Women’s economic empowerment and inclusion are a top priority in the Asia-Pacific region.

To create a streamlined and effective mechanism that will integrate gender equality and women and the economy concerns and elevate the influence of women’s economic issues in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), theAPEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (APEC PPWE) was established in 2011. 

A combination of the former APEC Gender Focal Point Network (GFPN) and the private sector-oriented Women’s Leadership Network (WLN), the APEC PPWE is a single public-private entity that also acts as an institutional mechanism for reporting to the Steering Committee on Economic and Technical Cooperation (SCE) on APEC gender activities and outcomes. 

Its goal is to provide linkages between APEC fora, APEC economies, and the APEC Secretariat to advance the economic integration of women in the APEC region for the benefit of all economies.

Specifically, the APEC PPWE works to address five key pillars that impact women’s economic empowerment:

  • Access to capital  
  • Access to market
  • Skills and capacity building
  • Women’s leadership and agency
  • Innovation and technology

APEC PPWE in the Philippines

To further advance the goals of the APEC PPWE in the country, the Philippines constituted the PPWE Steering Committee (PPWE SC). 

It promotes and facilitates the implementation of the Framework for the Integration of Women in APEC as well as policy recommendations related to Women and the Economy Forum (WEF) called for by the APEC leadership through the cooperation between the public and private sector.

Members of the PPWE SC are women and the economy experts from the following agencies/organizations:

  1. Philippine Commission on Women (PCW)
  2. Department of Trade and Industry–Resource Generation and Management Service (DTI-RGMS)
  3. Women’s Business Council Philippines (WBCP/WomenBizPH)
  4. Philippine Women’s Economic Network (PhilWEN)

Since September 2017, the PCW has been serving as Chair and Secretariat of the PPWE SC.


APEC PPWE Meetings

Established at the Second Senior Officials’ Meeting back in May 2011 at Big Sky, Montana, United States, the APEC PPWE meets at least twice a year: during the First PPWE Meeting (PPWE I) and the Second PPWE Meeting (PPWE II), preferably before the Third Senior Officials Meeting. 

The PPWE I and PPWE II  involve a series of week-long meetings where ministers, senior business leaders, and experts review progress of the women and the economy agenda.


APEC PPWE Projects

2023: Advancing Women in Tech through the Digital Platform Economy

Proposed and led by WomenBizPH, this project recognizes that digital platform work helps reconcile the age-old conflict between women’s unpaid care work and paid market work and that there is a degree of precariousness similar to informal work that puts them at risk of exploitation and hinders their full economic participation.  To help ensure that this emerging platform provides decent and sustainable employment and opportunities, the project builds on a policy study to define standards, terms of employment, and incorporate adequate social protection for women tech workers in the digital platform economy.


2019: APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies (HWHE) Research Prize

Created by Chile (with support from Merck), the APEC HWHE Research Prize recognizes research that enables policy makers, business leaders, and others to identify and implement measures to improve women’s health in APEC economies so women can join and rise in the workforce.

The inaugural HWHE Research Prize 2019 was awarded to a Filipina, Dr. Veronica Ramirez (Assistant Professor at the University of Asia and the Pacific) for her study on health needs of Filipino migrant workers.

In 2022, Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez Tan, MD, MPH (Chairperson of Health Futures Foundation, Inc. and former Professor at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine) placed as a runner up through his research on the causes and effects of adolescent pregnancy in regions with the highest incidence of teenage pregnancy, incorporating his findings into evidence-based solutions for early childhood intervention—including school-based comprehensive sexuality education—to improve women’s health, well-being, and empowerment.


2019: La Serena Roadmap on Women and Inclusive Growth

Led by Chile, the Roadmap was adopted in 2019, which was Chile’s APEC hosting year and the first time that “women and inclusive growth” was featured as a host economy theme.


2018: Women as Prime Movers of Inclusive Business

Led by the Philippines (through the DTI-RGMS and WomenBizPH), this project looks into the aspect of inclusive business both in theory and in practice and its effects on women’s economic empowerment through a survey, documentary reviews, and a seminar-workshop to compile success stories and best practices of APEC member economies.


2017: APEC Gender Inclusion Guidelines (GIG)

Led by Viet Nam, the GIG offers guidance on integration of gender-responsive approaches into other fora’s plans, reports, and projects.


2016: APEC Business Efficiency and Success Target (BEST) Awards

This is a project of Russia that seeks to distinguish, spread, and encourage the best practices of women-owned SMEs across APEC economies through the collection and systemization of the experience of individual economies and organization of a competition of the APEC BEST women’s projects and their corporate success stories.

Since its inauguration, the Philippines has nominated women entrepreneurs to the APEC BEST Awards. In 2016, Ms. Anya Lim of Anthill (Alternative Nest and Trading/Training Hub for Indigenous/Ingenious Little Livelihood seekers) won a special prize from the jury.  The following year, Ms. Bernadette De Los Santos (BidiBidi Enterprise) won the Best Green Economy Project Award. In 2018,Ms. Zarah Jane D. Juan (founder of Green Leaf Eco Bags, Inc.) was awarded the Most Innovative Business Model Award. In 2020,Ms. Dalareich Polot (founder of the Dalareich Chocolate House in Bohol) won the Best Family Business Support Award. Finally, in 2021,Ms. Cherrie De Erit Atilano (founder and Chief Executive Officer of sustainable food system and inclusive agribusiness of her company, AGREA) won the category of Best Top Manager in the post-pandemic economy.


2014: APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies (HWHE)

Proposed by the US, this initiative involves the PPWE, the APEC Health Working Group (HWG), and the APEC Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG). Co-chaired by the Philippines (Department of Health, Philippine Commission on Women, and Department of Labor and Employment) and Merck, theHWHE Policy Toolkit was developed to support APEC government officials, policymakers, civil society, and the private sector seeking to improve women’s economic participation through better health. 

The HWHE Policy Toolkit is a compendium of the issues, actions, and implementing elements aimed at improving women’s health across five areas: (1) workplace health and safety; (2) health awareness and access; (3) sexual and reproductive health; (4) gender-based violence; and (5) work/life balance.


APEC Host Economies and Themes

APEC Peru 2024

  • Theme:Empower, Include, Grow
  • Priorities:
    • Trade and Investment for Inclusive and Interconnected Growth
    • Innovation and Digitalization to Promote Transition to the Formal and Global Economy
    • Sustainable Growth for Resilient Development
  • WEF Theme: —
  • WEF Statement: 2024 Women and the Economy Forum

APEC United States 2023


APEC Thailand 2022


APEC New Zealand 2021


APEC Malaysia 2020


APEC Chile 2019


APEC Papua New Guinea 2018


APEC Vietnam 2017

  • Theme: Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future
  • Priorities:
    • Promoting Innovative Growth, Inclusion and Sustainable Employment
    • Creating New Drivers for Regional Economic Integration
    • Strengthening the Capacity and Innovation of MSMEs
    • Enhancing Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Response to Climate Change
  • WEF Theme: Enhancing Women’s Economic Inclusion and Empowerment in the Changing World
  • WEF Statement: 2017 APEC Women and the Economy Forum

APEC Peru 2016


APEC Philippines 2015


APEC China 2014


APEC Indonesia 2013


APEC Russia 2012


APEC United States 2011