Short Summary: What has been the impact of the Asian financial crisis on women? This occasional paper aims to make the voices of women heard. It analyses some of the most important factors that caused the Asian crisis and its social consequences for women, such as unemployment and underemployment, increasing prices of household goods and cuts in public services. The paper presents the responses to the social crisis of some multilateral and bilateral organisations, including the World Bank, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Recommendations at macro-economic and programme levels on how to make development policies and programmes address gender issues include: more gender-sensitive quantitative and qualitative research; an extension of social security systems to homework and the informal sector; increased participation of women in economic decision-making and of women's businesses in international trade; the introduction of gender-sensitive programme monitoring systems and the integration of women's groups in consultation processes with implementing agencies.

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