VOICES denouncing gender inequalities across Asia were heard loudly and clearly in the high-ceilinged meeting room of a hotel in Langkawi, Malaysia, earlier this month.

Forty participants from 21 countries in Asia, including Myanmar, were there to brainstorm on gender and human development issues, the subject of the next Asia Pacific Human Development Report, led by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Regional Centre in Colombo.

“Only one percent of the world’s assets are in the names of women,” Ms Anuradha Rajivan, the regional program coordinator of UNDP in Colombo, told the opening session of the April 14 and 15 meeting.

A public information officer of the UNDP country office said education was limited for women in Asia and health was also a big issue.

“Some parents still follow the practice of selling a one-year-old daughter for a 20-year contract,” she said at a group discussion.

The participant from Bhutan said women were most vulnerable and there were still gender gaps in the country, which has a population of 700,000 people.

“Sex exploitation and rape are major issues in Cambodia that need to be addressed” was the view of one participant from Cambodia.

A government official said gender-based violence rates were very high, and the suicide rate among women was shocking (in certain countries).

Each participant was allowed to make a presentation for five minutes, which was hardly sufficient for most speakers, who had to be reminded by a volunteer ringing a bell.

The chief of policies and programs of the Regional Centre in Colombo, Mr Omar Noman, said he had never seen such an interaction and such overwhelming responses from participants.

Questions like, “Why can’t prosperity eliminate the gender gap?” and “Is gender equality a western concept?” were also raised during the two-day consultation.

Participants contended that investing in women is not only the right thing but also the smart thing, returns on schooling for women have greater growth impact than schooling for men, and US$80 billion loss of Asian output occurs annually due to gender inequality.

The participation of government officials, representatives from UNDP country offices, journalists, experts, academicians, researchers and civil society represented a healthy combination of views, said Mr Omar Noman, who chaired the meeting.

“We are dealing with deep-seated issues in fundamental structures across all religions of the world – it is an extremely complicated task,” he said.

“The human development report has a distinctive characteristic being protected by the United Nations General Assembly resolution for its relative independence. This is a very precious gift to be guarded,” said Mr Noman.

Following the group discussions, the majority of participants decided on two sub-themes for future discussion: gender and justice systems, and investing in gender equality.

They also discussed Asian perspectives for under-standing gender, gender differences and the causes and consequences of inequality, along with methods to examine and measure gender gaps.

The importance of the media and the need to sensitise governments, political parties and civil society were highlighted in the effort to deal with or at least alleviate gender inequalities in Asia.

Preparatory work toward the Asia Pacific Human Development Report (APHDR) involves two regional consultations, of which the Langkawi meeting or the Asian Stakeholder Consultation was the first.

The second, in Suva, Fiji, on April 21 and 22, covered issues from the Pacific sub-region.

The APRHDR will be the third in a regular series led by the Human Development Report Unit at the UNDP Regional Centre in Colombo.