 Women migrants stand at the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis as healthcare workers, caregivers, innovators and community organizers in combating the pandemic. This is to be expected as after all women and girls represent almost half of the 281 million migrants globally. We have seen how the crisis has highlighted both the centrality of their contributions and the disproportionate burdens women carry. It is therefore very appropriate that this year's theme for International Women's Day celebrates the remarkable efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The theme women in leadership achieving an equal future in the COVID-19 world emphasizes women's full and effective participation in decision making in public life as well as the elimination of violence for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Given the over-representation of migrant women in the informal economy across the Asia-Pacific region, in particular for domestic care work, women migrant workers are already more likely to work in insecure labour rules under precarious conditions. We have also seen that due to the pandemic, migrant women are experiencing additional vulnerabilities, such as increased levels of gender-based violence, as well as exclusion from healthcare services, restricted freedom of movement, wage loss or theft, and increased likelihood of becoming irregular migrants with limited options for safe return. It is therefore imperative that this International Women's Day and indeed beyond, we all strive to uphold women's rights and fully leverage the potential of women's leadership in pandemic preparedness and response. The perspectives of women and girls in all of their diversity must be integrated in the formulation and implementation of policies and programmes in all spheres and at all stages of pandemic response and recovery. We must therefore ensure that women, including migrants, are at the centre of the recovery from COVID and are empowered to lead us towards a more equal future. The world will be better for it.