Gender pay gap in Philippine farm sector persisted in 2018 — PSA

MANILA, Philippines — Gender inequality persisted even in the Philippines’ agriculture sector, with male farmworkers receiving higher pay than their female counterparts last year, the country’s statistics agency reported Thursday.

At the national level, men in agriculture were paid P310.16 per day in 2018, out-earning women who received P285.51 daily.

By comparison, male farmworkers’ daily earnings stood at P278.23 in 2016 against their female counterpart’s P260.78. The pay disparity persisted in 2017, with males receiving P284.72 per day and females earning P255.80.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the country’s nominal wage rate for agricultural workers averaged P306.28 per day in 2018, higher than P280.37 compensation that Filipino farm laborers took home daily in 2017.

By region, the highest wage rate for farm workers was recorded in Calabarzon at P373.92 daily while the lowest was in Northern Mindanao at P259.36.

Meanwhile, female farmworkers earned more than their male counterparts in Calabarzon and Davao Region.

A report by state-run think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies dated October 2018 found that the “main source of gender wage gap in Philippine agriculture is the difference in wage for the same activity”

“The remainder is due to wage bias by activity. In the case of palay workers, the wage gap is more than one hundred percent,” it added.

To close the gender pay gap among farmworkers, PIDS said women should be priority recipients of agricultural grants and training from the government to increase their control over household resources.

PIDS also proposed the establishment of women’s groups active in rural labor market information and advocacy, as well as increased protection of women’s rights at the grassroots.