Women's Development

Women have always enjoyed greater equality in Philippine society than was common in other parts of Southeast Asia. Since pre-Spanish times, Filipinos have traced kinship bilaterally. A woman's rights to legal equality and to inherit family property have not been questioned. Education and literacy levels in 1990 were higher for women than for men. President Aquino often is given as an example of what women can accomplish in Philippine society. The appearance of women in important positions, however, is not new or even unusual in the Philippines. Filipino women, usually called Filipinas, have been senators, cabinet officers, Supreme Court justices, administrators, and heads of major business enterprises. Furthermore, in the early 1990s women were found in more than a proportionate share of many professions although they predominated in domestic service (91 percent), professional and technical positions (59.4 percent), and sales (57.9 percent). Women also were often preferred in assembly-type factory work. The availability of the types of employment in which women predominated probably explains why about two-thirds of the rural to urban migrants were female. Although domestic service is a low-prestige occupation, the other types of employment compare favorably with opportunities open to the average man.

This favorable occupational distribution does not mean that women were without economic problems. Although women were eligible for high positions, these were more often obtained by men. In 1990 women represented 64 percent of graduate students but held only 159 of 982 career top executive positions in the civil service. In the private sector, only about 15 percent of top-level positions were held by women.

According to many observers, because men relegated household tasks to women, employed women carried a double burden. This burden was moderated somewhat by the availability of relatives and servants who functioned as helpers and child caretakers, but the use of servants and relatives has sometimes been denounced as the equivalent of exploiting some women to free others.

Since the Spanish colonial period, the woman has been the family treasurer, which, at least to some degree, gave her the power of the purse. Nevertheless, the Spanish also established a tradition of subordinating women, which is manifested in women's generally submissive attitudes and in a double standard of sexual conduct. The woman's role as family treasurer, along with a woman's maintenance of a generally submissive demeanor, has changed little, but the double standard of sexual morality is being challenged. Male dominance also has been challenged, to some extent, in the 1987 constitution. The constitution contains an equal rights clause--although it lacks specific provisions that might make that clause effective.

As of the early 1990s, divorce was prohibited in the Philippines. Under some circumstances, legal separation was permitted, but no legal remarriage was possible. The family code of 1988 was somewhat more liberal. Reflective of Roman Catholic Church law, the code allowed annulment for psychological incapacity to be a marital partner, as well as for repeated physical violence against a mate or pressure to change religious or political affiliation. Divorce obtained abroad by an alien mate was recognized. Although the restrictive divorce laws might be viewed as an infringement on women's liberty to get out of a bad marriage, indications were that many Filipinas viewed them as a protection against abandonment and loss of support by wayward husbands.

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Creating channels for change
By Ma. Diosa Labiste
Women?s Feature Service

Region 6 or Western Visayas (pop. 5 million) is composed of the provinces of Iloilo, Antique, Guimaras, Aklan, Capiz and Negros Occidental.

Ugsad

Housed at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas (UPV) is a regional gender resource center called Ugsad, or full moon in Hiligaynon, the local language.

Ugsad was established through the University Center for Women's Studies (UCWS) of UP and the Women's Studies Association of the Philippines. It is composed of 33 representatives from schools, government agencies, LGUs and NGOs.

The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) and the Canadian International Development Agency (Cida) approved the start-up fund for Ugsad.

Established in 1999, the center is a like a war room where strategies and tactics are mapped out to make the bureaucracy, schools, civil society groups, communities and even churches become "gender responsive."

"A gender-responsive region is where women, men and children equally participate in development efforts and equitably share resources, opportunities and benefits," said Rose Asong, the chair of Ugsad and professor of humanities at UPV.

Another organization is the Iloilo Women's Advocacy Group, with the acronym IWAG, which means light in Hiligaynon. Like Ugsad, the group is a network of women advocates working towards reproductive health and the prevention of violence against women.

IWAG's advocacy has permeated the media, government health agencies and police stations.

"IWAG is known for its active gender advocacy and its role in leading women's activities that respond to reproductive health issues," said Azucena Pestaᯬ?chair of IWAG.

While offices, organizations and communities are often run by men, gender advocates and grassroots women's movements believe that they have slowly influenced the bureaucracy and LGUs to include in their agenda various projects that respond to women's issues.

The mandate to integrate gender in the planning process came from a provision of the General Appropriations Act, which requires that five percent of the total budget of government agencies and local government units be earmarked for gender development.

Executive Order 342 also requires every government organization to appoint a focal person to champion gender advocacy.

Armed with a budget and a mandate, Ugsad and IWAG formed a pool for experts training, awareness raising, counseling, lobbying and street protests. Ugsad built a library and sponsored gender-related research and meetings to discuss topics like sexuality, history and violence against women.

Ugsad and IWAG members started their work in their own agencies, institutions and organizations by making sure that the five percent budget intended for gender and development (GAD) is spent for projects that benefit women.

Initially, the projects were limited to organizing activities for women among the agencies? employees. Later they made sure that the agencies' plans and projects responded to the needs of the women whom they are mandated to serve.

An agency that has a strong gender and development agenda is the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through its women and environment program.

Gender advocates lobbied for support systems like day-care centers for women employees and made sure that the DENR programs and projects respond to women's needs like land tenure and access to employment.

The DENR also tapped women to help preserve the five protected areas in Western Visayas, namely Mt. Kanlaon National Park, Taklong National Marine Reserve, Bulabog Putian National Park, Sagay Protected Landscape and Maasin Watershed Forest Reserve.

Of the 59 members of the Protected Areas Management Board, eight are women. Women also constitute 34 percent of the total number of beneficiaries of the Community-Based Forest Management Areas in Western Visayas.

Moreover, a growing number of women are now holders of certificates of ancestral domain claims in indigenous communities of Ati, Panay Bukidnon, Karolanos and Mahagat in Negros and Panay. While before it was only the men who were recipients of land titles, last year, 38 percent of some 1,600 titles were in the names of women.

Responding to the rising cases of violence against women, which reached 727 in 2000, an increase of 14 percent from the previous year, gender advocates, along with the regional office of the Philippine National Police (PNP) strengthened the services helping battered women and children.

These include providing victims with shelter, food, medical and transportation assistance, psychiatric treatment and legal assistance, and working closely with groups that help women victims of violence.

Police officers were also trained to handle cases of battering, incest and family violence. Iloilo has four crisis centers and halfway homes for women and children.

Two are managed by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD); two are under NGOs, namely the House of Refuge by Katin-aran, and Chameleon, a center funded by a French-Filipino organization. The last is Bantay Bata, managed by the ABS-CBN Foundation.

A non-traditional approach towards women's livelihood and employment is promoted by the regional office of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). Women are encouraged to learn skills traditionally acquired by men such as welding and automotive repair. However, few women have availed of the training.

"Our major problem is gender stereotyping. Hard trades are often associated with men so that even if women would learn them they might not find employment nor be accepted in all-male workplaces like foundries and car repair shops," said Lorena Yunque, TESDA gender focal person.

Yunque said that the local training center here, built ten years ago, is not women-friendly as seen in its design and comfort rooms. Majority of the trainors are men. Because women have not gone to TESDA, the trainors have tried to seek them out where they are--in their homes.

Women in Carles town, 147 kilometers from here, were trained to run their home-based businesses, many of which involve food processing. The women were taught bookkeeping, computing their proceeds and accessing credit.

They were encouraged to dialog with their spouses to share household chores and responsibility in running their homes.

This TESDA undertaking reached out to women who are often not recognized for their contribution to the family income and the "underground economy."

"Our programs for women came as a result of our five percent GAD budget. Without our start-up activities to acquaint ourselves with gender issues, we would have never integrated gender and development into our projects for our clients," said Yunque.

TESDA's GAD budget of P1.04 million is taken from five percent of its materials/operating and other expenses (MOOE) of P22 million. The TESDA regional office?s share is P483,000; the remaining amount is distributed to the provincial offices all over Western Visayas.

Yunque said that the regional office budget was alloted for training, research, projects and organizational activities intended to raise the gender-awareness of TESDA personnel. The budget for the provincial office is used to implement "client-based" services in the communities served by TESDA.

Yunque said that the five percent GAD budget has helped the 95 percent of the agency's budget become gender-responsive because skills training, traditionally limited to men, is now open to women. Training centers are encouraged to enroll women in whatever livelihood projects they want to engage in.

"Gender advocates are but a handful, but we have had modest successes in the last two years," said Asong.

She added that gender advocates from Uswag and IWAG will continue to encourage state colleges and universities, town councils and other government agencies to spend five percent of their budget for gender sensitivity seminars this year and come up with programs that respond to the issues the women face. 

--CyberDyaryo

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