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Manila Times

There is a need to disaggregate data concerning men and women in the Philippines for a better implementation and design of development programs and projects for women.

Making a call in a Advocacy Forum on Gender Statistics held recently in Makati City, government and civil society representatives said this need becomes more pressing as statisticians and specialists uncovered certain aspects of economic activities in which women’s contributions are not well monitored and recorded, such as their unpaid work in the households, farms and home-based industries.

Also missing in many government statistics are the extent by which women partake of economic and other services, such as their participation and their availment of support measures in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, among others.

Ironically, women are the recipients of many development funds, and their welfare and well being have to be monitored to find out if all these interventions are making an impact in women’s lives and in the national development, in general.

Jessamyn Encarnacion, a division chief of the National Statistical Coordination Board, said that if the government makes an adjustment of gross domestic production (GDP) figures at current prices, it will have to adjust the GDP by at least 66.19 percent on account of the non-recording of women’s economic activities, many of which are unpaid.

Methods used in the valuation of unpaid work are estimations of the opportunity cost and market price of the services rendered by women. The statistical board’s adjusted estimate included the total time spent in community services, since Filipinas, on the average, are expected to perform community service.

With proper adjustment, women’s share in the GDP has increased by 8 percentage points from 2000 to 2006, Encarnacion said.

Yet, women are not paid for many hours spent in serving their families and communities, and their services account for 59.6 percent of unpaid work in the Philippines. Women not in the labor force also account for half of the total value of unpaid work of women, Encarnacion added.

Women contributed 46.2 percent of the adjusted gross national product from 38.0 percent when unpaid work was not included.

The study by the statistical board also indicated that women accounted for only 27.4 percent of net factor income from abroad, even if male-female labor migration has shifted, and women now comprise almost half of all migrant workers.

– Nora O. Gamolo

Luige A. del Puerto
Inquirer

SOME 16 percent of women police officers have been physically abused by their partners at one time or another during the last 10 years, according to a study by the Philippine National Police’s Family, Juvenile, and Gender Sensitivity Division (FJGSD).

When asked, “Have you experienced being physically battered by your husband or partner?” some 16 percent of 2,637 women said “yes,” while 84 percent said “no.”

The survey also showed that 20 female officers put up with physical abuse for 10 years; 34 women put up with it for five years; 36, for two years, and 55, for a year. But the actual figures of physically abused women officers could be higher, the survey said.

“These are women police officers expected to uphold the law. It’s ironic, but I think this reflects our society, our culture,” FJGSD head Supt. Ildebrandi Usana told the Inquirer Friday.

Violence against women “crosses boundaries,” Usana said, and women who are law enforcers or who carry guns were not necessarily immune to physical abuse.

The survey was conducted in September 2005 with 3,500 respondents with 15 percent from the national headquarters and the rest from regional police offices and national support units. Questionnaires had been sent to female officers, most of whom were assigned to the women’s and children’s concern desks (WCCDs).

The results were presented on Friday during the start of the “16-Day Campaign to Eliminate VAW (Violence Against Women)” in Camp Crame.

Some 7.7 percent of the 115,000-strong Philippine National Police are women. But none of them occupy senior posts in the force and many are confined to desk jobs and medical work.

When the female officers were asked if they knew of any male officer committing domestic violence against his wife or female partner, 35 percent of respondents said “yes.”

But just like the other battered women, the female officers refused to come out in the open.

According to the survey, battered women did not report their abusive partners because they were afraid of being humiliated, they believed their partners would no longer hurt them, and they wanted to avoid problems in the family if a case were filed in court.

Women were abused for a variety of reasons, with the survey naming jealousy, arguments over the husbands’ vices, and infidelity.

Various studies report on a cycle of violence: After the battery, the male partner apologizes, pursues the female partner, and everything is OK until the next battery and the cycle continues.

Civil Service Commission Chair Karina David, a women’s rights advocate, told the crowd of mostly women that the problem of VAW was “cultural.”

At a very young age, boys and girls are conditioned to think that they are not equal and this is the root of the problem, according to David. Women are brought up to believe they are subordinate to their husbands, and that husbands have the right to hurt their wives.

Even seating arrangements at a rectangular dinner table indicate inequality as men are seated at the head of the table, the wife and children to his left or right. David suggested that families use a round table instead.

“Many kinds of abuses stem from the belief that someone is lower in status than you,” David said in Filipino.

She challenged the men to “first understand why there is inequality.” Once the problem was understood, the manifestations, such as remarks or jokes which degrade women, could be identified.

“When you hear a joke [which is derogatory to women], challenge it,” David said, adding that men should be encouraged to discuss the issue.

“Try to get other people to join you in doing something about it,” she said. “The bottom line is no one — whether man, woman, child or elderly — has the right to hurt anyone.”

David also urged officers, especially those handling cases involving women and children, to try to put themselves in the shoes of the victims and not to blame them if they withdraw charges.

A woman could drop a case against an abusive partner for many reasons, David said, chief of which was fear — of reprisal, of not being able to support the children, of being cut off from the family.

Others who spoke at the kickoff rights were: Dr. Victorino Lantion of Men’s Responsibility in Gender and Development, based in Davao City, and Roderic Rama Poca of Men’s Movement Opposed to Violence Against Women and Children, based in Cebu City.

The 16-day campaign to eliminate VAW is conducted by the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW). This year’s theme is “Men Speak Out,” with organizers encouraging men to take a more active role in the campaign against VAW.

Rina Jimenez-David
Philippine Daily Inquirer

IN MANILA recently, for the Asia-Pacific Workshop on Gender-Responsive Budgeting, was Aster Zaoude, senior gender adviser of the United Nations Development Program, to help government officials in the region understand what “gender-responsive budgeting” is all about and how other countries and governments have put it in practice.

Zaoude, who hails from Ethiopia, advises not just the UNDP but governments around the world on how to achieve gender equality in governance, policies, legislation and actual practice. For many governments, the “push” for gender fairness has come from international bodies, especially the UN, which has gathered them in international conferences to sign off on common goals and shared commitments to achieve these goals on an agreed timeline.

In her introduction to the 2002 Annual Report of the UNDP/Japan Women in Development Fund, Zaoude mentioned that one of the seven Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which 189 world leaders adopted in September 2000, is the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Four indicators for measuring progress at the local and global level are: the ratio of girls to boys in all levels of education; the ratio of literate females to males; the share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector; and the proportion of seats held by women in the national parliament.

“To date, the data available show that only seven developed countries — Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden — have met the levels set for ALL these MDG indicators,” writes Zaoude. “The best achievers among developing countries are Argentina, Costa Rica and South Africa.”

The greatest improvements, says Zaoude, is in the proportion of seats held by women in parliaments. In 2002, 11 countries achieved the benchmark of 30 percent female representation, while 20 countries reached 20 percent or more, including five in Africa and five in Asia. The Philippine average has hovered around 16 percent, with the highest proportion achieved in the last Congress. Sadly, the number of women has gone down in the incoming Congress. Still, 38 countries have a higher share of women in parliaments than the United States, which remained at about 12 percent.

* * *

“THE NUMBER of women elected to public office is worth measuring to show increased participation of women in democratic governance,” Zaoude points out. “India provides a striking example: an estimated 800,000 women were elected to local government positions… through the Panchayat system of affirmative action,” an innovation that guarantees at least 30 percent representation of women at the basic village councils.

The data also show that poor countries have made more progress on this front than some of the leading democracies. Says Zaoude: “Expanding women’s access to public leadership positions is more a matter of political choice than an outgrowth of wealth or progress.”

“Many of the women heads of state happen to be in Islamic countries, where women still have limited rights,” Zaoude observes. “By itself, the number of women in office does not indicate the scope of rights enjoyed by the majority of women in a given society. In addition, women leaders are not automatic promoters of women’s rights.”

What matters more, it seems, is the leader’s understanding of, and commitment to, gender equality. Which is why men’s roles in promoting such a policy is also a focus of the UNDP.

* * *

AN INDICATOR of whether the number of women in government and decision-making positions is making a difference is the national budget, which, as a former woman senator asserts, is the “expression of the policy.”

That’s why the adoption of gender-responsive budgeting is an integral part of any gender equality policy, for without the money to fund gender-responsive programs, or mainstream gender concerns in government programs, then gender equality will remain a mere ideal without any realistic means of achievement.

Zaoude says some 40 countries in the world, including the Philippines, already have some sort of gender-responsive budget initiative, while 20 others have adopted a “gender audit,” auditing the national budget for gender bias in allocations.

The “gender budget” in the Philippines often refers to the five percent allocation given to gender and development concerns. But Zaoude stresses that women “should not be content with just the five percent,” but also with “influencing the remaining 95 percent.” As it is, though, as many women officials report, just accessing the five percent is itself a thorny problem.

* * *

THERE is not one single “correct” approach to gender-fair budgeting, asserts Deborah Landey, UNDP resident coordinator in the country. This is why much of the workshop was devoted to sharing the experience of officials in countries that have adopted a gender-fair budget policy.

Crucial to the success of such a policy, says Zaoude, is “understanding what the budget process is,” and whether women have a voice in setting priorities, whether at the national or local level. Monitoring where the money goes, that is, checking whether the programs funded really respond to gender concerns or merely involve women (as in ballroom dancing sessions!) is also part of the process.

Happily, there are many examples of the difference made when governments adopt a gender-responsive budget, such as greater allocations for education and health budgets which have in turn translated into impressive improvements in women’s and children’s health and educational achievements.

“We need to show our leaders, women and men, the cost implications of not investing in women and not investing in girls,” says Zaoude.