National Women’s month
MARCH 8 is National Women’s Month and International Women’s Day. These are part of an annual celebration to underscore the key role women — the other half holding up the sky — play in our society’s development and long-term prosperity.
Much progress has been accomplished in recent times to recognize the rights of women and empower them to close the gender gap. In the 1930s, Aurora Aragon Quezon, the First Lady of President Manuel L. Quezon, successfully worked to give woman suffrage. The Philippine Commission on Women was established in 1975, as the government’s lead agency in the promotion of women’s rights. The 1987 Constitution mandates the State to recognize the role of women in nation-building and ensure fundamental equality before the law of men and women. That constitutional mandate is made operational by the Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710), enacted in 2009.
For these and other initiatives, the Philippines has been recognized as among the world’s leaders in terms of gender equality. Ever since the World Economic Forum (WEF) started its Global Gender Gap Report in 2006, we’ve consistently landed in the top 10, ranking the highest among Asian and Pacific countries. In the Report’s 2016 edition, we ranked 7thout of 144 countries, scoring higher than many first world countries like New Zealand, Switzerland, Germany, France and Germany, among many others.
These huge gains notwithstanding, there are still several areas that deserve closer scrutiny. The maternal mortality rate (MMR) may have declined measured by the United Nations to have fallen from 129 deaths per 100,000 deliveries in 2010 to 114 in 2015. This number however is still way off the original Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target MMR of only 52 for every 100,000 deliveries.
The Duterte administration has taken a firm stance on supporting the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law (RA 10354). President Duterte signed earlier this year an executive order directing the Department of Health (DOH) and other relevant agencies such as the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to accelerate the RH Law’s implementation.
Another area of concern is women in the workplace. The WEF’s Global Gender Gap Report 2016 may have placed us at the pinnacle of Asia and the Pacific for overall gender equality. We however rank 107thout of 144 in women’s participation in the labor force. Where 81 percent of all working-age men (15 years and above) are part of the work force, that’s true for only 52 percent for working-age women.
This is quite unfortunate as we enjoy one among the highest educational attainment rates for women based on the report’s findings. We may belong to the ranks of the most educated women in the world, but job opportunities for them are still few and far between.
Many times, a Filipina woman’s choice is between building a career versus raising a family, while other countries have clearly demonstrated that these pursuits are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
A contributing factor to the problem is our law and policy on paid maternity leave. Currently, female members of the Social Security System (SSS) are entitled only to 60 days paid maternity leave for normal delivery and 78 days for those who went through C-section. These benefits sadly fall short of the ILO standard of at least 98 days (14 weeks), proved to be the optimum period for guaranteeing a woman’s postnatal health, without sacrificing her productivity as a worker. Congress is once again debating measures calling for expanded paid maternity leave benefits under the SSS.
There’s some serious arguments on the proposed increase in SSS benefits. Those in favor of expanded maternity leave benefits cite the fact that the Philippines has a dismal breastfeeding rate — only 34 percent for infants younger than six months in 2013, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) — because mothers are not given enough time to breastfeed their newborns. That has very worrisome implications on the nutrition, development and long-term success of our children. This, despite the fact that the Philippines pioneered in enacting the first Breastfeeding Act in the world.
The SSS argues that it is underfunded and cannot accommodate any increase in benefits. Some have estimated that based on the agency’s 2011 fund valuation, the fund could survive only until 2042. President Duterte moved beyond debate and issued a decree mandating a P1, 000 a month increase in SSS pension
Undoubtedly, much more needs to be done in support of a woman’s role in nation-building. And as this year’s theme for National Women’s Month remind us, we need to make change that work for women.