Authored by Marika McAdam, this paper explores the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on labour migration and mobility of young women and girls in South-East Asia and the Pacific. Building on the research report “Supporting Brighter Futures: Young Women and Girls and Labour Migration in South-East Asia and the Pacific” published by IOM in 2019, the paper offers speculative reflections on some policy implications that the shifts induced by the COVID-19 pandemic may have had on the overarching and interrelated economic, social, cultural and structural findings of the report, as well as the gender dimensions at play in South-East Asia and the Pacific.

This research publication was made possible through support provided by the Gender Equality Branch of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.