While women make up half of Southeast Asia’s population, regional efforts to mainstream gender issues so far remain a formidable challenge. However, notable strides have been made in recent years primarily through the cooperation between UN Women and the Asean Committee on Women, as well as the Asean Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children with the support of Asean donor partners.
In Asean’s half-century history, every Asean secretary-general (SG) has been male. Kao Kim Hourn from Cambodia is currently the 15th SG whose five-year term will end in three years and it will be Indonesia’s turn to nominate the next candidate for the top post.
Will Indonesia break this male trend by fielding the first female Asean SG in 2028?
As Asean’s chief administrative officer, the SG must first and foremost demonstrate superb administrative skills. Moreover, s/he should also be well conversant on all subject areas of Asean cooperation. Finally, the SG should be able to comfortably represent and speak on behalf of the 700 million people residing in the region across all key segments of society, be they government, business, academia, civil society, or local communities, about Asean, what it stands for and is capable of achieving for the benefit of its peoples. Under the Asean Charter, the selection and appointment of the SG should give due consideration to integrity, capability, and professional experience, and gender equality. While the first few criteria mentioned are generally met by past candidates for the post, the last criteria on gender equality remains elusive.
Since the idea of having a female SG is a novel subject matter within the Asean context, it would probably benefit from raising public awareness and promotion among all Asean member countries, which the SG is supposed to serve, in terms of gaining acceptance for the idea of encouraging more female leadership at executive levels of Asean institutions and bodies in line with the objectives stipulated in the endorsed Asean Gender Mainstreaming Strategic Framework. Perhaps this might entail a campaign to start sensitizing the gender deficit issue in connection with Asean’s top post. This could include public workshops, seminars, and even talk shows and conducting opinion surveys at various levels and across all segments of society within Indonesia and among the rest of the Asean member countries. Various forms of social media would also need to be actively deployed to further reach out to the public within the Asean region. It would be an important breakthrough if Indonesia could show regional leadership in addressing the gender gap issue by nominating a female candidate for the next Asean SG.
Many of Asean’s external partners have included women empowerment and gender equity issues as priority areas in their cooperation activities with Asean. Efforts should be made to develop programs and activities to advance female leadership, especially at the higher echelons of the Asean Secretariat and other Asean institutions. Taking a leaf from other organizations within the region, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific did not have its first female head until 60 years after its establishment. It has now had three successive female chiefs since 2007 and the current head is Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana from Indonesia. Similarly, the Mekong River Commission, another inter-governmental organization, will have its first female chief, from Thailand, come January 2025, again after many decades of the organization’s existence.
It is time for Asean to walk the talk and prioritize gender equality at leadership levels. The appointment of a first female SG would be a good start and doing so to coincide with the heralding of Asean’s 60th anniversary commemoration in three years would indeed be applauded. After all, women make up half of Asean’s population and as such they deserve their fair share of representation at the apex level of Asean’s policy and decision-making processes. This would send a very strong message that finally women are no longer left behind in holding the top echelon posts in the Asean Secretariat. The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
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Dewi Fortuna Anwar is a research professor at the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia; Sharon Seah is a senior fellow at the Asean Studies Centre, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, and Apichai Sunchindah is the former executive director of the Asean Foundation.
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The Philippine Daily Inquirer is a member of the Asia News Network, an alliance of 22 media titles in the region.