Gender and economic security in southeast Asia
| Author | Tamara Nair |
| Published date | 01 March 2022 |
| Date | 01 March 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20578911211038284 |
| Subject Matter | Special issue articles |
Gender and economic security
in southeast Asia
Tamara Nair
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Abstract
Economic security in southeast Asia is often connected to the survival and security of states.
This macro definition can be contrasted with a more people-centred approach to economic
security. This article focuses on this aspect. Of particular concern is how men and women are
affected differently in unstable times. We witness this now in this global pandemic. The current
economic insecurities of women are not a reflection of historical gender norms but more a
creation of contemporary neoliberal economics as practised in the region. While southeast
Asia does well as a global economic hub, women do not have a fair share in its gains. By examining
issues of power, liberating policies and women’s rights and the right to decent work, the
article ultimately posits greater intervention in narrowing economic inequalities. This will be a
vital step in rebuilding national economies in southeast Asia, post-pandemic and in the years to
come.
Keywords
economic security, gender, human security, southeast Asia, emerging economies
Individuals and institutions must become allies in the common cause of enhancing life opportunities—
for present and future generations. (United Nations Development Programme, 1994)
Let us begin with a basic understanding of economic security. There is no universal definition of
the term. As Christopher Dent states, as important as the concept of economic security is, attempts
at growing the scholarship around it have not kept up with its importance (Dent, 2001). Dent comes
close though, in his work on economic security in Singapore, and by extension the southeast Asian
region, connecting it with the survival and security of states (Dent, 2001). His is a macro and sin-
gular idea. But the idea of state security is not a monolithic concept. Dent himself gives a brief nod
Corresponding author:
Tamara Nair, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Ave, Block S4,
Level B3, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
Email: istnair@ntu.edu.sg
Special issue article
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics
2022, Vol. 7(1) 29–44
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/20578911211038284
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to this on his way to expounding economics and state security (Dent, 2007). Picking up from Alan
Chong’s critique of Dent’s thesis (this volume), economic security is also very much people-
centred. Here is where this article and Dent part ways. Simply put, from a people-centred perspec-
tive, economic security can be defined as procuring a sufficient income for an individual now and
into the future, for the basic fulfilment of her/his needs. But, economic security would also include
ideas of resilience and stability. These are concepts that are important to an individual’s wellbeing,
especially in times of crises, as in the global COVID-19 pandemic. Resilience and stability as cor-
nerstones in an individual’s life are also two important principles outlined in the doctrine of human
security.
In discussing economic security, I place it within the broader discourse of human security and its
ideas of survival, security and stability. Human security is not a new concept, its debut being in the
Human Development Report of 1994 (United Nations Development Programme, 1994). The
concept itself has been studied in academic and policy circles extensively but actual studies of
how human security can be achieved (or not), in the everyday lives of people, are few and far
between. Human security often winds up as an alternative to what one might term ‘national’secur-
ity –as in two separate elements –security of people and security of state. Also, in most human
security discussions, we see more discussion on ‘security’than ‘human’. There is another point
of contention: can we really equate ‘human’to all human beings? As Des Gasper writes,
‘human’can refer to the human species as well as ‘whatever in human persons and collectivities
is considered to be most important, most worthy, most ‘human’and at risk …’ (Gasper, 2013:
28). So the concept of human security, then, would mean little if divorced from its social or cultural
contexts within which human lives are organized and lived. In order to better understand the eco-
nomic security/insecurity of people, we need to place it within a particular socio-cultural context,
which would then give greater meaning to what we are trying to explore. The human security frame-
work provides an excellent platform for this given that it is about the protection and preservation of
human survival, human dignities and daily life, as the former Japanese Prime Minister, Obuchi
Keizo, articulated in initiating the discussion on human security in Japan and elsewhere
(Obuchi, 1999), making the concept transcend cultural and geographical barriers and allowing
for local interpretations. It becomes a powerful tool to study barriers to human development, pro-
tecting human dignities and sustaining daily lives. It is used in this article with this discourse in
mind where gender and economic security is examined. With the understanding that the human
security framework embraces freedom from fear, freedom from want and freedom from indignities,
we go deeper into the lived experiences of women workers to investigate how gender has become a
basis for economic discrimination.
Economic security is the gateway by which other human securities such as food, water, envir-
onmental and even political securities, are realized. But it is also the way by which inequalities are
magnified. These inequalities are not only of wages and classes but also of genders. Inequality
between men and women in particular is the most obvious because it is the most discussed.
Such inequalities are also exaggerated when one considers the intersectionalities between race,
genders, especially those that are non-binary, and ethnicities. The study of such intersectionalities
is of equal import but is beyond the scope of this article. Here, I aim to discuss economic inequality
between men and women with a focus on southeast Asian nations.
Of the seven aspects of human security outlined in the Human Development Report of 1994,
economic security has stood out as a key variable in establishing sustainable peace and progress
for nations in southeast Asia. Heralded for its miraculous growth and drastic reduction in
poverty within a decade or so in the 1980s and 1990s, with governments heavily backing aggressive
30 Asian Journal of Comparative Politics 7(1)
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