Gender equality finance

USD 83.7B Spent
USD 117B Committed
42,488 Projects
71% Status

Southeast Asia has made significant progress on gender equality in recent years, but not enough to put the region on track to reach Sustainable Development Goal 5 by 2030.1 Women continue to face barriers in political representation, economic opportunity, and access to resources.2 These gaps are reinforced by legal inequalities and worsening social norms around women’s rights.3 In 2023, women held 23% of seats in the region’s national parliaments or chambers, against a global average of 27%.4

Gender-related development financing helps close gaps in economic, education, and political opportunities across Southeast Asia. It grew steadily from 2015 to a peak of $15 billion in 2020 (36% of total ODF), driven largely by gender equality objectives embedded in Covid support packages such as the ADB CARES Program. Although the 2023 total of $13.1 billion was $2 billion below that peak, it represented a record share of ODF at 45%. In 2024, gender-related ODF fell in both absolute and relative terms, dropping $3.6 billion to 37% of total ODF.

This decline was driven largely by the end of pandemic relief packages that listed gender equality as a “significant” rather than “principal” objective. Between 2015 and 2024, an average of 27% of ODF to Southeast Asia carried either tag. In 2024, 5% of ODF projects had a “principal” gender focus and 32% a “significant” one.

Over the last decade, Indonesia and the Philippines have consistently been the top recipients of gender equality ODF in Southeast Asia. Indonesia received 44% ($5.7 billion) in 2023 and the Philippines 34% ($4.4 billion). These amounts dropped to 41% ($3.9 billion) and 28% ($2.7 billion) respectively in 2024.

Timor-Leste, Laos, and Malaysia have consistently received a much smaller share of regional gender-focused ODF. From 2015 to 2024, Timor-Leste received less than 2%, Laos 3%, and Malaysia 0.2%. Adjusting for female population, however, the rankings shift: Timor-Leste received $164 per woman in 2024, ahead of Cambodia ($94), Laos ($59), the Philippines ($47), and Indonesia ($28).

From 2015 to 2024, social protection ODF has seen higher integration of gender equality objectives (49%) than general ODF (26%).

Figure 1 Gender equality official development finance, by type Spent, constant 2024 US$
2016201820202022202405B10B15B20B
0%10%20%30%40%50%
  • Significant
  • Principal
  • % gender equality-related ODF (RHS)

Key partners

The top eight providers of gender equality ODF to Southeast Asia are, in order: the ADB, Japan, Germany, the World Bank, the United States, Australia, EU Institutions, and France. These partners account for 90% of total gender-related ODF to the region between 2015 and 2024. A combined 66 other partners make up the remaining 10%. The ADB provided 46% of the region’s gender-related ODF in this period, and 52% in 2024. The region’s largest bilateral partner is Japan, which has provided 17% of gender-related ODF from 2015 to 2024.

Figure 2 Gender equality official development finance providers to Southeast Asia, 2015–2024 Spent, constant 2024 US$
010B20B30B40BAsian Development Bank 32.5B 6.1BJapan 14.1B Germany 4.4B World Bank 4.4B Australia 3.4B EU Institutions 2.7B France 67 other partners 11.1B
  • Significant
  • Principal

The ADB and EU Institutions play an outsized role. The ADB provides 17% of overall ODF to the region but 46% of the gender equality ODF, and EU Institutions just 1% of total ODF but more than 3% of gender equality ODF.

Sources

  1. OECD, SIGI 2024 Regional Report for Southeast Asia: Time to Care, Social Institutions and Gender Index (Paris: OECD Publishing, 2024), https://doi.org/10.1787/7fc15e1c-en.
  2. UN Women, ASEAN Gender Outlook 2024 (Bangkok: UN Women, 2024), https://data.unwomen.org/publications/asean-gender-outlook-2024.
  3. OECD, SIGI 2024 Regional Report for Southeast Asia: Time to Care.
  4. UN Women, ASEAN Gender Outlook 2024.
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