On 23 June every year, the United Nations’ Public Service Day celebrates and recognizes the value of public servants across the world. To mark this occasion, 7 delegates from the Government of Lao PDR and UNDP attended the 2024 UN Public Service Forum in Incheon, Republic of Korea from 24 to 26 June. 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Home Affairs have been promoting gender equality in public administration since 2022 under the UN DESA project “Building capacities for promoting the presence and leadership of women within public institutions at national and local levels”. Funded by the Government of Italy, this initiative aims to accelerate women’s participation and leadership opportunities in the public sector in Lao PDR, Bhutan, Senegal, and Mauritius. 

Women’s Representation in the Public Sector

Although more women than ever are occupying leadership and decision-making positions, gender parity is still a long way off. In Lao PDR, women represent 45% of the civil service yet the proportion of women in decision making positions remains low, at 18% in 2023. It is even lower at subnational levels with only 5 to 7% of women occupying Provincial and District governor positions. Traditionally responsible for domestic and family duties, women do the vast majority of the unpaid care work, and their career advancement is often limited. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including SDG 5, achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls, and SDG 16, promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, advancing gender equality and women’s representation is paramount.

Taking Action to Enable Gender Equality 

Recognizing these stark disparities, UNDP Lao PDR and the Ministry of Home Affairs conducted an in-depth assessment to identify the challenges that women face in their career progression towards leadership positions in the public sector. With the support of the project, the Government is currently finalizing a Gender Equality Action Plan, which aims at achieving 25 to 30% representation and leadership of women in public administration at both the national and sub-national levels. Key interventions include ensuring gender balance in civil service trainings, raising awareness on the need to streamline gender equality in all sectors and enhancing gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation systems.

On 23 June, delegates took to a global stage to share their journey of promoting women’s leadership and reflected on the lessons learned.