Kuwait and Philippines Clash Over Domestic Workers
Kuwait has expelled the Philippine ambassador to the country after embassy staff attempted to “rescue” Filipino domestic workers from their employers. The Kuwaiti ambassador to the Philippines has also been recalled.
The expulsion came after four Filipinos working with the embassy were arrested for helping maids flee from their employers. A video of the alleged escape has been described by critics as a stunt.
The two countries have been engulfed in a diplomatic crisis since February, when the discovery of a Filipina domestic worker’s dead body at her employers’ home in Kuwait City spurred the Philippines to evacuate thousands of its citizens who were working in the country and ban new workers from emigrating to the Gulf State. Talks had been underway to negotiate lifting the ban before the ambassador was expelled.
Gender Equality Worth Trillions in Asia Pacific: McKinsey
Asian economies could add $4.5 trillion to their GDP by 2025 by boosting women’s economic participation, a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute has found.
Women in Asia currently contribute 36 percent to the region’s existing GDP of $26 trillion, a figure that masks regional variations between countries like China, where women contribute to 41 percent of GDP, and Pakistan where the figure is 11 percent.
If all Asian economies made the same progress as region-leading Singapore over the next seven years, the authors project, then GDP would increase by 12 percent over a business-as-usual scenario.
The report’s authors suggest Asia Pacific countries increase women’s labor-force participation, boost the number of women in leadership positions, widen access to digital technology, challenge stereotypes about women’s roles in society and collaborate across the region to boost both gender equality and the economy.
China Rife with Sexist Job Ads: HRW
Job ads in China regularly specify that positions are reserved for men, or use the prospect of sex with women as a sweetener, an investigation by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found.
One in five jobs ads analyzed by the advocacy group were described as specifically for men, including 19 percent of civil service postings in 2018 so far. Other ads for large tech companies, including AliBaba, included references to the attractiveness of female employees as an incentive for male applicants.
Gender discrimination is illegal in China, but the report’s authors say the law is rarely enforced.
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