Gender Roles and Statuses

Division of Labor by Gender.Traditional roles prevail in rural areas, where men

cultivate the land but the entire family is involved in planting and harvesting the crops.
Women work in gardens and care for the house and children as well as barnyard
animals. In urban areas, men work in construction and machine upkeep and as drivers
of passenger vehicles. Women work as teachers, clerks, owners ofsari-saristores,
marketers of produce and health care providers. Occupational gender lines are blurred
since men also work as nurses and teachers. In the professions, gender lines are less
important. Women attorneys, doctors and lawyers are found in the provinces as well as
in urban areas.
The Relative Status of Women and Men.While families desire male children, females
are welcomed to supply help in the house and provide a home in the parents' old age.
Women's rights to equality and to share the family inheritance with male siblings are
firmly established and are not questioned. The oldest daughter is expected to become
an OSW to provide money for the education of younger siblings and for the needs of
aging family members. Women are the familial money managers. The wedding
ceremony can include the gift of a coin from the groom to the bride to acknowledge this
role.
Since personal relationships and wealth are considered the road to success, women
have an equal opportunity to achieve. Winners of beauty pageants are likely to succeed
in the business and professional world, especially if the pageant was at an international
level.

Peters, Jens. Philippines, 1997

Read more: http://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/The-Philippines.html#ixzz58NnrqiEW

Is gender inequality really so low in the Philippines?

21 March 2015

Author: Fiona MacPhail, UNBC

The Philippines ranked ninth out of 142 countries in terms of gender equality, according
to the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2014. As one of
the top 10 countries, the Philippines keeps company with high-income Nordic countries,
such as Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Perhaps surprisingly, several low-
income countries such as Nicaragua and Rwanda also made the top 10.
The WEF global gender gap index is comprised of 14 indicators measuring educational
attainment, health and survival, economic participation and opportunity, and political
empowerment. The global gender gap index measures the difference between men and
women’s access to resources and opportunities rather than the total level of
attainment. For example, the Philippines and Norway achieved the same rank of one
indicating virtually no gender gap in secondary education enrolments, despite very
different levels of overall enrolment. In the Philippines, 67 per cent of girls and 56 per
cent of boys are enrolled in secondary education, compared to 96 per cent and 94 per
cent respectively in Norway.
The Philippines’ overall ninth place ranking is driven by high performance on two
indicators: education, and health and survival. In both dimensions, the Philippines has
achieved the highest rank of one, with virtually no gender gap in literacy rates, primary,
secondary and even tertiary education enrollment, and life expectancy.
Despite these impressive results, gender inequality persists in economic opportunities
and political empowerment, where the Philippines ranked 24th and 17th respectively.
The Philippines’ ranking for labour force participation was even lower, at 102 out of 142
countries. This is due to a female labour force participation rate of just 53 per cent,
which is extremely low compared to a male participation rate of 81 per cent.
Women’s participation in paid work is constrained by unpaid domestic and care work,
and a lack of productive employment opportunities. According to statistics from the
Department of Labor and Employment, 30 per cent of working-age women reported
that household or family duties prevented them from participating in the labour market.
The Philippines’ relatively high WEF ranking arises partly because despite barriers to
women’s labour force participation, many women who are able to participate in paid
work do access high-status occupations such as legislators, senior officials, managers,
professionals and technicians. This likely reflects effective gender equality policies in
these particular areas.
Thus, the overall ninth place ranking needs to be interpreted with caution. The
construction of the WEF gender gap index masks underperformance in the economic
and political spheres where many women are still excluded. Also, rankings of gender
inequality are highly sensitive to the indicators used. For example, compared to its
ninth-place ranking on the WEF gender gap index, the Philippines ranked only 78th in
the 2014 United Nations Development Program’s Gender Inequality Index.
While the degree of gender equality in the Philippines, relative to other countries, is
debatable, the Philippines has an extensive — and impressive — institutional framework
to promote gender equality. The Philippines has ratified key international agreements,
including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, the constitution affirms women’s equality with men, and the Magna Carta of
Women requires the state to uphold women’s human rights.
The Philippines Commission on Women (PCW) promotes gender equality through a
comprehensive strategy of gender mainstreaming and good governance. This likely
contributes to the Philippines’ high ranking for education on the WEF index. The PCW
utilises gender budgeting and auditing tools to strengthen accountability; implements
specific projects, such as the GREAT Women Project to support women’s economic
empowerment; supports sex-disaggregated data collection; and conducts research to
make laws and policies gender-sensitive. For women able to overcome barriers to
participation, gender equality is promoted through the Magna Carta and Labor
Code which include temporary special measures.
But further advances in gender equality will require more effective implementation of
some legislation, particularly acts relating to child care and women’s economic
inclusion, such as the agrarian reform law. Current legislation on labour standards and
contracts also needs to be better enforced. Improving the well-being of women requires
increasing overall living standards, not just reducing the gender gap. Disadvantaged
women need specific attention in a country with high levels of overall income inequality.

Philippine gender gap narrow but women leaders still needed

The government encourages women in all sectors of the society to take part in
leadership and to drive for excellence

Mark Z. Saludes
Published 7:00 PM, March 08, 2015

Updated 7:00 PM, March 08, 2015

MANILA, Philippines – “[What] we want is representation. We (women) comprise almost

50% of the country’s population; therefore we should be part of the leadership, the
power and decision making.”

This was the statement made by Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) Chairperson
Remedios Ignacio-Rikken at a program celebrating the International Women’s Month at
the Quezon Memorial Circle on Sunday, March 8.

As the government’s lead agency for women’s advocacy and empowerment, PCW is
organizing activities to celebrate and promote Women’s Rights for the month of March,
as mandated by former president Cory Aquino’s proclamation no. 227, issued on
February 27, 1988.

Proclamation 227 highlighted the historical contributions Filipino women of every class,
religion and ethnic background have made to the growth and strength of the nation.
Guided with this year’s theme; “Juana, desisyon mo ay mahalaga sa kinabukasan ng
bawat isa, Ikaw na!,” (Juana, your decision is important to the future of everyone) the
government is encouraging women in all sectors of the society to take an active
leadership role in determining our collective future.

“In barangays, municipalities, cities, the Congress, the Senate and in all branches and
departments of the government, women must contribute in governance and
management, [and] be part of every judgment and ruling in the civil societ," Rikken said.

"It is about time that women lead like how mothers take good care of their children. The
world will become a better place if both men and women are being heard.” Rikken
added.

At home

The government says it is doing its part to empower women at all levels of society.

Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman told Rappler that the government’s main focus
is to give the women of every household the control and share the authority inside the
family, especially for poor women through its Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps).

“The DSWD is one of the national government agencies responsible for ensuring that
the vulnerability of women is protected, and if they were victimized, they should be
rehabilitated; therefore empowering them should be the proactive work of the
government. This is being done in several programs such as the 4Ps where 95% of
card holders, or the beneficiaries, are women,” said Soliman.

“We want women to become prevailing in terms of headship; we encourage them to be

part of and to be active in the political and social life of the community because
decisions made by legislators and authorities have impact in their lives.” Soliman added.

Mandated by law

The Philippines is widely recognized for having been able to close the gap in terms of
gender equality in the workplace. According to the Global Gender Gap Report for 2014,
the Philippines ranks within the top 10 countries with low gender inequality.

It helps that there are specific laws, like Republic Act 9710 or the Magna Carta for
Women, that seek to eliminate discrimination against women by recognizing, protecting,
fulfilling and promoting the rights of Filipino women. This includes the non-discrimination
in employment in the fields of military, police and other several services.
One such example is the Bureau of Fire Protection, which now employs women as
frontline firefighters.

FIRE WOMEN. An all women fire fighting team of the Bureau of Fire Protection-NCR

"Lady Members of the BFP can operate trucks, perform the functions in a search and
rescue and execute jobs that a male firefighter could do; therefore we can have an all
female fire truck crew in the future.” said SFO3 Lonel Lopez of Quezon City Fire District.

“Gender equality is still an issue but we must not stop struggling and proving that
women are vital elements of the society and in decision-making.” Lopez added.

Engendering Development: the Status of Women in the Philippines

CONJUGATIONS - Lila Ramos Shahani (The Philippine Star) - March 2, 2015 - 12:00am
image: http://media.philstar.com/images/the-philippine-star/opinion/20150302/lila-shahani-women-in-
philippines.jpg

Women make up over half of our population. Their contribution to society has been incalculable, but
disparities clearly remain between the fulfillment of their needs, on the one hand, and the services
and protections afforded them by the state, on the other.

The coming celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8—originated in 1909 by Socialists
in New York commemorating the 1908 strike of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union—
provides us with an opportunity to celebrate some hard-won achievements, call attention to currently
unresolved issues and look toward future needs and hopes of women’s lives in the Philippines. What
is the status of women and to what extent has the quality of their lives improved? What role has the
government played in spurring or, at times, impeding, such developments, at least in the past fifty
years?

The state’s involvement in women’s lives goes back to the Spanish colonial era, with the Church’s
active involvement in regulating sexual conduct and marital relations through ritual and the
sacraments. During the first half of the twentieth century, the US colonial state secularized and co-
educationalized public schools, opening up more opportunities for women. Women’s full citizenship
status was further enhanced with the victory of women’s suffrage groups pressuring the
Commonwealth government into granting them the vote in 1937. My own mother fondly remembers
going to colonial public schools in Lingayen, Pangasinan in the 1930s and then to UP after the war,
where all sorts of doors opened up for her generation.

In the post-war period, the state’s interest in women’s development was initially institutionalized
during the Marcos era. Whatever else one might think of the Marcos dictatorship, it drew, at least in
its initial years, from the expertise of intellectuals and technocrats. They, in turn, sought to tap
women’s potential for national development. For example, they set up the Population Commission to
regulate rising birth rates and make available birth control for women. They also established
the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (now the Philippine Commission on
Women) in 1975. It served—and continues to serve—as the national machinery for integrating
women into the economic and socio-cultural fabric of the country.

Later administrations followed suit with uneven, and at times contradictory, attempts to further
women’s development. Cory Aquino set up the Philippine Development Plan for Women; FVR had
his Gender and Development Budget and his administration’s grant of full representation of women
in the Social Service Commission; even Erap Estrada, not known to be a feminist, established
(though did not fully fund) the Philippine Agenda for Women Empowerment; and GMA put in place
the Framework Plan for Women, as well as the Magna Carta for Women.

Today, there are several ways by which the government reckons with the status of women. Two
important metrics are education and employment. In education, the Marcos regime measured
women’s education by the number of students who had completed primary, secondary and tertiary
levels of education. But since the Cory years, educational levels have been measured by recourse to
two categories: the Simple Literacy Rate and Functional Literacy Rate.

Simple Literacy indicates a person’s ability to read and write while understanding a simple message
in any language or dialect, while Functional Literacy assumes a higher level of literacy, including a
grasp of numeracy, encompassing the overall ability of a person to use written communication in
carrying out important activities in his/her life.

Read more at https://www.philstar.com/opinion/2015/03/02/1428959/engendering-

development-status-women-philippines#yelteV4c4cIA7ysm.99

The Challenge

Despite gains achieved by women’s groups, trade unions, international organizations,

government agencies and non-government organizations in the last three decades, most
women in the Philippines still remain marginalized and disadvantaged in the world of work.
Women workers, especially in the informal economy, continuously face discrimination in
accessing credit, benefits, and opportunities to improve their lives and that of their families.
The Response The International Labour Organization Country Office for the Philippines (ILO CO-
Manila) has been actively promoting the rights and welfare of women workers through various
measures. Recognizing the fact that gender equality is in the heart of Decent and productive
work, the ILO has been actively building the capacities of relevant government agencies, trade
unions, employers organizations, civil society, the academe and workers in the informal
economy in various degrees and means. Through the years, ILO CO-Manila promoted gender
mainstreaming in projects and programmes of its tripartite partners particularly employers and
trade unions through technical and financial assistance. Since 2007, the ILO approach to
simplify gender mainstreaming was gearing up partners through the Participatory Gender Audit
(PGA). The Office has trained more than 100 PGA facilitators who in turn have conducted PGA
in various United Nations (UN) agencies, government offices and local government units. In
January 2012, the result of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) PGA as conducted
by ILO Manila was finalized. The PGA was conducted to assess the extent of gender
mainstreaming work in DOLE in terms of coherence in its policies, programmes,
implementation mechanisms and results. It was also conducted to integrate gender in its Labor
and Employment Plan (LEP). Several programmes for women workers are in place such as
capacity building for women in trade unions through promotion of gender equality and
nondiscrimination at the workplace with emphasis on increasing women’s participation in trade
union leadership; and awareness raising programme on the role of freedom of association and
collective bargaining in organizing and promoting gender equality in export processing zones
(EPZs) in order to reduce the existing rights gaps. In 2012-2013 biennium, around 150 young
women aged 35 and below participated in leadership trainings all over the country

Sources: LFPR, Phils 2005-2013; Decent Work Country Profile, 2012Sources: LFPR, Phils 2005-
2013; Decent Work Country Profile, 2012