While ASEAN consists of 10 members, there is no single female head of government. This regional pact also lacks women holding political positions and it means its leaders must work harder to ensure gender equality in the political sphere.

Many from Southeast Asian have just recently attended the 50th Australia-ASEAN Summit in Melbourne on 4-6 March. All the heads of government of the ASEAN member states were also there; all of them are men. The combined population of ASEAN is more than 660 million people, yet the number of women in political positions is still minor and certainly underrepresented.

While more recently only two women have held high political positions, they were ousted and arrested. Yingluck Shinawatra was the prime minister of Thailand for four years (2011 to 2014), but was ousted by a military coup. Myanmar’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, and former State Counsellor in Myanmar, was arrested by the current Burmese government after five years in her leadership position from 2016 to 2021. Meanwhile, Cambodia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam have never experienced a female president or prime minister. Taking in such images, one is easily given the impression that Southeast Asian nations are not friendly to women politicians.

Barriers to women in politics in the ASEAN region

ASEAN politics is still dominated by the families and close networks of allies, and this door seems only open to the people in their circle. Dynastic politics in these Southeast Asian nations have ruled for decades in the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. In the Philippines, for instance, after Ferdinand Marcos and his close allies ruled the country for 20 years, his successor,  Maria Corazon Aquino brought back some the children of established politicians and the new generations of former politicians before her presidency came to an end. The son of Marcos, Ferdinand “Bongbong” Romualdez Marcos Jr, is now president of the Philippines. Political dynasties also control politics in Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. After the general election in Cambodia in 2023, three top positions were transferred from three fathers to their sons. The current Prime Minister of Cambodia, the Minister of Defence, and the Minister of Interior, all received promotion to hold the positions once held by their fathers. In Indonesia, the possibility of the new Joko Widodo dynasty has emerged with his son now firmly elected in the seat as vice president of the country. The biggest of the Southeast Asian nations was also once ruled by the Sukarno and Suharto dynasties.

These systems of political power discourages the participation of women who are not in the circle and do not have any family ties to help them break into politics.

factor pertinent to this challenge is the ongoing conservatism toward women’s role among Southeast Asian states. Men are still considered ideal political leaders, although more women these days have adequate education and experience to hold political positions and other leadership positions in their countries. In this context, societal norms still offer significant challenges to creating a safe space and providing opportunities for young women to participate in politics actively as well. For example, in Cambodia, women are still largely forced to take on caretaker roles for the families rather than obtaining education, taking on careers, or even becoming politicians.

As Australia continues to play host to ASEAN leaders, it is important to push for more inclusive political participation and gender equality. As an important development partner for ASEAN, and a role model, the government should actively encourage talk of these topics.

Having more women in decision-making positions will not only inspire other young women to ambitiously and actively engage in politics but also engage more in their society, economy, and environment in their own countries. Women parliamentarians give more policy priority to health outcomes. They also pay attention to girls’ education and focus on economic opportunities for women, as well as ensuring gender equality in legislation. The more women in political positions means that a greater number of women are likely to lead in important political and leadership positions. Such inclusion will pave the way for the next generation of young women to participate in politics. Having role models is an essential step for future women politicians, ASEAN leaders, and other stakeholders because together they can influence policies for the better, and more than simply one half of the population of their countries.

Australia can play an important leader and role model in this respect. Over the past decade, the percentage of women in Australian politics has gradually increased, especially in the federal government. This includes 39 percent for women parliamentarians with an equal 39 percent in the states’ and territories’ parliaments. In the International Development Policy, which was released last year, Australia highlighted gender equality as a major commitment. This policy paper committed  the government to targeting 80 percent of the development investment for gender equality development programs in a new international gender equality strategy. More importantly, as DFAT states, “The new International Strategy will recognize gender equality as central to Australia’s foreign policy, international development, humanitarian action, trade and security efforts.” With ambitions to build stronger connections with the ASEAN region and the world in terms of those initiatives, Canberra should put a women-centred agenda on the table, be bold, and inspire the ASEAN region leaders to have s stronger commitment, and concrete policies, to encouraging women participation in politics.

Moving forward

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day  there are several considerations global leaders should undertake to ensure that women have equal rights.

First, the most important but challenging part is obtaining political commitment from the ASEAN leaders. Increasing the number of women, especially those outside of the family networks and close allies, might be risky for some political parties. Closed political networks don’t like outsiders and will try to prevent the inclusion of those seen as different, dangerous, or as upsetting the status quo. Australia can encourage members of ASEAN to consider having a compulsory gender quota for their political parties, for political positions, and parliament seats. In the ASEAN region, dynastic politics are strong and push back will be concerted, though this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try.

Second, ASEAN should initiate more political leadership programs solely for young women to participate. The initiative should aim for young women who are not from established networks or families of the current political leaders and who are passionate and committed. These women are out there, they just need a chance. Giving them the opportunities to sharpen their skills and make them feel like they belong will change much and encourage broader political participation.

Last, more dialogues between women in political positions and young women are needed. This is crucial because without knowing who is interested, and what motivates each woman, the politicians cannot make policies that rightly serve the people. In addition to the significance of the sense of belonging and motivation, dialogues are helpful for policy evaluation. They also can discuss lessons learned from their time in politics and provide inputs to improve policies in the future for the next generation of leaders and gender equality in the region.

Seavmeng Samoeurth is currently a master’s student at Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University and a research intern at Australian Institute of International Affairs. She is a 3rd Generation Leader at Politikoffee. Her main areas of interests are gender and politics, public policy and development.

This article is published under a Creative Commons Licence and may be republished with attribution.