Social safety nets for women

The objective of this paper is to identify and evaluate whether gender issues were attended to in the design and implementation of the social safety net policies and programmes associated with the Asian economic crisis. The study seeks to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each programme in the countries concerned in order to devise more effective policy responses and actions that would strengthen the social protection system with more equal emphasis between women and men.

The paper concludes that where formal social protection systems do not have sufficient human and financial resources to cover identified needs the priority should be to target available resources to vulnerable groups. Progressively, comprehensive social protection systems will be developed but, in the short term, resources should be channelled to those most in need. A distribution analysis should ensure any proposed social protection programme achieves its targeted objectives. Special consideration should be paid to gender and household inequalities. Unless particular attention is paid to women’s unique problems and life patterns when social protection policies and programmes are developed, approaches that might appear to be gender-neutral may actually disadvantage women.

The most vulnerable populations are often not reflected in household surveys – migrant workers, orphans, the homeless, victims of disasters, refugees, nomads and marginalised indigenous groups. These groups may require special attention owing to both extreme poverty and social exclusion. As with women, they may be seriously disadvantaged by programmes that appear otherwise to be uniform and fair, owing to the effects of labour market discrimination and alternative cultural traditions.