INDONESIA

Philippines Gender Equality...With Reservations

"According to international surveys, the Philippines rank as among the top countries for gender equality. But many of whom still live in poverty."

According to international surveys, the Philippines rank as among the top countries for gender equality.

It’s the only Asian nation to make the top-ten gender equal countries.

45-year-old Senator Grace Poe is on her way to a briefing on the floors of the Philippines Senate. She was elected to her seat earlier this year.

She says her experience as a Filipino woman helps guide her decision-making.
 
“As a mother as a woman, I feel that apart from legislating, it’s also having the representation and advocating, reminding the citizenry that what we need to do is better the lives of our countryman, improve social protection in our country.”
 
Poe says she’s proud to be amongst the women who make up a quarter of both the Philippines Senate and House of Representatives.

“In terms of our neighbors here in Southeast Asia or even in the world, the Philippines - when it comes to women in leadership positions - is doing very well.”
 
And some international observers agree with the senator. Statistics show Filipino women hold a high number of jobs in politics and management.

The Southeast Asian state also wins praise for advancements in female education.

Anthropologist Carolyn Sobritchea says historically women in this part of the world fair better than others.

“Filipino women, like Indonesian women or Southeast Asian women have had very powerful roles in society.  They participated in farming, they were decision makers, they could own land.  We have a base, a cultural base where women’s presence was there in the beginning.”
 
But Sobritchea points out that even though the Philippines has elected two female heads of state, both presidents did little advance women’s causes.

“It is very difficult for a woman politician to talk of women’s issues.  They have to masculinize themselves to be able to be respected; they have to reconfigure their identity. And in fact there is devaluation of political leaders if they talk about women’s issues.”
 
Elizabeth Angsioco, who heads the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, says global rankings give a misleading picture of the Philippines.
 
“It’s nice to look at international reports that say you’re doing really well. But it has to be grounded.  These reports need to be contrasted with the actual quality of life enjoyed by our people, particularly women.”
 
Angsioco says at the community level, the barangays, women still suffer from high rates of poverty, hunger and domestic violence. Her group trains women to become leaders in their villages.

But with a third of Filipinos living on just a dollar a days, women stay vulnerable.

“If you look at the data now, what kind of economic opportunities are open? You will see that most women are in informal kind of work, which means they are not protected by law,” Angsioco says.
 
Some students in Manila’s all women’s school, Miriam College, say they don’t think entering politics is as easy as the global surveys might suggest.

“I’m Rejane Cortez Torrecampo, I’m 19, I’m studying international studies.”

“Women coming from political dynasties have more chances of going into politics than other women who are not from a political or powerful family.”
 
Her classmate, 19-year old Nikka Rivera, says that poor education standards, especially in the countryside, mean many Filipino women don’t really know their rights.
 
“The information does not go to the grass root or community level, so women don’t know the different opportunities they have in order to participate in the decision making process.”
 
But 20 year-old Jelyn Grace Torrez says it’s still a chance worth taking.
 
“I want to be a good example, that women can do it; that women can serve, that women can do something for the betterment of the country and that women can make a difference.”
 

• Philippines
• Gender Equality
• poor women
• women rights
• Jason Strother