Manila, Mar 8, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - The Asian Development Bank (ASX: ATB) celebrated International Women's Day with the launch of a tool kit to guide staff and consultants on how to more effectively promote gender equality, including legal aspects and policy issues in its developing member countries.

"Violence against women and girls remains a critical issue that pervades many parts of the world, and the Asia and Pacific region is no exception," said ADB Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss. "Violence undermines women's education, productivity, and their ability to contribute effectively to the wellbeing of their families, communities and countries at large."

ADB's involvement in promoting gender equality includes combating human trafficking in the Greater Mekong Subregion, supporting Viet Nam to develop the Law on Gender Equality, and helping Cambodia to disseminate the country's first Law on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and the Protection of Victims.

"By intensifying our joint efforts, women and girls can properly participate in the achievements of progress and development in Asia and the Pacific," Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss said. "In this spirit, ADB can actively contribute to the implementation of the relevant U.N. Resolutions."

The tool kit launched today further helps to address these problems by providing background on the gender issues concerning laws and policies that govern and influence ADB-supported projects, and suggests practical approaches to addressing them.

"The ADB Gender, Law and Policy Toolkit will help ADB more fully analyze gender issues in proposed loans, grants, and technical assistance projects," said ADB Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss.

The kit also provides background materials, Internet links, checklists, sample assurances, and other tools for integrating gender law and policy considerations in country partnership strategies and projects. It is available as a publication and online, plus a special web-based version will be developed to enable the tool kit to be updated and supplemented at regular intervals.

In addition to addressing gender issues in its operations, ADB has also been active in improving the gender balance among its staff, said ADB Vice President Khempheng Pholsena. Since 2002, the number of women in senior level positions at ADB has more than doubled, while women's representation in ADB field offices nearly tripled. "Gender equality is not just about numbers," she added, "It is also about true equality in every sense of the word and that is what we are striving for in the workplace."