EDITORIAL - Generation Equality

The country joins in the celebration of International Women’s Day today amid its eight-notch fall in ranking in the latest Global Gender Gap Report. For the first time since the World Economic Forum began drawing up the report in 2006, the Philippines is out of the 10 best economies in terms of gender equality.

The slide to 16th place was attributed to a decline in women’s representation in Philippine politics and top-level governance – specifically, with women occupying only two key Cabinet posts. The Philippine Commission on Women or PCW also noted that the country was pushed down in ranking by several states where more significant reforms were recorded.

In the 2020 Global Gender Gap Report, however, the Philippines remained the most gender-equal country in Asia. This is cause for celebration on this special day for women, even as more work lies ahead in gender equity. As advocates of women’s rights point out, while the country has many landmark laws promoting women’s welfare, implementation is spotty, and women particularly in low-income communities are unaware of the laws and their rights.

Even those tasked by law to promote women’s welfare need greater awareness of their duties. Women have complained, for example, that barangay personnel refuse to assist victims of domestic violence, considering it a private family matter.

A PCW official noted that the law allowing women to keep their maiden names upon marriage is also not properly enforced, even by the government. Women have a hard time even putting hyphenated married names in official documents. Government information systems are still designed to accept the traditional form: a married woman uses a first name, her maiden name as middle name, and then her husband’s surname.

The reproductive health law is finally being implemented, but universal access for Filipino women is still a work in progress. And women continue to take the greater role in parenting and domestic chores.

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights.” The Gender Gap Report, which ranks economies based on women’s education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment, notes that it would take 99.5 years before global gender equality is achieved. The Philippines is situated better than most countries in this matter. Still, there is a lot of work ahead.