’s Committee was formed in February 1997 and discussions on byelaws were facilitated with the guidance of the Malaysian National Cooperative Movement (ANGKASA). Immediately after, during the fourth Asia and Pacific Ministers’ Conference, gender issues in cooperatives were put on the table before cooperative ministers for the first time. The conference resulted in a declaration that called for the need to work towards full participation and leadership of women in cooperatives. Since then, the Asia and Pacific Ministers’ Conferences have made recommendations on laws and policies aimed at women's capacity development and the realisation of gender integration in cooperatives, and have positively influenced policymakers and stakeholders across the region.
Before the formal inception of the Committee, another landmark activity was organised. The first ‘Regional Conference on the Status of Women in Cooperatives in Asia-Pacific’ was held in Tagaytay, the Philippines in May 1997. The ICA-AP and the Asian Women in Cooperative Development Forum (AWCF) from the Philippines co-hosted the ‘Conference on Decision-Making by Women in Cooperatives’ or famously known as the ‘Tagaytay Conference’, in which over 100 cooperative stakeholders participated. The Tagaytay Conference adopted the ‘Tagaytay Declaration’ and ‘Platform for Action’ calling on all stakeholders to increase the participation of women in leadership and decision-making in cooperatives. Since then, two iterations of the Tagaytay Conference have been organised in 2006 and 2016 respectively, with each conference having reviewed the status of women and gender equality in cooperatives and resulting in identifying new areas of action such as research, education and training.
On 25 October 1998, during the third ICA-AP Regional Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, then known as the ICA Regional Women’s Committee for Asia and the Pacific (ICA-RWC for Asia & Pacific) held its first statutory meeting. The meeting was attended by about 30 national committee members. Ms. Rahaiah Bahren from Malaysia was elected as the first Chairperson, and Ms. Hatsuko Omori from Japan and Ms. Rameshwari Ramchandra from Singapore were elected as Vice Chairpersons.
The first statutory meeting of the Committee identified the need to promote networking among women cooperators, organise exposure and exchange programs and trainings on leadership development.
To mark the establishment of the Committee, it was also decided to organise the Regional Women's Forum as an avenue to discuss the needs, challenges and issues faced by women cooperators and identify ways to address them. 130 participants from 19 cooperatives participated in the first Asia and Pacific Regional Women's Forum held in conjunction with the third Regional Assembly. The participants shared a common need to make their respective cooperatives more democratic in order to achieve gender equality. It was a historic event with the participation of many women cooperators, previously unseen at the Regional Assembly.
From October 1998 to May 2023, the ICA-AP Committee on Women has held 13 statutory meetings, 11 Regional Women’s Forums, several workshops, conferences, and seminars; participated in 7 Asia-Pacific Ministers’ Conferences; conducted 18 trainings of trainers; published 2 regional research studies on gender-disaggregated data in cooperatives, 2 manuals and 1 resource guide for trainings on women’s leadership development. The Committee takes pride in its association with international organisations such as the Swedish Cooperative Center (now known as the We Effect), International Labour Organisation (ILO), AWCF, and several ICA member organizations in the Region.
Over the two and a half decades, the Women’s Committee has worked on topical and pressing areas. This includes advocating for a gender-disaggregated database in cooperatives; developing training manuals on cooperative leadership; making recommendations for reservation for women in cooperatives at the Asia-Pacific Ministers’ Conferences; making visible the role played by women cooperators during COVID-19, advocating for peace and non-violence as important values to be included in the Statement of Cooperative Identity; and now looking at climate change as a priority area for educating and training women cooperators at the grassroots.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary year, the Women’s Committee has created a special theme and tagline, “Gender Equality for a Brighter Future”.
The anniversary event is based on this theme and will be celebrated together with the Women’s Committee members and upcoming women leaders in the cooperative sector from different countries, ICA-AP representatives, ICA members and cooperators from Japan, supporters and well-wishers of the Women’s Committee, advocates of gender equality from international organizations such as the UN Women and public officials from the Government of Japan.
The event is symbolic as the Women’s Committee will walk down memory lane and showcase significant moments and accomplishments realized over the last 25 years. It will present an avenue for Committee members to exhibit their interventions on gender equality and engage in enriching dialogues, thereby, presenting an opportunity to the guests for mutual learning. On this occasion, a special booklet will be launched by the Committee, which among others, has compliments from different stakeholders, case studies of the exemplary work on gender equality within the cooperative sector across Asia and Pacific; and perspectives in the context of governance and law. The event will also serve as a platform to engage in critical reflections on how the Committee could steer its direction in the future, and identify priority areas that are fast emerging and calls for action in the next 25 years.
