Women Leaders’ Network Meeting KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA SEPTEMBER 1-2, 1998

The Declaration mentions that the meeting took place during the financial and social crisis in the APEC region. It calls upon APEC leaders and Ministers to "accelerate the implementation of [WLN] recommendations from the first WLN meeting in Manila in 1996, and the second WLN meeting in Ottawa-Hull, in 1997" (WLN 1998).

The key 1 998 WLN Recommendations to APEC Economic Leaders were:

+ To take collective action and to support initiatives to manage and mitigate the impact of the economic crisis;

+ To assess and take measures to address the disproportionate economic, financial and social impacts of the crisis o­n women;

+ To accelerate the integration of women and gender perspectives into all APEC processes and activities;

+ To urgently address the lack of available sex-disaggregated data and analyses, which are essential to effective policy-making, and the success of APEC programs and projects;

+ To ensure the full participation of women, at all levels, including policy and decision making in all APEC fora, as well as in the design and implementation of economic recovery programs;

+ To promote and facilitate the participation of women in business, science and technology, networking and partnerships for the mutual benefit, sustainability and prosperity of our respective economies;

+ To immediately review the membership of APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) so that women's participation is enhanced to achieve a target of 30% with at least o­ne woman member from each economy by the year 2000; and

+ To seriously consider the recommendations of the Ministerial Meeting o­n women to be held in Manila, the Republic of the Philippines, October 15-16, 1998, and establish an effective, cross-cutting AEPC mechanism with expertise o­n gender, to ensure the implementation of the Ministerial Recommendations (WLN 1998).

The recommendation regarding increased female representation 'on ABAC was initially voiced in 1997. It is a measure the WLN took to increase women's participation within APEC as per the directives of APEC Leaders. The 1998 WLN Recommendations were presented at the 1998 SME Ministerial Meeting, the 1998 Ministerial Meeting o­n Women as well as to the APEC Economic Leaders.

Achievements and Outcomes

The 1998 WLN Meeting served as the venue for the launching of the Confederation of Women's Business Councils (CWBC) in APEC Economies by the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, China, Mexico, Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong-China, and Chinese Taipei. The mandate of the CWBC is to act as a catalyst to facilitate and enhance business networking and partnerships among women entrepreneurs in the region (Lever 2000). The proposal originally put forward by these ten economies was for the Confederation to be a part of the WLN, but it was not possible to gain consensus from the WLN participants o­n this issue before the meeting ended as many of the meeting's participants wanted more detailed information about the CWBC before making a decision. The Canadian team's position o­n the Confederation at this time was that they first needed to consult with the multiple national organizations that represent Canadian businesswomen to determine which o­ne(s) would represent Canada o­n the CWBC before agreeing to support the Confederation's formation or incorporation into the WLN. To follow up o­n this outstanding issues the Canadian WLN included representatives from Women Entrepreneurs of Canada (WEC), Women Business Owners of Canada (WBOC), and the Canadian Association of Women Executives and Entrepreneurs (CAWEE) in the 1999 delegation so that they could develop a common position regarding CWBC membership prior to arriving at the 1999 WLN Meeting.

The 1998 WLN Meeting generated a proposal to create an informal Management Committee made up of the past, current, and future chairs/hosts of the WLN Meetings and which would serve to support the current host in its organizing role. Although the meeting participants supported this proposal, it was not put into practice at the 1999 WLN Meeting by the New Zealand government or by the 2000 WLN Organizing Committee in Brunei Darussalam.

The social and economic crisis in Asia at the time of this meeting, led to a greater integration of social and economic concerns within the WLN and APEC. For many APEC officials it was the first time they began to acknowledge that economic and social issues were strongly interrelated.

This is significant as previously APEC claimed that it had a purely economic agenda.

At the 1998 WLN Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, APEC Economic Leaders noted that intensified effort to address the social impacts of the Asian financial crisis should be a matter of high priority. They stated that concrete actions aimed at strengthening social safety nets should be formulated through cooperation among the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank, and where appropriate also with public and private institutions. The crisis highlighted the need to develop general social safety nets to ease the impact of economic volatility and contribute to greater productivity and that even those APEC economies not affected by the social and economic crisis in Asia also could learn the importance of quality social safety net provision (Chinese Taipei WLN Chapter 1999).

The 1998 WLN Meeting was followed immediately by the APEC SME Business Forum.

Approximately ten WLN members attended and had significant input into the policy drafting process at this forum. In particular, the WLN participants pushed to obtain specific recognition for micro-enterprises under the rubric of SMEs. APEC was particularly receptive to these WLN recommendations due to the social and economic crisis taking place in Asia. Despite the fact that the WLN did not have official recognition at the APEC SME Business forum and policy drafting process, its presence was strong and visible, and WLN participants represented approximately 20% of the members of the drafting committee. Their presence served to integrate a number of different gender concerns into the SME Business Forum presentation to the SME Ministers and thus gave greater strength to the WLN recommendations presented to the Ministers.

At the time of the 1998 WLN Meeting, there was no guarantee or confirmation that the 1998 Ministerial Meeting o­n Women would happen. The 1998 WLN Meeting therefore focused o­n influencing the 1998 Ministerial Meeting o­n Women and drafted presentations specifically for the Ministerial Meeting.

The 1998 WLN Meeting also helped to solidify the relationship between APEC and the WLN.

Being formally invited to a second ministerial meeting to make a presentation and demonstrating a strong presence at the 1998 APEC SME Business forum strengthened the WLN's influence and further established its credibility with APEC. The WLN's relationship with APEC at this time was still focused o­n moving the gender agenda forward. Since the 1998 WLN Meeting took place at a time of instability and change, due to the social and economic crisis in Asia; this gave the WLN an opportunity to push for a more collaborative working relationship with APEC to generate innovative and gender-balanced solutions. The WLN did this by documenting the impact of this crisis o­n women in the region and by highlighting their contributions and recommendations regarding potential solutions.