South Asia is at a crossroads. Women are more educated and connected than ever before, yet their economic participation remains among the lowest globally. This contradiction—between rising human capital and limited economic opportunity—is constraining the region’s growth and competitiveness. At the same time, rapid economic, technological, demographic, and environmental shifts are creating both risks and opportunities. Advancing women’s economic empowerment is therefore a key priority—not only to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 5 on gender equality, but also to build stronger and more inclusive economies and societies.

Given the complexities and the need to address the common challenges, ADB’s CCGE’s gender team assigned to South Asia carried out a regional workshop on Women’s Economic Empowerment in South Asia – Working Together on Transformative Solutions” on 12-13 November 2025 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The event brought together about 80 participants from the government, private sector, civil society, and development partners from South Asia to discuss emerging issues of women’s economic empowerment. The regional workshop provided a timely platform for a regional dialogue on progress, learning from initiatives across the region, defining practical ways to move forward on this critical agenda, and informing ADB’s operations with more transformative approaches for women’s economic empowerment in the region.

The regional workshop was organized by the ADB’s Gender Equality Division (CCGE) in collaboration with the South Asia Regional Department (SARD), with support from the Sri Lanka Resident Mission. 

Read Session Highlights here.