APEC TPT-WG PROJECT TEAM ON GENDER: A SHORT HISTORY

In a joint Statement issued in Victoria by APEC Transport Ministers (1997), Ministers underscored their commitment to women and youth by directing the Transportation Working Group to identify training and development initiatives for these groups.

The APEC Transportation Working Group (TPT-WG) accepted this challenge and, at its twelfth meeting in Chinese Taipei, the Group approved the creation of a project team / small group consisting of interested economies under the leadership of Canada. At that time, several aims of this project team were identified:

• to complement rather than duplicate gender related work of other APEC and international bodies;
• to ensure that TPT-WG directed initiatives contribute effectively towards the goal of full participation of women in APEC's economic and technical cooperation activities;
• and to take into account the resource constraints of TPT-WG members.

The first project undertaken by the Project Team was the development of a Compendium of Success Stories of Women in the Transportation Sector (the Compendium can be found on the TPT-WG Website, at www.apectptwg.org). It is hoped that this Compendium, which was approved by the TPT-WG-16 in Santiago, Chile in April, 1999, will serve to support the advancement of gender perspectives in the transportation sector within the APEC region by providing examples to the TPT-WG members of training and development initiatives in the transportation sector and indicating how to implement similar or related initiatives.

The TPT-WG also agreed at this meeting that the Project Team should monitor the development of, and respond to, the Framework for Integration of Women in APEC.

The Framework is an APEC-specific approach to integrating women into the mainstream of APEC processes and activities. It will offer explanations of five inter related elements that will strengthen the capacity of APEC to develop and implement gender sensitive policies, programs and projects. The Framework responds directly to the recommendations of the 1998 Ministerial Meeting on Women, and the subsequent APEC Leaders' directive to develop such a framework. This document will be directed at and apply to APEC as an institution, and will become the responsibility of all women and men involved in APEC processes, projects and activities.

The Project Team is currently considering ways of moving their work forward. It will be critical that any future work undertaken by the Project Team complement the Framework and serve to advance its objectives.

This page was last updated on 14 February 2000