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Minh Thu, a-22-year-old girl from Vietnam representing the voices of girls and young women across Asia participated in the online launching of the Asia Girls Report 2020: Introducing the Girls Leadership Index. Source: Plan International Vietnam

On October 9, Minh Thu, 22 years old, from Vietnam representing the voices of girls and young women across Asia participated in the online launching of the Asia Girls Report 2020: Introducing the Girls Leadership Index.

Taking part in this event was Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Kung Phoak, representatives of ASEAN Committee on Women and Children (ACWC) and representatives of Plan International Asia-Pacific Regional Hub.

This report conducted by Plan International, is the first of its kind to highlight the state of girls’ leadership in Asia, focusing on six key domains: Education, Health, Economic Opportunities, Protection, Political Voice and Representation with the aim is to correctly and comprehensively portray the living conditions girls are in, which helps bridge the gap that current Sustainable Development Goals are missing, identify critical investment areas and advocate for governments and leaders to improve the life of girls all across Asia.

Currently, there are over 1.1 billion girls worldwide, and more than half of that are living in Asia. Inspite of much progress in female empowerment, girls and young women living in Asia still face gender-based barriers every single day.

During the panel discussion, Thu represented the voice of girls across the region and shared her life experience: “…Us girls often play the minor role. We often stay behind to support boys on their pursuit of their dreams. I strongly believe that, girls are also capable of incredible feats, but they don’t get the same opportunities to do so. I think, first and foremost, is the external factor. We live in a digital-led and globalized world, but Asian society in general is still very much conservative and hold many gender biases. Secondly, girls tend to hold back as they lack the confidence to break through their own self-imposed limitations…”

Thu felt honored to partake in this event, and to see that her voice is heard, respected and valued just like any other participant.

On this occasion, she wanted to spread her message of encouragement for girls across the world to step out of their own comfortzone, to find themselves and help improve the life for girls everywhere.

Taking part in this event was Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Deputy Secretary-General for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Kung Phoak, representatives of ASEAN Committee on Women and Children (ACWC) and representatives of Plan International Asia-Pacific Regional Hub. Source: Plan International Vietnam

Analysing 19 South and Southeast Asian countries’ achievements in girls’ education, economic opportunity, protection, health, political voice, and legal standing, the 2020 Asia Girls Report and Girls’ Leadership Index, launched by Plan International, is the first of its kind to consolidate regional data highlighting important investment areas for girls across the region.

The Index rankings, reflect the current situation of girls’ leadership in each country relative to the other countries. Of note, no single country received the same ranking across all domains (i.e., no country ranked first or last across all six domains). This suggests that, when compared with their neighbours in the region, some countries are doing better than others on certain domains, but no one country is excelling across all domains. The rankings alone mask the complex and variable reality behind the relative positions. The Index values offer a more nuanced and practical understanding of girls’ leadership in the region.

Vietnam ranks third in the recently released 2020 Asia Girls’ Report by Plan International. The full report can be accessed at https://plan-international. org/publications/asia-girls- report-2020. Source: Plan International

The three highest-ranking countries on the Index are Singapore (.778), the Philippines (.717) and Vietnam (.712), all of which are members of ASEAN. Singapore’s Index value is considerably higher than that of the second- and third-ranked countries, largely due to its first-place scores in four domains.

The difference between the second- and third-ranking countries (the Philippines and Vietnam, respectively) is more subtle, with the Philippines’ component domain rankings ranging from first (laws and policies) to 12th (health) and Vietnam’s component domain rankings ranging from first (voice and participation) to 11th (protection)./.

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