12th National Convention on Statistics (NCS)

EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Mandaluyong City

October 1-2, 2013

FROM UNHEARD SCREAMS TO POWERFUL VOICES: A CASE STUDY OF

WOMEN’S POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

by

Michelle Lopez Alvarez

For additional information, please contact:

Author’s name : Michelle Lopez Alvarez

Designation : Planning Office III
Affiliation : Philippine Commission on Women (PCW)
Address : 1145 J.P. Laurel St., San Miguel Manila 1005 Philippines
Tel. no. : +632-735-8918
E-mail : mitch1847@gmail.com
From Unheard Screams to Powerful Voices:
A Case Study of Women’s Political
Empowerment in the Philippines

A thesis presented

by

Michelle Lopez Alvarez

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree of Master of
International Development Policy

Graduate School of International Studies

Seoul National University
Seoul, Korea

February 2013
 Graduate School of International Studies
Seoul National University

THESIS ACCEPTANCE CERTIFICATE

The undersigned, appointed by

The Graduate School of International Studies

Seoul National University

Have examined a thesis entitled

From Unheard Screams to Powerful Voices:

A Case Study of Women’s Political
Empowerment in the Philippines

Presented by Michelle Lopez Alvarez

Candidate for the degree of Master of International Development Policy and

hereby certify that it is worthy of acceptance

Signature _______________
Committee Chair Kim, Chong-Sup
Signature _______________
Committee Member Kim, Taekyoon
Signature _______________
Committee Member Han, Young-Hae
Copyrights © 2013 by Michelle Alvarez
All Rights Reserved
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

When I was first doing my thesis proposal, I had doubts with my skills and capabilities. I thought
to myself: “Will I ever finish this?” It was like entering a tunnel, being uncertain of what lies
ahead. But I will never regret entering that tunnel because I met people along the way, and the
Light guided me when I felt lost. The person who entered was never the same who went out; I was
a better version of myself.

I will not be here without the vision of KOICA to empower individuals so that we can pay back to
our motherland. My sincerest gratitude to them for giving us this blessed chance to study in Korea.

I am grateful to Graduate School of International Studies of SNU for equipping us in this 14-
month journey. Every lecture is a fresh encounter of learning and re-learning. Our professors did
not withhold us from their knowledge and expertise. Special thanks to our Program Adviser,
Professor Kim Chong-sup for his guidance to the MIDP students all throughout the program. The
DIDP staff was also there to help us. Thank you Ms. Ha, Wonkyu Shin and Jeehye Lee. Thanks to
all our friends and classmates who made the GSIS experience worth remembering.

To my thesis adviser, Professor Younghae Han, thank you for always reminding me to give my
best in this endeavour. I really appreciate your time to meet me despite the busy schedule.

This study would not be possible without the help of different government agencies and NGOs
that helped me in data gathering. I am sending my deepest gratitude to all the government offices
in the Philippines, as well as Congresswomen and Senators, NGOs and private entities.

If I’ll be asked what made my life in Korea memorable, I will not hesitate to say that my
classmates, MIDP 4th Batch or the Aliens  became a family through the seasons. We all endured
hardships, but we share triumph in the end. Indeed, together we can finish the race.

To my Barangay SNU family, thank you for the support when I almost lost hope. Thanks for the
simple gatherings; those were breathers from staying in the dorm the entire week.
I also want to share this work to other Filipino scholars who strive hard to bring pride to the
Philippines. Thank you Pinoy Iskolars sa Korea, Inc. (PIKO) for all the love to our country. In
every laboratory report, research paper and thesis written, we are adding value to education that
brought us here. Way to go, mga kapwa iskolar!

My first love, the University of the Philippines, I submit this thesis to you. You have taught me to
serve the nation, and this is my way to pay back what you invested in me.

I can attest that prayers are the best weapon, and in this battle it is always better not to pray alone.
Thank you very much to my sisters and brothers in Christ, for all the prayers invested while I was
here. I received favors and blessings more than I can imagine. Thank you ENCoK and Victory U-
belt!

This study is founded on my advocacy to empower girls and young women. To the greatest
influence on that advocacy, the Girl Scouts of the Philippines, thank you for your unswerving
support. Thank you to everyone in this organization who has trained me to be the woman I am
today.

To my beloved family who motivates me to work hard, I love you to the moon and back. Mama,
Papa, Kuya Jep, JM and Gab, you inspire me to achieve excellence. To all my friends, I cannot
name you one by one but from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Your words of encouragement,
open rebuke and wise advice have always rekindled my passion.

To every woman in the Philippines, I believe that you can influence the nation. One step at a time,
bring forth change.

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the
other can reach out and help. A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated,
but two can stand back-to-back and conquer.
Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
 ABSTRACT

At present, gender inequality is still persistent in the society. Women are faced with
inequalities in education, health, political and decision-making among others. The
international community has been giving importance in addressing gender inequality
through various international commitments since the 1980’s. Women, for the longest
time, seem to be the missing piece in the development path. In Asia, the Philippines has
been showing strides in this issue. Gender indicators are showing that in education and
health, disparities have been closed. Yet, in all aspects, there seems to be a gap in
political participation of women.

This study aims to understand how the Philippines try to close gender gap in politics. A
descriptive-qualitative study, this research aims to look at how the Philippine government
empower women in politics.

The Philippine government is noteworthy for having a strong legal and policy
framework. As early as 1975, it had already responded to the UN Decade for Women
through setting up institutional mechanism for advancement of women. Moreover, the
Philippine Constitution in 1987 mandated the equality of men and women in the society,
which was later on translated into development plans for women. Today, there are a
number of laws designed to protect women and to increase their participation.

Filipino women’s access in Philippine politics, however, is still faced with several issues.
Political kinship is still the main road for their access and cultural barriers have to be
overcome.

Keywords: Gender and Development, Political Participation of Women, Women

Empowerment, Philippines
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1

1.1.Background of the Study .............................................................................................. 1
1.2 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions .............................................................. 3
1.3 Research Objectives ...................................................................................................... 5
1.4 Significance and Implications of the Study .................................................................. 5
1.5 Research Methodology ................................................................................................. 6
1.6 Frameworks of the Study .............................................................................................. 6
A. AmartyaSen’s Capability Approach ...................................................................... 6
B. United Nation’s Gender Equality Framework ....................................................... 7
C. World Bank’s Promoting Women’s Agency Framework....................................... 8
D. Operational Framework ........................................................................................ 9
1.7 Thesis Overview ......................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 2: GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT ........................................................... 12
2.1 Definition of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment ..................................... 12
2.2 Achieving Gender Equality: Global actions to address gender inequality.................. 14
A. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW) ..................................................................................................... 15
B. Beijing Platform of Action (BPfA) ........................................................................ 17
C. Millennium Development Goals ........................................................................... 19
2.3 Development Approaches to Gender Equality: WID and GAD ................................. 20
2.4. The Women’s Face of Development Issues ............................................................... 22
A. Women and Poverty .............................................................................................. 22
B. Women and Environment...................................................................................... 24
CHAPTER 3: WOMEN IN POLITICS ............................................................................ 28
3.1. Current Status of Women in Politics.......................................................................... 28
3.2 Implications of Women’s Political Participation ........................................................ 30
3.2. Reasons for Women’s Access in Politics ................................................................... 32
3.3. Obstacles in Women’s Access to Politics .................................................................. 33
CHAPTER 4: CASE STUDY OF WOMEN’S POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT IN THE
PHILIPPINES ................................................................................................................... 37
4.1 Current Status of Women in Philippine Politics ......................................................... 37
4.2 The Role of the State in Women’s Political Participation in the Philippines ............. 42
A. National Machinery for the Advancement of Women ........................................... 42
B. Policy Framework for Women in the Philippines................................................ 44
C. Laws for Women’s Political Empowerment ......................................................... 49
4.3. Implications of Women’s Political Empowerment in the Philippines ....................... 57
4.4 Challenges in Women’s Political Empowerment ....................................................... 58
CHAPTER 5: WOMEN IN THE PHILIPPINE CONGRESS .......................................... 60
5.1 Background on the Electoral System in the Philippines ......................................... 60
5.2 Trends in the Participation of Women in the Congress .......................................... 61
5.3 Reasons for Access of Women in Electoral Politics ............................................... 63
5.4 Challenges faced by Women in Electoral Politics .................................................. 65
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................................... 66
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 70
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Gender Equality in Three Domains ..................................................................... 8

Figure 2. Interactions for Gender Outcomes ....................................................................... 9
Figure 3. Operational Framework ..................................................................................... 10
Figure 4. Gender Gap Sub Indexes of the Philippines ...................................................... 38
Figure 5. Gender Gap Diamond of the Philippines ........................................................... 39
Figure 6. Elective Positions Held by Men and Women .................................................... 40
Figure 7.Organizational Chart of the PCW ....................................................................... 43
Figure 8. Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%) in the
Philippines ........................................................................................................................ 62

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Definitions of Gender Equality ........................................................................... 12

Table 2. UN Women’s Eight Key Actions for Women in Addressing Climate Change .. 26
Table 3. Percentage of Women in Parliament in World Regions ..................................... 29
Table 4.Three Arguments Why There should be Gender-Balance in Politics .................. 31
Table 5. Obstacles to Women’s Participation in Parliament (Shvedova, 2005) ............... 35
Table 6. PPGD Strategies, Goals and Visions .................................................................. 46
Table 7. GABRIELA Women's Party during the national elections ................................. 50
Table 8. Provisions on the Magna Carta of Women for Political Empowerment of
Filipino Women ................................................................................................................ 55
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study

The recent World Development Report 2012 of World Bank made a comprehensive
analysis on the role of women in the development agenda and boldly stated that
“investing in women is smart economics”.1 In fact, international organizations have
been leading the prioritization of women empowerment, as embodied in the inclusion of
the Goal 3 of Millennium Development Goals in 2001; the consensus of the Beijing
Platform for Action in 1995; and the adoption and widespread ratification of the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW) by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979.

Of the many women’s issues being addressed globally, one important aspect that is very
crucial in achieving the goal of gender equality is the empowerment of women in
politics and decision-making. The empowerment and autonomy of women and the
improvement of their social, economic and political status are essential for the
achievement of both transparent and accountable governance and administration and
sustainable development in all areas of life (United Nations, 1995). Empowering women
in the political arena has the potential to change societies. Their involvement in
governing bodies at the national and local levels leads to policies and legislation that are
focused on women, children and families (UNICEF, 2006).

1
Based from the World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development published online by
the World Bank in 2011. Retrieved from www.econ.worldbank.org. This is also one of the frameworks of
this study.

1
 Public governance is one of the areas where inequality between men and women is
highly visible. Although women make up about half of the electorate and have attained
the right to vote and hold office in almost all countries of the world, they continue to be
underrepresented as members of national parliaments (United Nations, 2010). The UN
Report on the World’s Women 2010 states that there has been a slow and steady
improvement in the representation of women in national parliaments worldwide. At the
time the Beijing Platform for Action was adopted in 1995, women only accounted for on
average 10 per cent of members of the lower or single houses of national parliaments.
This figure had increased to 17 per cent by 2009.

The Philippines, recently named as the “Best Place for Women in Asia”2, is one of the
countries in the region that seems to have taken a stride in promoting gender equality and
empowering women. The world has seen this through the rise in power of two women as
Presidents of the country. Women's concerns were positioned at the heart of the
government agenda with the integration of the gender equality principle in the 1987
Philippine Constitution (Philippine Commission on Women, 2009). In 2009, the
Philippines also passed the Magna Carta of Women, which policy-makers dubbed as the
local CEDAW and Bill of Rights for the women in the Philippines. The current
administration of President Benigno Aquino prioritizes gender equality as included in his
15 Social Contracts. He aims a high status of women and promised that the direction of
the government for women would be “from a lack of concern for gender disparities and
shortfalls, to the promotion of equal gender opportunity in all spheres of public policies
and programs.” In the Global Gender Gap Index 2011 of World Economic Forum, the
Philippines ranked 8th, next to New Zealand and Denmark. Yet, there is still a high gender
imbalance in the political participation of women. Women are faced with numerous

2
For emphasis, I used this phrase coined by some newspapers in the Philippines. This was based from
Newsweek’s ranking, which may not be academic so I used the Global Gender Gap Index to support this.

2
obstacles to partake a bigger role in politics and decision making. These obstacles include
gender stereotyping, multiple burdens and lack of political education and support from
political parties. Because the Philippines is largely a patriarchal society, politics is still
deemed as a man’s world.

Because gender inequality is deeply rooted in entrenched attitudes, societal institutions,

and market forces, political commitment at the highest international and national level is
essential to institute the policies that can trigger social change and to allocate the
resources necessary for gender equality and women’s empowerment (United Nations
Millennium Project, 2005). National governments should back up the remarkable efforts
of international institutions through effective implementation of policies and programs.
The government should be the main agent in addressing gender inequality.

With this, the study will explore the significant role of the Philippine government in
addressing gender inequality, particularly in closing the gender gap in politics, probe the
programs and policies; look into the processes of implementation and evaluation; and see
how it can be a model in increasing the voice of women in the political arena.

1.2 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions

This study aimed to investigate how the Philippine government addresses the gender gap
in women’s political participation through a) Executive Initiatives; b) Legislative
Initiatives and c) Agency and Local Government Initiative. An outcome of these gender
policies on women’s political empowerment was explored.

In an ADB Report, the Philippines was one of the countries mentioned that “have
achieved gender parity in education at relatively high levels of enrolment, but this has not

3
translated into equal participation in economic and political affairs”. (Asian Development
Bank, 2006). When women and men have equal chances to become socially and
politically active, make decisions, and shape policies, it is likely to lead over time to more
representative, and more inclusive institutions and policy choices and thus to a better
development path (World Bank, 2011). Women need women to represent them in
national-decision making, drafting and implementing laws and policies that would lead to
their empowerment. Thus, increasing women’s political participation and representation
is a priority in addressing gender inequality.

Throughout history, men as well as the economic and political elite have always
dominated Philippine politics (CAPWIP, 2002). Even though it already had two women
Presidents, politics is still viewed as a man’s world. Because of the prevailing gender
stereotypes, women hardly win in national elections. In the Lower House, 22% are
women while 13%, or 3 out of 23 are women Senators3. Indeed, there is a need to
increase women’s political participation and representation in the Philippines. With these
realities, this study answered these research questions:

a.) What are the gender initiatives of the Philippine government to address the
gender gap in women’s political participation? How does the government
implement these?

b.) What are the best practices of the Philippines in the area of gender equality in
political arena? What are the challenges being faced by the national machineries
on implementation of gender policies?

c.) What constitutes the increase in the political participation of women in

national elected posts in the Philippines?

3
The data is from the Inter-Parliamentary Union. It has been compiled on the basis of information provided
by National Parliaments by 30 November 2011.

4
 d.) What are the determinants of access of women in national politics in the
Philippines?

1.3 Research Objectives

To answer the abovementioned research questions, the objectives of this study are:
a.) to identify the different initiatives of the Philippine government to address the
gender gap in Philippine politics;
b.) to explore and assess the role of the national machinery for the advancement of
women, specifically in women’s political empowerment;
c.) to examine the effectiveness of the initiatives for women political empowerment;
d.) to provide recommendations and future perspectives to close the disparities in
gender inequality in Philippine politics.

1.4 Significance and Implications of the Study

The target to achieve the MDGs is on 2015. Three years from now, countries are
expected to accomplish the goals set in Millennium Development Summit in 2000. Yet,
the monitoring of the MDGs have shown that we are still far from the realizing all the
goals. After the MDG target in 2015, women would still continue to face discrimination,
and would still need to advance their rights. There will still be inequalities, and the worse
scenario has to be expected. Therefore we need to continue looking for ways on how to
influence behaviours towards women, push for fighting discrimination, and increase their
voice to break the “glass ceilings”.

This study aimed to assess the situation of gender equality and women’s political
empowerment in the Philippines. While it cannot generalize for other countries, it can
show how a developing country strives to achieve gender equality. It can also show the

5
measures done by the government in addressing one of the development issues it faces.
This development study will significantly contribute to the academia. Additionally,
policymakers can benefit from this study through seeing a bigger picture of what is
happening and what needs to be done. The results of this study can give them an idea
about the trends in implementations of policy and programmes. Lastly, this study could
be evidence that the Philippines can possibly be a model in addressing gender equality
and empowerment of women in Asia.

1.5 Research Methodology

This study is a descriptive-qualitative research. The methodology in completing this

study is document analysis and critical review of existing studies and literature. Thus
majority of the resources in this study are based from secondary sources such as
government publications, country reports and other media such as online news and
videos. Materials from international institutions such as World Bank, United Nations,
OECD, among others were also essential in this study. However to achieve holism in this
research, in-depth interviews were conducted to have a grasp of the perspectives of
female legislators in the Congress, local government agencies, NGOs and other experts in
the field.

1.6 Frameworks of the Study

A. Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach

The overarching theory in which this study was formed is Amartya Sen’s Capability
Approach, which puts emphasis on capability and freedom as means to development. As
Sen notes, “development has to be more concerned with enhancing the lives we lead and
the freedoms we enjoy.”

6
According to Robeyns (2003), it is immediately clear that the capability approach has
enormous potential for addressing feminist concerns and questions. Ever since its
inception, the women’s movement has focused on many issues that are not reducible to
financial welfare, such as reproductive health, voting rights, political power, domestic
violence, education, and women’s social status. A further advantage of the capabilities
approach is that, by focusing from the start on what people are actually able to do and to
be, it is well placed to foreground and address inequalities that women suffer inside the
family: inequalities in resources and opportunities, educational deprivations, the failure of
work to be recognized as work, insults to bodily integrity (Nussbaum, 2003).

The realisation of women’s agency is very important and critical agency is needed.
Empowering women would lead them to be agents of change, and empower others.

B. United Nation’s Gender Equality Framework

The United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Education and Gender Equality
(2005) developed a Gender Equality Framework that conceptualizes gender equality as
having three dimensions: (i) capabilities domain, (ii) access to resources and
opportunities domain, and (iii) security domain (see Figure 1). The capabilities domain
refers to basic human abilities as measured by education, health, and nutrition, which are
all fundamental to individual well-being and are an important means to gaining access to
opportunities. The access to resources and opportunities domain refers primarily to
equality in the opportunity to use or apply basic capabilities through access to economic
assets (e.g., land, housing, and infrastructure); resources (e.g., income and employment);
and political decision-making (e.g., representation in parliaments and other political
bodies). Finally, the security domain refers to reduced vulnerability to violence and
conflict, which can result in physical and psychological harm and lessen the ability of

7
individuals, households, and communities to fulfil their potential (UN Millennium
Project, 2005).

Figure 1. Gender Equality in Three Domains

Source: Niimi, 2009

C. World Bank’s Promoting Women’s Agency Framework

The World Bank, in its recent World Development Report 2012 focused on Gender
Equality and Development. It has also identified three key dimensions of gender equality:
the accumulation of endowments (education, health, and physical assets); the use of those
endowments to take up economic opportunities and generate incomes; and the application
of those endowments to take actions, or agency, affecting individual and household well-
being (See Figure 2). Desired outcomes in gender equality can be achieved through the
responses of households to the functioning and structure of markets and institutions, both
formal and informal (World Bank, 2011).

8
Figure 2. Interactions for Gender Outcomes

Source: World Bank, 2011

D. Operational Framework

Utilizing these three frameworks, this study will look closely on how the formal
institutions (government as agent) through gender policies yield positive outcomes in
empowering women in political participation and representation. Using the frameworks
mentioned, I made my own framework as no specific theory or model would fit in this
study (See figure 3).

The Philippine government, through executive, legislative and local agency initiatives
will be explored and studied. This study will look on how it implements such initiatives.
It will also look into the best practices so far that the government has executed.

9
This study will look at the outcomes of addressing gender inequality. Of the three
domains of gender equality (capabilities, security, and access to resources and
opportunities), it will delve on the third one which is access to resources and
opportunities, especially in decision-making. Closing gender disparities in political arena
is crucial in achieving gender equality because unless women are represented, their needs
will not be addressed.

Figure 3. Operational Framework*

*Created by the author

10
1.7 Thesis Overview

This study is divided into six chapters. The first chapter is devoted to the
introduction of the study, which includes the research questions and objectives, purpose
and significance of the study and the research methodology and data gathering
procedures. The second chapter is a review and critical analysis of literature and reports
about Gender and Development, serving as an overarching background of the main
analysis. It comprises of definitions of gender equality and women empowerment, the
global actions in addressing gender inequality worldwide, as well as the different
approaches of institutions and lastly looking at some development issues with the gender
lens. Chapter 3 deals closely on Women in Politics, discussing the implications of
women’s participation in the political arena, the reasons for access and the challenges,
and the significant role of the State in ensuring that women are represented in politics.
The main body of the study starts in Chapter 4, which looks at the case of the Philippines
in women’s political empowerment, followed by an analysis of how Filipino women are
empowered to win and have a seat in the Congress. The thesis ends with a set of
conclusions and recommendations.

11
CHAPTER 2: GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

2.1 Definition of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

Pursuing gender equality has been given importance in the development agenda
worldwide. Various international institutions have been addressing this goal in order to
achieve other development goals. UN Women (2011) defined gender equality as “equal
rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women and men and girls and boys.” Other
international institutions have defined gender equality that fits their line of work, as
gathered for this study:

Table 1. Definitions of Gender Equality

International Organizations Definition of Gender Equality

1. UN Women
2. International Labour Organization
-equal rights, responsibilities and
opportunities of women and men and girls
and boys
-women and men have equal conditions
for realizing their full human rights and
for contributing to, and benefiting from,
economic, social, cultural and political
development.

3. Food and Agriculture Organization -equal participation of women and men in

4. World Health Organization
5. African Development Forum
decision-making, equal ability to exercise
their human rights, equal access to and
control of resources and the benefits of
development, and equal opportunities in
employment and in all other aspects of
their livelihoods
-absence of discrimination - on the basis
of a person's sex - in providing
opportunities, in allocating resources and
benefits or in access to services
-women having equal access to social,
economic, political and cultural
opportunities as men. It does not mean
that women and men are the same, but

12

6. United Nations Population Fund
rather that their similarities and
differences are recognized and equally
valued
-exists when both sexes are able to share
equally in the distributions of power and
influence; have equal opportunities for
financial independence through work or
through setting up businesses; enjoy equal
access to education and the opportunity to
develop personal ambitions

Tracing the history would show that men and women have unequal access to
opportunities and resources, that is why actions have been taken in order to achieve
gender equality. Inequality between men and women encompasses human capital,
economic opportunities, citizenship, and political participation (World Bank, 2011).

Equality between women and men is seen both as a human rights issue and as a
precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable people-centred development (UN
Millennium Project, 2005). Gender equality is not just a “women’s issue”; it is necessary
that partnership between all the sectors of the society would lead to equal valuing of the
differences and similarities of the two sexes. The ultimate goal is the absence of
discrimination; women would not be judged based on their gender.

Women empowerment has been the instrument to achieve gender inequality.

Empowering women is also an indispensable tool for advancing development and
reducing poverty (UNFPA, 2012).

13
The UN Millennium Project (2005) emphasized that to be empowered women, they must
not only have equal capabilities (such as education and health) and equal access to
resources and opportunities (such as land and employment), but they must also have the
agency to use those rights, capabilities, resources, and opportunities to make strategic
choices and decisions (such as is provided through leadership opportunities and
participation in political institutions). And for them to exercise agency, they must live
without the fear of coercion and violence.

In a UN Habitat (2008) publication on Best Practices in Gender Mainstreaming, it

highlights that women empowerment involves practical measures to enhance women’s
participation in decision-making and in governance processes, and generally to uplift
their status through literacy, education, training and raising awareness. It also includes
poverty reduction programmes which lead them to generate income and enhance access
to job opportunities; underlying issues are also taken into account such as the protection
of a woman’s human rights, her reproductive health as well as property ownership.

Several experts agree that an empowered woman is one who has the agency to formulate
strategic choices and to control resources and decisions that affect important life
outcomes (Kabeer, 1999 as cited in Grown et.al, 2003).

2.2 Achieving Gender Equality: Global actions to address gender inequality

Gender inequality was not established as an international policy issue until the latter half
of the 20th century; prior to the United Nations’ focus on human rights, women had few
channels through which to seek redress of their equality-related grievances (Chiang,
2005). However, upon the creation of the United Nations, the goal of equality between
men and women was elevated and led to a continuous effort to address gender inequality.

14
The creation of the Commission on the Status of Women was a turning point in including
women’s issues in the development agenda: it aimed to prepare recommendations and
reports to the Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social
and educational fields, and at present, it is the principal global policy-making body
dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women (UN Women,
2012).

Some of the milestones in advancing women’s rights in the past decades have been the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), Beijing Platform of Action (BPfA) and inclusion of Goal 3 in the Millennium
Development Goals, which will be thoroughly discussed in the succeeding section.

A. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

(CEDAW)

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

hereby cited as CEDAW4, is an international human rights agreement that specifically
addresses the rights of women and girls. Adopted by the UN General-Assembly on
December 18, 1979 and came into force on September 3, 1981, CEDAW requires the 185
State Parties to ensure the equal recognition, exercise and enjoyment of human rights by
women without discrimination on the basis of being a woman, in areas such as education,
employment, marriage and family relations, health care, politics, finance and law.

4
As of March 1, 2007, 185 nations have ratified this treaty. Eight countries in the world have not signed on:
United States, Sudan, Somalia, Qatar, Iran, Nauru, Palau and Tonga. U.S.’s failure to ratify the Treaty
undermines the powerful principle that human rights of women are universal across all cultures, nations, and
religions, and worthy of being guaranteed through international human rights standards (Association of
American Women).

15
CEDAW is an anti-discrimination treaty, as it deliberates that gender inequality is
produced by sex-based discrimination. And to address gender inequality, the State is
obliged to eliminate the many forms of discrimination that women face. According to
Waldorf (2007), CEDAW is also informed by a particular understanding of what counts
as equality, often called “substantive equality5” or “equality of results.” Substantive
equality approach ensures that the outcomes of laws, policies and programmes are
gender-responsive, and their actual impact and effect are also considered. Non-
discrimination, on the other hand, requires the governments to ensure that women are not
a disadvantage because of their biological, physical and physiological attributes, or
because of cultural and social norms. It must also make sure that all of the necessary
arrangements are put in place and will allow women to experience equality in their lives.
Lastly, the States are given the responsibility to ensure de jure and de facto6gender
equality. These three are interdependent, leading to a more holistic approach in advancing
women’s rights.

Several studies on CEDAW have mixed views on its effectiveness. Englehart and Miller
(2011) argue that despite the weakness of enforcement of the treaty, it is distinct among
other human rights treaty since it also mandates change in the public sphere, the private
sphere, and the minds of individuals, which is a root of inequalities. Their time series
cross-sectional study found that CEDAW has significant, positive effects on women’s
political rights, mixed effects on women’s social rights, and no effect on women’s
economic rights (Englehart & Miller, 2011).

5
Substantive equality is defined as equality between men and women, not just of opportunity but of outcomes
(CEDAW Briefing Kit, 2008).

6
De jure equality refers to what is contained in law while de facto refers what is happening in reality. States
are tasked to maintained balance between the two.

16
Acar & Ege (2001) highlight the importance of CEDAW for women as it encompasses a
wide range of issues women face. As they state:

Since its coming into force in 1981, CEDAW has been used as a platform
from which women’s human rights have been launched and
progressively expanded. While the text of the Women’s Convention is a
rather general one, in conjunction with the General Recommendations of
the Committee which elaborate and interpret the specific articles of the
Convention, it has come to apply to many topics that have emerged as
having a critical bearing for women’s human rights in the contemporary
world. For example, concerns such as HIV/AIDS, alcohol and tobacco
consumption from a gender perspective, and as issues that may involve
discrimination and human rights violations for women, have been
systematically integrated into the work of CEDAW in the recent years
(Acar & Ege, 2001).

However, challenges of CEDAW include reservations and non-reporting or long overdue reports
of the State parties (Shin, 2004). Generally speaking, with its advantages and limitations,
CEDAW has been an important international legislature to address gender equality, and has been
giving much importance on the role of the State to end all forms of discrimination.

B. Beijing Platform of Action (BPfA)

The Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing, China in 1995 established clearly
that women are a global force for the twenty-first century and that women's human rights
are central to women's leadership for the future (Brunch & Fried, 1996). In this
conference, women’s rights as human rights became the central theme, which later
produced a specific consensus for all the government to address gender inequality. The

17
Beijing Platform of Action, which the governments and the UN agreed to promote gender
mainstreaming as a strategy to ensure that a gender perspective is reflected in all policies
and programmes at the national, regional and international levels, was the significant
outcome of the conference.

According to the Mission Statement of the Platform for Action, it is an agenda for
women’s empowerment, and it aimed to remove all the obstacles to women’s active
participation in all spheres of public and private life through a full and equal share in
economics, social, cultural and political decision-making. Also included in the Mission
Statement is the significance of addressing gender equality, as it states:

“Equality between women and men is a matter of human rights and a

condition for social justice and is also a necessary and fundamental
prerequisite for equality, development and peace. A transformed
partnership based on equality between women and men is a condition for
people-centred sustainable development. A sustained and long-term
commitment is essential, so that women and men can work together for
themselves, for their children and for society to meet the challenges of
the twenty-first century.”(Beijing Platform of Action, 1995)

Overall, the Beijing Platform for Action is a positive affirmation of women's human
rights in many areas. It demands the economic and political empowerment of women and
calls for more active intervention by governments on behalf of women's equality (Bunch
and Fried, 1996). The BfPA includes twelve priority areas that governments should focus
on, which includes poverty, education and training, health, violence against women,
armed conflict, economy, power and decision-making, institutional mechanism for the
advancement of women, human rights, media, environment and the girl-child.

18
The Platform for Action is a considerable improvement over previous agreements – its
clarity, concreteness, strong statement that gender equality was a question of human
rights and a necessary condition for social justice, and recognition that women must share
power in decision making at all levels of society, and especially its call for
implementation strategies (Roberts, 1996).

The Commission on the Status of Women held every year makes a review of the
accomplishments done after the declaration. It monitors how far have the countries gone
in addressing gender inequality and what areas should more efforts be put into to
continually empower women.

C. Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals is the most recent indicator which assert that women
have to be given importance to be able to achieve other development goals. During the
Millennium Summit in 2000, the international community gathered together and came up
with eight development goals to be achieved by 2015. Led by the United Nations, the
countries agreed that the Declaration resolved, among other things, “should promote
gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty,
hunger and disease and to stimulate development that is truly sustainable” (Corner,
2008).

The MDGs have a specific goal, Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower
Women, for the advancement of women. Yet international institutions believe that in
order to fully address the needs of women, our rights should be included in all the goals.
A gender equality perspective will facilitate attaining the goals – “gender equality is
important not only as a goal in itself, but also as a path towards achieving the other goals”
(UN Women, 2008; OECD, 2010).

19
Corner (2008) included the analysis of Gender in the Millennium Development Goals in
her report on how a gender-responsive rights based approach can be applied in achieving
the MDGs. She found that the role of gender in the goals has been the subject of criticism
and a source of confusion among countries and agencies struggling to implement and
monitor them at a country level.

2.3 Development Approaches to Gender Equality: WID and GAD

It was only until the 1970’s that the significant role of women in development was given
attention and was finally addressed. Ester Boserup7 instigated the inclusion of women in
the development agenda when she criticized the Trickle-down theory which states that
economic growth leads to the automatic “trickling down” of development profits, from
the wealthy to the common people and women. In contrast to this theory, women have
been excluded and alienated from the economic and social development and women’s
contributions to economic and social development have not been properly addressed
(Kim, 2011).

In an attempt to change the situation and to try to make development projects more
successful in terms of reaching women, the Women in Development (WID) approach
emerged. Appropriate technology is made available for women, income generating
projects are developed especially for women, and researchers and policy makers try to
find ways and means to integrate women into development (Zwart, 1992).

7
In Ester Boserup’s Women’s Role in Economic Development published in 1970, she predicted the trends in
economic development as not being women-friendly, such as the widening income inequality and
industrialization. In this work, she carefully analysed how economic development tends to disadvantage
women (and some population groups) and lowers the economic and socio-cultural status of women relative to
men (Corner, 2007).

20
According to UNESCO (2003), although many WID projects have improved health,
income or resources in the short term, because they did not transform unequal
relationships, a significant number were not sustainable. A common shortcoming of WID
projects is that they do not consider women’s multiple roles or that they miscalculate the
elasticity of women’s time and labour. And other, is that such projects tend to be blind to
men’s roles and responsibilities in women’s (dis)empowerment.

The Gender and Development (GAD) approach was developed as a response to the
failure of WID projects to affect qualitative and long-lasting changes in women’s social
status. This approach emphasizes on intervening to address unequal gender relations
which prevent inequitable development and which often lock women out of full
participation. GAD focuses on social, economic, political and cultural forces that
determine how men and women participate in, benefit from, and control project resources
and activities differently. This approach shifts the focus from women as a group to the
socially determined relations between women and men (World Bank).

In the UNESCO’s Gender Mainstreaming Implementation Framework (UNESCO, 2003),

it mentioned the difference between WID and GAD. It posits that:

The biggest difference between WID and GAD is that WID projects
traditionally were not grounded in a comprehensive gender analysis. The
GAD approach is gender-analysis driven. There is definitely a need for
women-specific and men-specific interventions at times. These
complement gender initiatives. Research shows that the success of both
sex-specific and gender activities is directly linked with the depth of the
gender analysis that informs them (UNESCO, 2003).

21
To date, governments, international institutions and non-governmental organizations have
been utilizing this approach to further advance women’s rights and to ensure that the
needs of women are well-addressed in the development process.

2.4. The Women’s Face of Development Issues

A. Women and Poverty

Women often represent the most disadvantaged category due to their lack of or limited
access to assets such as land, literacy and credit or participation in decision-making
processes. This situation denotes the so-called feminization of poverty. These enduring
and sometimes widening inequalities affect the ability of women to carry out their critical
roles, thus undermining global human and economic growth (IFAD, 2004).

Today, seven out of 10 of the world’s hungry are women and girls, according to the UN
World Food Program. According to CARE International, women work two-thirds of the
world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food, yet earn only 10 percent of the
world’s income and own less than 1 percent of the world’s property. More than 850
million people— most of them women and children—suffer from chronic hunger or
malnutrition. The recent global financial crisis, combined with recent food price
increases, have a lasting effect to women in poor countries and their children, including
higher infant mortality, more girls being pulled out of school, and reduced women’s
income (World Bank, 2009).

Poverty is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon. Several factors can be

attributed to why people suffer and remain impoverished. However, the feminisation of
poverty is rooted in demographic trends, “cultural” patterns, and political economy
(Moghadam, 2005). The gender disparities in economic power-sharing are also an

22
important contributing factor to the poverty of women; migration and consequent
changes in family structures have placed additional burdens on women, especially those
who provide for several dependants (Beijing Platform of Action, 1995).

UN Women (2007) claims that investing in women is actually solving the poverty puzzle.
When women are afforded the equality of opportunity that is their basic human right, the
results in terms of economic advancement are striking:

“The East Asian “economic miracle” of unprecedented growth from

1965 to 1990 offers an example of how all elements of the poverty puzzle
must fit together. Gender gaps in education were closed, access to family
planning was expanded and women were able to delay childbearing and
marriage while more work opportunities increased their participation in
the labour force. The economic contribution of women helped reduce
poverty and spur growth. Being deeply affected by poverty, women also
hold great potential to end it. But until their potential is recognized and
realized, women will remain the missing piece of the poverty elimination
puzzle, and will not fully enjoy the benefits of the economic growth to
which they contributed (UN Women, 2007).”

Alsop & Healey (2008) back up this argument and state that investments in gender
equality can accelerate economic growth and poverty reduction. Women’s level of
education, bargaining power within households, economic status and control over
household resources are all strong determinants of fertility and the human capital
outcomes of their children—all of which have a positive effect on growth (Alsop &
Healey, 2008).

23
While poverty is a global occurrence, looking at it with a gender lens would mean
addressing one of its dimensions that could lead to more gains. As stated in this section,
poverty of women and economic growth have cause-and-effect relationship, and
analysing it and making concrete actions would lead to increased welfare of women, and
their entire household.

B. Women and Environment

Among the many environmental issues that we face, climate change seems to be most
pressing and challenging as inaction would actually lead to resources on waste, and worse
case leads to lives lost. It has widespread implications, from the exacerbation of poverty,
to the breakdown of infrastructure, and to the loss of environmental, political, economic
and social security (Women Environment and Development Organization, 2012).

Women are among the most vulnerable group to the impacts of climate change. They are
the first ones to feel the loss of resources, as managers of the household. As workers in
the field, they have the lesser capacity to cope with the adverse impacts of changing
climate and global warming. While often overlooked in debates about managing climate
change and environmental resources, women have significant contributions to make.

Gender equality and equity are not only a question of fundamental human rights and
social justice, but are also instrumental, and a precondition, for environmental
conservation, sustainable development and human security (United Nations Environment
Programme, 2004).

Environmental programs and initiatives must take into account of the special burdens and
contributions of women throughout the developing world (Barbut, 2012). Without the
active participation of women, sustainable development and efforts for environmental

24
protection cannot succeed; women’s participation should be given utmost importance in
addressing environmental problems.

The Global Environment Facility8 has outstanding programs that show that when women
are included in the path to sustainable development, positive outcomes are visible. One
example is the Namibian Renewable Energy Program, which addresses gender equality
and women’s empowerment in energy-related projects. Half of the participants in the
community management portion of the program and one-fourth of the technician trainees
are women. In addition to the employment opportunities for women generated by the
program, women benefit from improved security conditions at night through the
availability of modern street lighting.

UN Women highlighted “Eight Key Actions” that governments and civil society should
embark into because women have enormous potential as agents of positive change, both
as actors in development and stewards of the environment.

8
The Global Environment Facility is the largest public funder of projects to improve the global environment.
The GEF provides grants for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land
degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. Source: http://www.thegef.org/gef/whatisgef

25
Table 2. UN Women’s Eight Key Actions for Women in Addressing Climate Change
Eight Key Actions by UN Women
1. Adapt for gender equality
2. Make women part of disaster risk
reduction
3. Expand access to services
4. Ensure technology delivers for all
5. Share the benefits of a green
economy
6. Increase women’s access to climate
change finance
The capacity to adapt to climate change largely depends
on resources, education, technology and basic services.
Since women have less access to all of these, national
and local adaptation strategies will need to recognize
and address these gaps. At the same time, women have
existing stores of knowledge on adaptation that should
be tapped.
Since women face greater risks of injury and death, they
must have a central role in disaster risk management,
whether that involves early warning systems, climate-
proofing infrastructure or other measures.
Public services are critical in helping women overcome
discrimination that hinders adaptation to climate change,
such as through education and health care. Services that
fully respond to women’s needs require women’s
participation in decisions that shape them, sex-
disaggregated data to pinpoint gap, and gender-
responsive budgeting to ensure financing backs
equitable delivery.
Women, especially end-users, need to be consulted in
the development of new technologies to ensure they are
appropriate and sustainable. Poorly designed biogas
stoves, for instance, may cut emissions, but increase,
rather than decrease, women’s workloads.
The shift to green economies must equitably benefit both
women and men, including through new jobs and
entrepreneurial opportunities. The energy and electricity
sectors, for example, will likely generate a large share of
green jobs as renewable energy takes off. More efforts
are needed to ensure that women have equal
opportunities in education and employment, and in
access to credit and assets they can use for setting up
green businesses.
Gender analysis of all budgets and financial instruments
for climate change will help guide gender-sensitive
investments in adaptation, emissions mitigation and
technology transfer. But gender considerations are
currently not systematically addressed in climate
finance. This means losing out on two fronts: both in
terms of women’s rights, such as to access jobs and
26

7. Uphold women’s land rights
8. Close gender gaps in decision-
making
services, and women’s potential as agents of change
Environmental sustainability in rural areas depends on
strong legal rights to land ownership. But women have
been left out—they comprise just 10 to 20 percent of
landholders in developing countries. This diminishes
incentives to make long-term investments in soil
rehabilitation and conservation,[xxiii] and hinders
women from accessing credit and other resources.
Directed efforts can change this stark imbalance.
Sufficient numbers of women are not yet at the tables
where major decisions about climate change and the
environment are made. Affirmative action quotas are
among the most proven strategies for rapidly increasing
women’s participation in elected and appointed offices.
This would be good for women and the climate.

Source: UN Women, “Climate Change: Putting Gender Equality at the Centre”,

<http://www.unwomen.org/focus-areas/climate-change-and-the-environment/facts-and-figures/>

Women are not just mere participants in the development process. They are agents that
can bring forth change when empowered and given the voice. Yet despite many
international commitments that persuade governments to take action, women are still in a
disadvantage. That is why it is very crucial that women be given a voice in decision-
making, to further influence policies. This will be discussed in the next chapter.

27
CHAPTER 3: WOMEN IN POLITICS

3.1. Current Status of Women in Politics

Since the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action in 1995, the
governments of different countries vowed to include in their priorities to address gender
inequality and the increased access of women in politics and decision-making. It has been
12 years since this international commitment; many countries have strides in opening the
political arena to more women. Yet, in some societies the patriarchal system still prevails
and limits the participation of women in national and local government, and the goal set
for women to achieve “parity”, defined as at least 40% representation by 2025, is still far
from being reached.

Aside from international commitments, numerous initiatives by specific countries have

contributed in improving women’s participation at all levels of government. Substantial
efforts- including quota systems, training programs, and other initiatives – have allowed
for noteworthy advancement. Moreover, women are making some headway in the lower
houses of parliament—thanks in large part to quota systems—with the Nordic countries
(Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) seating the highest percentage of
females (Pellegrino, 2010).

In most democratic countries, participation of women in politics can be classified as

inclusion in the (1) Executive branch, as a female head of the country, cabinet members
or heads of the government (2) Legislative branch, as representatives in the parliament
and national assemblies and (3) Judicial branch. For this study, however, a focus on
women’s political participation in the national parliament will be given utmost
importance.

28
Current statistics have shown that the achievement of women’s participation on politics is
not homogenous in all the regions. Due to the fact that several factors are contributing to
the increased access of women in decision-making, some regions have liberalized the
political arena, such as the Nordic countries with a high 42.0 % of women in the national
parliament, followed by other European countries with 23.4 % and the Americas with
22.8%. Sub-saharan Africa has a 19.7% participation of women both in the lower house.
Asia is just one point below Sub-saharan Africa with 18.5%. Arab states and the Pacific
have showed slow progress in political empowerment of women, with only 14.7 % and
14.5%, respectively.

Table 3. Percentage of Women in Parliament in World Regions

Region* Single House Upper House Both Houses
or lower House or Senate combined
Nordic countries 42.0% --- ---
Europe - OSCE member countries 23.4% 21.1% 22.9%
including Nordic countries
Americas 22.8% 23.2% 22.8%
Europe - OSCE member countries 21.7% 21.1% 21.5%
excluding Nordic countries
Sub-Saharan Africa 19.8% 19.0% 19.7%
Asia 18.5% 14.0% 18.0%
Arab States 14.7% 6.4% 13.0%
Pacific 14.5% 34.8% 17.2%
*Regions are classified by descending order of the percentage of women in the lower or single House
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), ‘Women in National Parliaments: Situation as of 30
June 2012, <http://www.ipu.org>.

29
3.2 Implications of Women’s Political Participation

The statistic presented in the previous section show that the target of 40% is indeed still
far from being reached; the deadline of the achievements of the Millennium Development
Goals is only 3 years away yet one of the indicators of Goal 3 has slow progress
worldwide.

At the turn of the 21st century, there is little overt discrimination against women in
politics. Almost every country in the world provides the legal right for women to
participate in politics. But the lack of visible women in the political life of nation after
nation suggests that veiled discrimination against women remains. In some countries,
such as Sweden, Argentina and Rwanda, women have made remarkable progress in their
political representation. Unfortunately, in many countries, the struggle for equality
proceeds slowly. And some populations, religions, and governments remain openly
hostile to the notion of women in politics (Paxton & Hughes, 2007)

What could have been the gains of increased participation of women in politics?
According to the World Economic Forum (2011), the recent Arab Spring has shown that
women have emerged as key civic leaders and their role must now be recognized by
increasing gender equality in the political arena in that region and across the globe. “A
system where women are not represented at the highest levels is both an unequal and an
inefficient system” (World Economic Forum, 2011).

Broody (2009) argues that achieving greater gender equality in governance is an

important end in itself – quite simply, those who have traditionally been excluded

30
because of their gender, sexuality, race or for other reasons have the right to play an equal
part in governance institutions and processes. She continues to state that:
“Ensuring that women play an equal role in shaping the decisions, rules
and structures that influence our lives is likely to lead to long-term,
sustainable changes. For example, if more women are involved in
developing school curricula, there is a good chance they will challenge
the gender stereotypes often reinforced through school textbooks. If they
have an equal voice in developing legal frameworks, it is likely they will
ensure laws do not discriminate against women and that international,
gender-focused legislation such as CEDAW is honoured. This could
result in greater equality for women in the workplace and a greater
commitment to addressing the problem of gender-based violence. It
could also mean establishing legal obligations for companies to provide
extended paternity as well as maternity leave so that men and women can
share caring responsibilities, as well as more flexible working
arrangements so the demands of domestic and work lives can be
balanced”(Broody,2009).

Dahlerup (2006) summarized three basic arguments why women should be active
in politics. According to him there should be more women in politics because of
the justice, experience and interests, as shown in this table:

Table 4.Three Arguments Why There should be Gender-Balance in Politics

Justice argument Experience argument Interest argument

Women comprise 50 percent
of the population and should
therefore have 50 percent of
seats in decision making
assemblies
Women's experiences should
be integrated into
politics-which is important as
long as the lives of women and
men are so
segregated
On some fundamental issues,
conflicts exist between the
interests of women and men,
or between the interests of
specific groups of women and
men. Thus, men cannot
represent women.

31
These arguments justifies that women needs to be represented in politics to fully address
gender inequality. Women in the center of decision-making is crucial to advance
women’s issues.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union (2006) adheres to the principle that democracy requires
the inclusion of both men and women in decision making. Since democracy gives
importance to the voice of everyone in the society, having the voice of women in national
parliaments and all sectors of decision-making provides its legitimacy.

3.2. Reasons for Women’s Access in Politics

Gender-sensitive reforms in national and local government in the form of electoral quota
systems and the establishment of women’s ministries have resulted in some progress in
achieving a better gender balance in governance – for example, the fact that Rwanda has
one of the highest figures for women’s representation in its national assembly is largely
due to the application of quotas (Broody, 2009). Affirmative action such as the gender
quotas has been the primary reason of the increase of women in politics worldwide.

Latin America has been the region wherein state interventions contributed immensely to a
dramatic increase in the election of women to national legislatures in recent years. This
has been especially surprising given the dominant role played by the Catholic Church in
Latin America and the cultural ideology of machismo that venerates men over women.
But, Latin American countries have other characteristics that are more favourable toward
women’s election and have helped to overcome cultural obstacles. These include a
changing socioeconomic environment, the adoption of gender quota laws, the use of

32
proportional representation electoral rules, and high legislative turnover (Schwindt-
Bayer, 2007).

According to Tambiah (2003), women’s literacy and education is also a critical

prerequisite in their engagement in the political space. In India, women in certain
political fora, such as those elected to panchayats, have recounted numerous instances
where male counterparts used the women’s illiteracy against them. Yet being deprived of
education may be the consequence of a highly patriarchal society. On the contrary,
Tambiah (2003), also emphasized that a high level of education doesn’t result to better
representation of women. As she states:

It is important to note, however, that high levels of female literacy do not

automatically correspond to a high presence of women in public
decision-making positions, or increase their political participation. Sri
Lanka provides a key example of such an instance, indicating thereby
that education needs to be associated with other social transformations
to be an effective factor in promoting women. The quality and content of
education are as important. Women who acquire literacy and education
through texts and instructors that reinforce gender stereotypes are
unlikely to interrogate the premises of existing social relations,
beginning in the household, and consequently less likely to deem
themselves political actors in public.(Tambiah, 2003).

3.3. Obstacles in Women’s Access to Politics

The participation of women in governance has long been hindered by the assumption that
their proper sphere is the “private” sphere (Nussbaum, 2003). For the longest time,

33
women are still stereotyped as managers of the household, working in the spheres of their
home. This stereotype has been brought even in the inclusion of women in decision
making. Nussbaum (2003) cites that when women are included, they are frequently
assigned “soft portfolios” that reflect traditional understandings of what is suitable for
women: health, education and so on.

Howell (2008) made a comprehensive analysis on Gender and Rural Governance in

China. In his study, he made a clear description of the nature of women’s participation in
China. According to data gathered from Inter-Parliamentary Union, China fares relatively
well in terms of the participation of women in parliamentary bodies. As of March 2008,
women made up of 21.3 per cent of all delegates to the National People’s Congress.
Though this number show a remarkable achievement in terms of women’s political
empowerment, there are still challenges being faced. These include social norms and
practices that discriminate against women as well as institutional barriers such as “ceiling
effect” of quotas, the gendered nature of the Party recruitment and promotion processes,
and male bias in election procedures, and the lack of clear selection criteria in village
elections, institutional discrimination and gendered differences in career trajectories.
They also include structural barriers such as marriage practices in rural areas, the
household division of labour, and lower educational opportunities for girls, especially in
rural areas, gendered patterns of mobility and women’s position in the waged economy
(Howell, 2008).

Shvedova (2005) comprehensively categorized the obstacles that women face in politics
into three broad categories: Political, socio-economic and ideological and psychological
obstacles (See Table 6).

34
Table 5. Obstacles to Women’s Participation in Parliament (Shvedova, 2005)

Political Obstacles Socio-economic Ideological and

obstacles Psychological Obstacles
• the prevalence of the • illiteracy and limited • gender ideology, cultural
‘masculine model’ of access to education and patterns, and
political life and of choice of professions; and predetermined social roles
elected government • the dual burden of assigned to women and
bodies; domestic tasks and men;
• lack of party support, for professional obligations. • women’s lack of the
example, limited financial confidence to stand for
support for women election;
candidates,limited access • women’s perception of
to political networks, and politics as a ‘dirty’ game;
the more stringent and
standards and • the way in which women
qualifications applied to are portrayed in the mass
women; media
• lack of sustained contact
and cooperation with
other public organizations
such as trade (labour)
unions and women’s
groups;
• lack of access to well-
developed education and
training systems for
women’s leadership in
general, and for orienting
young women towards
political life; and
• the nature of the electoral
system, which may or
may not be favourable to
women candidates

35
While many women have been overcoming these obstacles, most of these still persist and
continue to block the access of women in politics. Governments need to fully understand
these obstacles to provide women the right to be part of the decision-making.

36
CHAPTER 4: CASE STUDY OF WOMEN’S POLITICAL
EMPOWERMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

4.1 Current Status of Women in Philippine Politics

The Philippines remains to be a lower-middle income country in Asia. Its economic

performance would clearly show that this country is still struggling in facing various
development issues, yet ironically, it has been outperforming its neighbours in terms of
addressing gender inequality. Global gender indicators show that the Philippines is the
best nation in Asia for women.

In the recent Global Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum (2011), the
Philippines ranked 8th among 135 countries. The indices have shown that in four major
aspects (Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and
Survival, and Political Empowerment) the performance of the Philippines is almost above
the average. But in all those four, the Political Empowerment shows to be the index that
needs to be addressed (See Figures 4 and 5).

37
Figure 4. Gender Gap Sub Indexes of the Philippines

Source: World Economic Forum, 2011

38
Figure 5. Gender Gap Diamond of the Philippines

Source: World Economic Forum, 2011

The developments for the participation of women in Philippine politics and decision-
making are promising; however there is still no equality in the proportion of men and
women, and the numbers show that it is even far from the criteria set by the United
Nations. The country may have had two women leaders, former Presidents Corazon C.
Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who came into power through the EDSA I and
EDSA II people’s revolt, however, men’s domination in the political arena remains
apparent (Philippine Commission on Women, 2009).

39
Figure 6. Elective Positions Held by Men and Women

Women Men
Proportion of Occupied Elective Positions (%) 23.2 76.8
Number of Elected Women and Men by Position 3,037 14,440
President 1 0
Vice-President 0 1
Senators (2004) 3 9
Senators (2008) 1 11
Congressmen 45 173
Governors 18 62
Vice-Governors 13 67
Board Members 123 635
Mayors 274 1,320
Vice-Mayors 230 1,365
Councilors 2,329 10,797
Source: NSCB Fact Sheet, March 1, 2010.
* Reference period/source: 2004 and 2008 COMELEC

On the positive note, the political empowerment of women in the Philippines has shown
gains from the previous election. The most recent Fact Sheet of the Philippine
Commission on Women (2011) would prove the developments in women’s political
participation. Preliminary report (as of February 2011) of the May 2010 automated
national and local elections shows that around 18.4 percent of the elected posts are won
by women candidates, slightly higher than the 17 percent turnout in 2007. In 2010
Senatorial election, there were 14 women who ran out of 61 candidates (23.0%), of
which two entered the top 12 winning senators (16.7%). Women participation in the
senatorial election in 2007 was lower at 10.8 percent (4 out of 37 senatorial candidates)
with one woman elected (8.3%). There are 48 women Representatives elected in the 15th

40
Congress (2010 national election). They accounted for 21.6 percent of the total 222
Representatives as members of the Lower House. During the 14th Congress, 51 women
had secured memberships in the House of Representatives which was lower at 21.2
percent of the total 240 seats. A women's rights organization has secured party-list
representation in Congress since 2004. Civil society/private sector organizations that
carry the agenda of marginalized sectors vie for a limited number of seats in the House of
Representatives. In the 2007 national election, a total of 21 Party-list Representatives
were given seats in the House of Congress, two represented a women's organization -
Gabriela Women's Party (GWP) which also won in the 2004 national election. Moreover,
of the total 21 elected Party-list Representatives, 6 or 28.57 percent are women. This is
higher than the 2004 figure which was only 17.39 percent (4 women out of 23 elected
Party-list Representatives).

Gains in political empowerment of women in the Philippines have been a product of a

long term vision that Filipino women should have equality with men in decision-making.
It was through the active initiatives of the Philippine government, unswerving lobbying
and actions of women’s group, and continued support of the civil society. This study
delves on the role of the Philippine government, not because the role of civil society and
women’s group are looked down, but because the formal institution is perceived to have
the biggest role in addressing gender inequality and empowerment of women. When the
State becomes passive of the needs that women face, it can hardly address issues that they
face. Thus awareness at a national level and the initiatives they take part into are
necessary and deemed with highest value.

41
4.2 The Role of the State in Women’s Political Participation in the Philippines

Women's concerns were positioned at the heart of the government agenda with the
integration of the gender equality principle in the 1987 Philippine Constitution
(Philippine Commission on Women). In Article 2 Section 14, it states that “The State
recognizes the role of women in nation building, and shall ensure the fundamental
equality before the law of women and men.”

A. National Machinery for the Advancement of Women

In the Beijing Platform of Action (1995), the role of the state in addressing gender
inequality was given prior importance through imposing an institutional mechanism for
the advancement of women:
“A national machinery for the advancement of women is the central
policy- coordinating unit inside government. Its main task is to support
government-wide mainstreaming of a gender-equality perspective in all
policy areas. In addressing the issue of mechanisms for promoting the
advancement of women, Governments and other actors should promote
an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective in
all policies and programmes so that, before decisions are taken, an
analysis is made of the effects on women and men, respectively (Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action, 1995).

Yet prior to this, the Philippines has already responded to the need of having a national
machinery for the advancement of women. Under the Marcos administration, the
Philippines already established the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women
(NCRFW) in 1975, through Presidential Decree 633; therefore, the Philippines’ response
is as old as the UN’s Decade of Women (Tapales, 2003). It was mandated "to review,
evaluate, and recommend measures, including priorities to ensure the full integration of

42
women for economic, social and cultural development at national, regional and
international levels, and to ensure further equality between women and men."

In 2009, the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women was renamed as
Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) by the RA 79710 or the Magna Carta of
Women.

Under the Office of the President, the Board of Commissioners, headed by the
Chairperson, sets the policies, programs/thrusts and rules towards the achievement of the
vision and mission of the Commission9, while the Executive Director oversees planning
and implementation of PCW operations. She is assisted by two (2) Deputy Executive
Directors and five (5) Division Chiefs. It has a Project Management Office (PMO)
coordinating the PCW-United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Project on
Strengthening Government Mechanism in Mainstreaming Gender in the Reproductive
Health, Population and Anti-VAW Programs.

Figure 7. Organizational Chart of the PCW

9
Philippine Commission on Women, Organizational Structure
www.pcw.gov.ph/pcw/organizational-structure

43
B. Policy Framework for Women in the Philippines

The Philippine government, in its adherence to the mandate provided in the 1987
Philippine Constitution, created and implemented development plans for women which
translate the provision in the international commitments into specific policy and program
measures. The first plan was the Philippine Development Plan for Women (1989-1992),
followed by the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development (PPGD) (1995-
2025) and the Framework Plan for Women. These three served as the blueprint of the
government in addressing gender inequality and in advancing women’s welfare in the
country.

The Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP, 1987-1992) required that

gender and development shall be effectively integrated across sectors at the national and
subnational planning processes. Virola (1997) explained that a companion plan to the
MTPDP, the Philippine Development Plan for Women (PDPW), 1989-1992 addressed
the need to institute appropriate policies, strategies, programs/projects and mechanisms to
ensure that women are effectively mobilized in the development process. Executive
Order 348, issued on February 17, 1989 directed all government agencies to implement
the programs and projects outlined in the PDPW. It was prepared by coordination of the
National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (now renamed as Philippine
Commission on Women) and the National Economic and Development Authority
(NEDA). These two agencies maintained the implementation and monitoring of the plan.

Understanding the complexities in the society, and a long period will be required to affect
necessary political and sociocultural changes, the Philippine government embarked on
being visionary and adopted the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development
(PPGD) for the period of 1995-2025. This plan consolidates the action commitments of

44
the Philippines during the Beijing World Conference on Women. This is also the over-all
frame that is also the point of reference for the discussions and monitoring of gender
mainstreaming (Hega, 2003).

The PPGD also commits the Philippine government to addressing issues of poverty,
violence against women and other abuses of women’s human rights, and the continuing
invisibility of women in public affairs (NEDA, 2007). It is a comprehensive blueprint of
the government to address the issues that Filipino face, from the time it was crafted to the
present, and what she will face in the future.

Having a 30-year time frame, the plan comprehensively includes significant strategies to
empower the Filipino women (see Table 6). The PPGD incorporates present reality and
future prospects and possibilities such as population growth and the creation of
megacities, globalization of markets, tastes and investments, advances in technology,
shifts in investments and the attendant division of labour, and the rise of social
movements; arrayed against these are the erosion of biodiversity as a result of a
development that has pillaged the environment, diseases, including the acquired immune-
deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and other pandemics and the erosion of nation-states
brought by globalization and retribalization ( Philippine Commission on Women, 1995).

45
 Table 6. PPGD Strategies, Goals and Visions

Strategies Goals Visions

☯ Enhancement of sustainable access of women
to capital, market, information, technology, and Gender
technical assistance Increased economic equality
☯ Enhancement of employment and livelihood skills empowerment of
of women, particularly in high-value-adding women
industries and agricultural activities Women’s
☯ Establishment of an enabling environment that empowerment
will ensure the effective implementation of policies
for the protection of woman workers
Sustainable
☯ Increase in women’s awareness of their economic
development
rights and opportunities
☯ Strengthening of women’s representation in
economic decision-making bodies Peace and
☯ Enhancement of women’s access to/utilization of social justice
basic social services
☯ Promotion of a gender-responsive delivery Actualization
Protection and of human
of justice to violence against women (VAW)
fulfillment of potentials
survivors
women’s human beyond basic
☯ Formulation and implementation of legislative
rights needs
measures that will eliminate gender bias
☯ Promotion and advancement of women and girl
children’s human rights Democratic
☯GAD mainstreaming in the bureaucracy participation
☯ Enhancement of women’s leadership roles and
participation in decision making Self-determination
☯ Strengthening of women’s role in promoting Gender-responsive at all levels
gender-responsive governance governance
☯ Strengthening of government partnership with Respect for
media in covering various women’s issues human rights

46
While the PPGD provides the long-term perspective of the government for Filipino
women, a short-term operationalizing guideline was deemed necessary. To this end, the
government, in close collaboration with its partners in NGOs and the academia, crafted
the Framework Plan for Women (FPW) in 2001. The FPW envisions development as
“equitable, sustainable, free from violence, respectful of human rights, supportive of self-
determination and the actualization of human potentials, and participatory and
empowering”. Upon its creation, the plan focuses on three major aspects: (1) promoting
women’s economic empowerment; (2) upholding women’s human rights and (3)
promoting and strengthening gender-responsive governance.

Gender mainstreaming is the key strategy in the implementation of the PPGD and FPW.
This strategy calls for the comprehensive integration of gender policies and programs.
According to the Philippine Commission on Women (2003), which is the central
government agency that implements gender mainstreaming, the key elements for a
successful implementation of the gender mainstreaming strategy include: (i) sex-
disaggregated data and statistics; (ii) skills and opportunities to undertake gender
analysis; (iii) effective monitoring and evaluation of systems and tools; (iv) national,
subnational and local structures with clearly defined roles for leadership and support for
gender mainstreaming; (v) effective communication, networks, and linkages; (iv) a
skilled human resource base; (vii) civil society participation and (viii) GAD budget.

One of the three key aspects of the plans, which is gender-responsive governance, gives
importance on the role of women in decision-making. One of its strategies is the
“enhancement of women’s leadership roles and participation in decision-making.” It is
composed of a two-pronged strategies (1) ensure equal representation of women in
decision-making process at the local, national and international levels (2) promote gender
responsive management and transformative leadership.

47
In the last decade, some of the interventions in implementing the plan to address gender
gap in politics and decision making are as follows:

a. conduct of leadership training for women

b. advocacy for more women candidates in elections
c. provision of welfare support services for grassroots women who wish to
enter politics
d. research focusing on best or useful practices and development of
models of gender responsive management and leadership
e. conduct of training on gender-responsive management and leadership
f. implementation of policy on women’s representation in local councils
g. establishment of local machineries on women
h. building of management capabilities of the local machineries on women

The government, initiated by the Philippine Commission on Women and the National
Economic and Development Authority, has publicized necessary documents to serve as
guidelines for gender mainstreaming in different agencies as well as the local government
units. One example is the Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines, which
features (1) core set of requirements, in the form of questions, that applies to project
development in general, regardless of sector or project type (2) GAD guidelines for the
development of certain types of projects, or projects in particular sectors (3) GAD
checklists for the management, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of
development projects (NEDA, 2007).

48
C. Laws for Women’s Political Empowerment

The importance of women in nation-building resonated to the passage of laws,

bills and other initiatives that to date has been beneficial to the Filipino women. The most
apparent and clear manifestation of the State’s dedication is the legal framework for
women. The Philippines, in this aspect, has good practices for the passage of laws that in
turn lead to more women being protected by such laws. Some of the milestones are as
follows:

R.A. 7160: An Act Providing for a Local Government Code of 1991

“In addition thereto, there shall be one (1) sectoral representative from
the women, one (1) from the workers, and one (1) from any of the
following sectors: the urban poor, indigenous cultural communities,
disabled persons or any other sector as may be determined by the
sanggunian concerned with (90) days prior to the holding of the next local
elections, as may be provided for by the law. The Comelec shall
promulgate the rules and regulations to effectively provide for the
elections of such sectoral representatives” (An Act Providing for a Local
Government Code Section 41, 1991).

This law provides for the election of sectoral representatives, including women, in local
legislative councils. It is a milestone law passed in 1991, as it drastically shifted power
from the central government to the local governments, (IIRR,LGSP, SANREM
CRSP/Southeast Asia, 2000), and in the process, women are given their appropriate
representation in the local government.

However, twenty two years after the passage of the law, Local Sectoral Representatives
have yet to take up their seats in the Sanggunians (National Youth Commission, 2012). It
is noteworthy that as early as 1991, even before the hype of including women in the
decision-making, they have already been given importance. Yet a full implementation of

49
this law would really mean that the role of women in decentralized government is fully
maximized.

R.A. 7941: Party List Law (1995)

In the Lower House of Congress, a party-list representation was implemented, as

provided in the Constitution that allows under-represented sectors, including women, to
elect their parties to Congress (UNESCAP, 2001). Known as the Party List Law of 1995,
this has given women the capacity to ensure representation in the national parliament.
Among the many sectors that are underrepresented, women have the right to elect a
party-list constituting and advancing their issues.

At present, GABRIELA Women’s Party is the sole women’s representative in the Lower
House. Founded on October 28, 2000, Gabriela Women’s Party is an offshoot of the
biggest alliance of women’s organizations in the Philippines, GABRIELA (GABRIELA,
2007). There has been a steady increase on the total votes garnered of the party-list
during the national elections. From 464, 586 votes in 2004, it already reached 1,006, 752
during the 2010 elections. At present, there are two representatives, Hon. Luzviminda
Ilagan and Hon. Emmi De Jesus. They have been sponsoring laws that generally benefit
women, and one of their notable contributions is in the passage of the Magna Carta for
Women in 2009.
Table 7. GABRIELA Women's Party during the national elections

Election Total Votes Percentage of Seats in the Lower

Total Votes House
2004 464,586 3.65% 1
2007 621, 266 3.88% 2
2010 1,006,752 3.31% 2
Source: Commission on Elections, www.comelec.gov.ph

50
The Party List System may have opened the doors for women, but women will have to
create and improve their capacity to sustain their involvement in electoral politics.
Bringing women to the halls of legislature also requires education of the electorate, which
means a budget that should be able to cover campaigns across the country (Muñez, 2005).

RA 7192: Women in Development and Nation-Building (1992)

The Women in Development and Nation-Building Act provides guidance and measures
that will mobilize and enhance participation of women in the development process in
ways equal to that of men, through three main aspects: (1) substantial portion of foreign
assistance funds shall be allocated to support programs for women; (2) women shall
benefit equally and participate in development programs funded by foreign assistance
and; (3) gender bias shall be removed from government regulations, circulars, issuances
and procedures.

Passed by the Congress in 1991 and signed into law by President Corazon Aquino the
following year, this law provided for the drafting of the Philippine Plan for Gender
Responsive Development (PPGD) 1995-2025, described as the “main vehicle for
implementing the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action10.

In the Philippine Response to UN-CSW Questionnaire on the Platform of Action

Implementation11 in 1999, it highlighted the passage of this law as one of the landmarks
law that operationalize the national policy for achieving gender equality. As explained in
the report:

10
Philippine Commission on Women Website, “About Us”.
11
Produced by the Philippine Commission on Women that reported the progress made by the
country three years after the Beijing Conference.

51
 “Among others, it provides equal rights and opportunities as men in
entering into contracts and loan agreements and in joining social and
cultural clubs. Fulltime household managers can avail of social security
services through working spouses and women are assured of equal
opportunities for appointment, admission, training, graduation and
commissioning in all military or similar schools of the Armed Forces of
the Philippines and the Philippine National Police. The law also secures
5-30 percent of total official development assistance (ODA) for
programs and projects or components on women. More importantly, this
law provides that “all government departments and agencies shall
review and revise all their regulations, circulars and procedures to
remove gender biases therein (Philippine Commission on Women,
1999).”

This was followed through in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) which, in 1995, set
aside 5% of funds for gender and development (GAD) projects.

Tapales (2003) explained that this law, on the economic aspect, has provided equal rights
to wives entering into contracts and loan agreements. At the same time, it opened military
schools to women as well as the police academies. Furthermore, it allowed women equal
access to social and cultural clubs. Passed in 1991, the law led to the acceptance of the
first batch of women into the Philippine Military Academy, and the increase in the
number of women in the police service. Moreover, with the implementation of the act,
borrowing for livelihood assistance became easier for women, who can now obtain credit
on their own.

RA 9710: Magna Carta of Women

In 2009, the Magna Carta of Women, a landmark law for women in the Philippines was
passed. This was dubbed as the local CEDAW, and was pushed through by legislators

52
aiming to empower women in all spheres of the Philippine society. It was signed into law
under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was the second
female president of the country.

The Magna Carta of Women, or Republic Act (RA) 9710, is a comprehensive women's
human rights law that seeks to eliminate discrimination against women by recognizing,
protecting, fulfilling and promoting the rights of Filipino women, especially those in the
marginalized sectors (FIAN Philippines, 2011). Its most salient features include
increasing the number of women personnel until they fill half of third-level positions in
the government, setting up in every barangay (village) a violence-against women’s desk,
providing incentives to parties with women’s agenda and barring the derogatory portrayal
of women in media and film (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2009).

Salud (2010) in her OECD report enumerated the women’s rights addressed by the law as
follows:

 Protection from all forms of violence, including those committed by the State
 Protection and security in times of disaster, calamities and other crisis situations
 Participation and representation
 Equal treatment before the law
 Equal access and elimination of discrimination against women in education,
scholarships and training
 Equal participation in sports
 Non-discrimination in employment in the field of military, police, and other
similar services
 Non-discriminatory and non-derogatory portrayal of women in media and film
 Comprehensive health services and health information and education
 Leave benefits
 Equal rights in all matters related to marriage and family relations

53
The responsibility of the government to end discrimination is heightened by the passage
of this law. It provides that the Philippines government must "ensure the substantive
equality of men and women" and mandates the State to take steps to review, amend or
repeal existing laws that are discriminatory towards women (Philippine Commission on
Women, 2009).

“The Government, in its entirety, shall fulfil these duties through the
development and implementation of laws, policies, regulatory
instruments, administrative guidelines, and other appropriate measures. It
shall also establish mechanisms to promote the coherent and integrated
implementation of the MCW and other related laws and policies to
effectively stop discrimination against Filipino women” (Philippine
Commission on Women, 2009).

In this law, gender equality in political affairs is being addressed (see Table 7). The
Philippine government is tasked to ensure that women are represented within the Civil
Service, in all levels of development planning and bodies, in other policy and decision-
making bodies, international bodies, political parties, as well as the private sector.

54
Table 8. Provisions on the Magna Carta of Women for Political Empowerment of
Filipino Women

Empowerment within the Within the next five (5) years, the number of women in third
Civil Service (3rd) level positions in government shall be incrementally
increased to achieve a fifty-fifty (50-50) gender balance;

Development Councils and To ensure the participation of women in all levels of

Planning Bodies development planning and program implementation, at least forty
percent (40%) of membership of all development councils from
the regional, provincial, city, municipal, and barangay levels
shall be composed of women;
Other Policy and Decision- Women’s groups shall also be represented in international,
Making Bodies national, and local special and decision-making bodies. It shall
also ensure the participation of grassroots women leaders in
decision and policy-making bodies in their respective sectors
including, but not limited to, the Presidential Agrarian Reform
Council (PARC) and its local counterparts; community-based
resource management bodies or mechanisms on forest
management and stewardship; the National Fisheries and Aquatic
Resources Management Council (NFARMC) and its local
counterparts; the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples;
the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor; the National
Anti-Poverty Commission; and, where applicable, the local
housing boards;
International Bodies The State shall take all appropriate measures to ensure the
opportunity of women, on equal terms with men and without any
discrimination to represent their government at the international
level and to participate in the work of international organizations;
Integration of Women in The State shall provide incentives to political parties with
Political Parties women’s agenda. It shall likewise encourage the integration of
women in their leadership hierarchy, internal policy-making
structures, appointive and electoral nominating processes; and
Private Sector The State shall take measures to encourage women leadership in
the private sector in the form of incentives.

55
The enactment of the MCW caps a seven-year legislative lobby by women’s groups, the
last three years of which were guided by a CEDAW framework (CEDAW Southeast
Asia, 2009). It was a result of unswerving fight of the executive, legislative as well as the
civil society, especially women’s group. However, it was not a smooth advancement
since conservative religious parties opposed the MCW “for its emphasis on reproductive
health charging that the bill would promote promiscuity, abortion, divorce and
homosexuality”. However, through patient dialogue, logical presentation of facts and
human rights principles in congressional hearings, in community forums, schools and
through mass media, and public pressure through mobilization in numbers, the legislative
battle was won (CEDAW Southeast Asia, 2009).

Maza (2009), who was the representative of the party-list Gabriela and one of the
sponsors of the law expressed that it was a victory for all women. As she stated, "after all
the attempts to block the passage of the Magna Carta of Women, the Filipino women
have finally emerged victorious. This is a by-product of women’s continuous struggle for
equality and serves as a gateway in support to women’s legitimate concerns,"

De Lima (2009), who was then the chairperson of the Commission of Human Rights,
stated that “for the first time, there’s a provision which categorically acknowledges that
women’s rights are human rights and therefore the principles of human rights are there
such as non-discrimination, equality, participation.”

56
4.3. Implications of Women’s Political Empowerment in the Philippines

Political empowerment of women in the Philippines is just one aspect of addressing

gender inequality in the country. Filipino women still faces a lot of challenges, yet strides
in this area show how the government, with the collaboration with NGOs and civil
society, gives importance in the centrality of women in the development path.

ADB (2004) highlights that nurturing the political capability of women and allowing
them to participate in public life is necessary for facilitating gender-responsive economic
development and poverty reduction. While employment in government and participation
in electoral politics are but a few of the indicators, what remains fundamental is enabling
a critical mass of Filipino women to influence decisions and policies to correct gender
disparities and to overcome institutional, economic, and sociocultural barriers to
empowerment.

The favourable legal and policy framework in the Philippines must be maximized and put
into action that could lead to more benefits of women. This should be translated in the
increase of women in the national parliaments, as well as local government, and other
areas of decision-making.

Women are favoured, and their rights are deemed high as reflected in continuous efforts
by the local government. This is empowering women, from top to bottom. Having the
institutional mechanism set by laws and implemented by the government clearly shows
that the Philippines is prioritizing the needs of women, and it could be translated to other
areas such as poverty alleviation and rural development, among others.

57
4.4 Challenges in Women’s Political Empowerment

ADB (2004) in their study about the gender equality in the Philippines states that despite
some gains in developing political capability, there remain challenges that need to be
addressed. First, political life is still dominated by men. The increasing number of female
voters has not been transformed into a potent mechanism for Filipino women to demand a
gender-responsive platform. Second, males continue to dominate decision-making posts.
Third, more gender sensitivity is needed among women in politics and decision making if
they are to become effective change agents. Fourth, the desired legislative measures for
advancing the cause of women are still in various stages of legislation.

There is also a need to establish concrete, time-bound and measurable goals and to
undertake sustained efforts at putting Temporary Special Measures in place to address the
low level of women’s participation in elected and public bodies. The representation of
rural, indigenous and Muslim women is particularly stressed. The highest priority to the
passage of pending bills ensuring women’s rights such as the reproductive health bill and
the anti-sexual discrimination bill should also be given (Buenaventura, 2010).

Being the only Catholic nation in Asia, religion in the Philippines, as present situation
suggests, seems to hinder the empowerment of women. As the principle of “separation of
the Church and State” is applied, some legislators, especially men, are still being driven
by their beliefs and sometimes lose the objectivity in decision-making. This is visible at
present in the deliberations for the Reproductive Health Bill, which is already been in the
Congress for 12 years.

Glass ceilings still remains, as more women are still having multiple burdens. Continued
efforts should be made by the government to address the needs of women who are in the
electorate and provide the necessary help for them.

58
While the presence of laws passed shows exemplary performance of the legislature, some
of these are not really implemented. The provision in the Local Government Code for
sectoral representation (for women, workers, and other special groups) has not been
implemented because of the reluctance of the national legislators to provide funds for
sectoral elections; these are influenced by the parallel reluctance of local government
officials to open the gates for those sectoral representatives (Tapales, 2003).

59
CHAPTER 5: WOMEN IN THE PHILIPPINE CONGRESS

5.1 Background on the Electoral System in the Philippines12

The President and Vice President are elected nationally for a six-year term with no re-
election. The Philippine Congress is bicameral, with a lower house of at least 200
representatives elected in single-member district constituencies for three years, plus
“Party List” representatives that address “sectoral” or specific concerns. Representatives
are limited to three terms.

The Senate has 24 members elected for a six-year term nationally, with half of the
members elected every three years. Senators are limited to two terms. Local government
officials (governors, provincial councils, municipal and city mayors, municipal and city
councils) are elected for a three-year term, with a three-term limit or a maximum of nine
years of service.

Senators, representatives and local government officials are elected in midterm elections.
During presidential election years, they may also be elected. Those with the most number
of votes are declared winners.

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC), a constitutionally mandated, independent

body, supervises elections. A Political Party that would join the electoral process is
required to register with the COMELEC with a verified petition that presents the party’s
organization through its constitution, by laws, platform, and other information. Each
party is required to have chapters in the majority of regions and provinces, down to towns
and barangays.

12
Summarized by Muñez (2005) from the 1987 Philippine Constitution

60
Hega (2003) posits that the multi-party system that emerged out of the post-Marcos
democratization has not dislodged the traditional politics and elitist democracy that
governed the country for many years. Thus, there is a multitude of political parties that
exist. Firstly, the main political parties are not ideological or programmatic. They are
primarily “personality oriented” that revolves around a presidential candidate or a
political family. This makes the measurement of women membership almost impossible
since these parties have “revolving door membership” as individual or organizational
alliances constantly shift in every election – with the winning president’s party taking a
windfall in membership at the start of his/her term.

The complexities of the electoral-political system in the Philippines make it hard for
women to penetrate in a system that is characterized by “guns, gold and goons” (Hega
2003).

5.2 Trends in the Participation of Women in the Congress

This graphic representation (Figure 8) clearly shows that since 1997, there has been a
steady increase in the participation of women in the national parliaments. Women can
participate in national parliaments only through winning in the national election, and their
term can end at a certain year, thus a decline in the number. Their percentage in the
Congress has been doubled since 1997, from 11% to 22.1% in 2011. However, the
number is still below the 30% quota set by the United Nations.

For the May 2010 elections, there are 61 senatorial candidates seeking one of the twelve
senatorial seats. Of that number, 14 are women. These women come from a variety of
backgrounds. They are highly educated and are largely from middle to upper middle-

61
class families. Four are re-electionists while the rest either come from political families or
are first time senatorial candidates (Philippine Online Chronicles, 2010).

Figure 8. Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%) in the

Philippines

25

20

15

10

0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Source: World Bank

62
For the longest time, the participation of women in the national parliament is still because
of kinship politics (Palatino, 2010; Tapales, 2005; Roces, 1998) and not issue-oriented
politics.

An estimated 45 percent of the female legislators elected to the 12th Congress were
replacements of relatives previously in the House. In the 14th Congress, 15 percent of the
congresswomen are wives of congressmen who have just served their third and final
terms (Palatino,2010). The two female presidents, Corazon Aquino and Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo clearly illustrate this phenomenon in Philippines politics. Aquino is
the wife of the martyred senator Ninoy Aquino while Arroyo is the daughter of the
former president Diosdado Macapagal. Even in the local politics this is what’s
happening. Since 1998, there have been more women entering local politics; but many of
them consider themselves as “breakers”, sitting in posts temporarily vacated by their
husbands who have reached mandatory end of term of nine years (Tapales, 2002).

While the political initiatives of the government, such as the Magna Carta of Women
requires the participation of women in political parties, the cultural system in the country
prevails and sometimes remains as hindrance for the access of women in politics.

5.3 Reasons for Access of Women in Electoral Politics

In a study made by Dr. Socorro Reyes of the Center for Legislative Development in
1992, it was revealed that 14 women members of the Congress believe that their blood
relationship with a male politician helped them win their electoral seats through the use
of the latter’s political machinery.

63
According to the Philippine country report on the State of Women in Urban Local
Government, family connection is a major factor in political involvement. The study
revealed that of their 17 women respondents “…15 had close relatives in either politics or
government. Of the elected officials, 8 had been encouraged by close family members to
stand for election”. Furthermore, “family political experience seems to be the main factor
which make Filipino women who, while aware of their own influence from the sidelines,
transcend the covert area of politics…to the overt political domain of elections" (UN-
ESCAP Website, 2003).

Another phenomenon is the so called “women benchwarmers” (Hega, 2003). Due to term
limits, wives and daughters have taken over the positions left by the husbands or fathers
for one term and then the man makes a comeback. This has happened in Makati City and
in some other localities. Even the wife of the ousted President Estrada’s became a
Senator due to votes of sympathy and of the loyalist hold-outs who are expecting his
political comeback.

The legal framework in the country has also contributed to the increase of women in the
electorate. The Philippine Constitution sites the equality between men and women;
Section 11 of the Magna Carta stresses the importance of women in the policy and
decision making process of government and has called for the increased participation of
women in these positions. Cojuangco (2012) exerts that these laws has become a
powerful tool for women to express their sentiments with minimal restrictions that apply
to both men and women. It allowed women to voice their opinions as citizens with equal
rights and the freedom to put into action their own advocacies which made them known
to the public and electorate.

64
5.4 Challenges faced by Women in Electoral Politics

Politics, as elucidated by Gumba (2001) as in many spheres of life in the Philippines, is

still very much a male enclave. From the smallest government unit to the national level,
men dominate over men. Gender relations remain traditional and male-centered.

Party leadership largely determines the selection of party candidates. Women’s

participation in their respective parties has been limited to administration, routine finance
work and corporate housekeeping. Some of these women have never been nominated as
party candidates (Muñez, 2005).

The notion that politics is dirty and it is a man’s world is still prevailing. “Philippine
election is characterized by violence and terrorism where candidates use ‘golds, guns and
goons’ to win” (PPGD, 1995). This has to be overcome, and the environment where
politics can accommodate women and their issues must be set.

There is still a prevailing lack of political education for women. Cultural biases must be
relegated, and the government should provide technical trainings and capacity building
for women who want to enter politics.

Lastly, financial capacity is necessary for women who want to run for politics. The
campaigns would entail a lot of resources, and women who are unprepared for the
financial burden must find difficulty in accessing power in Philippine politics.

65
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

At present, Gender and Development has been incorporated in development goals of

many countries. This was spearheaded by many international commitments since the
1980. Gender equality has been continually addressed. One clear definition of gender
equality is the equal opportunities between men, and women. And as posited in Chapter
2, the history of women’s movement shows that inequality persists in the society, in the
areas of education, health, politics and decision-making, among others. It is just
necessary that women’s issues be raised and addressed.

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

Beijing Platform of Action and the recent Millennium Development Goals illustrate the
commitment of the international community to eradicate all forms of discrimination. The
feminization of poverty and the women’s face of climate change show that women are
among the most vulnerable in this development issues.

Out of the many concerns in terms of gender inequality, this study focused on political
empowerment of women, highlighting the gains when women are participating in politics
and decision-making. Different countries worldwide have different policies and strategies
to ensure women’s voice in decision-making. Gender quota is still the highly accepted
and most effective way for women’s access in the national parliaments. However, it is
also clear that there is persisting veiled discrimination. Inequality is still rooted with
norms and mind-sets, and influencing behaviour is as important as legislating policies.

The case of women’s political empowerment in the Philippines was probed into. The
research has shown that favourable policy and legal framework are among the best
practices of the country. As early as 1975, the government has already set-up an
institutional mechanism for the advancement of women, the National Commission on the

66
Role of Filipino Women, which was later renamed as the Philippine Commission on
Women. This agency institutionalizes the main operation of the government to facilitate
women empowerment, which is the gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming was
included in the three development plans for women. These plans have incorporated the
needs that Filipino women face in the present, and the future perspectives. Gender
budgeting, which allocates a certain budget for Gender and Development in the country,
is also a good practice. The laws passed and being implemented also show that the legal
environment has been women-friendly, yet full implementations of the laws are to be
seen. There has been a clear coordination between the three branches of Philippine
government: Executive, Legislative and Judiciary.

The participation of the Filipino women in the electoral politics has been improving
through the years. The Philippines is even going beyond the average in gender indicator
in Asia. Yet looking into the case of the Philippines show that there is not much to be
proud about when it comes to the access of women in politics. Women still face several
challenges, most are embedded in the cultural system; political kinship is the main reason
for access of women in national parliament. While laws have contributed to the
increasing number of women in the Philippine Congress, several interventions should still
be done by the government. Career counselling, actual exposures to political processes
and examination of structural constraints to women’s participation in politics and civil
service have to be consciously addressed. The government must also intensify its actions
to break the glass ceiling in politics. A gender quota law must be considered to be passed;
however, empowering women to run in politics mainly because they are competent
should be the main motivation. Women should not be forced to enter politics; rather they
should be equipped to take on the responsibility of holding a position in the national
parliament.

67
As reiterated, the legal and policy framework of the country is a strong point. Yet we
should be committed to progressively address women’s issues in national policies. Those
laws that were passed must also be examined, as there might be provisions that are
discriminatory for women. And an effective law boils down to the effectiveness of its
implementation. Local government units need to be capacitated in enforcing laws for
women, and gender budgets should trickle down to every barangay in the country.

Lastly, raising awareness about women’s issues will help end discrimination against
women. Media is one of the powerful forces in the Philippine society. Using the influence
of mass and social media in empowering women can influence change in beliefs and
behaviour, and the government should continue to tap resources to fully address gender
inequality.

In the Introduction of this study, the operational framework was shown. As a result of
this study, the framework of political empowerment in the Philippines is:

The gender inequality in Philippine politics is addressed by its main agents, the
government agency and the legislature through gender mainstreaming and legislations,
and thus contributing to increased access of women in Philippines politics. This

68
systematic approach to gender inequality has been effective in some way. However, the
Philippines still needs to intensify its commitment to close gender parities in politics.

Recommendation for future studies:

This study focused on the role of the government in addressing gender inequality
in politics. As the World Bank’s Promoting Women’s Agency Framework
suggests, formal institutions is just one of the many actors to influence policies.
The role of informal institutions, specifically women’s groups in the country can
also be a good research interest.

As this research is highly qualitative, a quantitative study about this topic can
validate the claims of this thesis. A comparative analysis with another Asian
country or developed country could also help further this area of study.

69
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alsop & Healey. (2008). Gender Equality and Economic Growth for Poverty Reduction.
Poverty in Focus, 14-15.

Asian Development Bank. (2006). Pursuing Gender Equality through the Millennium
Development Goals in Asia and the Pacific. Manila: Asian Development Bank.

Baden, H. R. (2000). Gender and Development: Concepts and Definitions. Brighton, UK:
Institute of Development Studies: University of Sussex.

Brunch & Fried. (1996). Beijing '95: Moving Women's Human Rights from Margin to
Center. Chicago Journals, The University of Chicago Press.

CAPWIP. (2002). Making governance gender-responsive. Manila: Center for Asia

Pacific Women in Politics (CAPWIP).

Ege, A. &. (2001). Women’s Human Rights in Disaster Contexts: How can CEDAW
help? UN Division for the Advancement of Women (p. 6). Ankara: UN Division
for the Advancement of Women.

Grown, e. (2003). Background Paper of the Task Force on Education and Gender
Equality. Washington, D.C.: International Center for Research on Women.

Hega, M. (2003). Participation of Women in Philippine Politics and Society: A

Situationer. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung .

IIRR,LGSP, SANREM CRSP/Southeast Asia. (2000). Enhancing Participation in Local

Governance: Experiences from the Philippines. Cavite: International Institute of
Rural Reconstruction.

International Labour Organization. (2000). ABC of Women Worker’s Rights and Gender
Equality. Geneva: ILO.

Inter-Parliamentary Union. (2006). The Role of Parliamentary Committees in

Mainstreaming Gender and Promoting the Status of Women. Geneva: Inter-
Parliamentary Union.

70
Inter-Parliamentary Union. (2012). Women in National Parliaments. Retrieved from
Inter-Parliamentary Union: www.ipu.org

Miller, E. N. (2011). Women’s Rights, International Law and Domestic Politics:

Explaining CEDAW's Effectiveness. APSA 2011 Annual Meeting Paper, 2.

Moghadam, V. (2005). The Feminization of Poverty and Women's Human Rights. Paris:
UNESCO.

Muñez, M. (2005). Southeast Asian Women in Politics and Decision-Making, Ten Years
After Beijing: Gaining Ground? 2nd ed. Quezon City: FES Philippine Office and
the Southeast Asia Women Watch (SEAWWatch).

National Youth Commission. (2012). NYC Seeks full Implementation of Local

Government Code Provision on Local Sectoral Rep. Retrieved September 2012,
from National Youth Commission: http://nyc.gov.ph/whats-new-at-national-
youth-commission/nyc-updates/81-youth/677-nyc-seeks-full-implementation-of-
local-government-code-provision-on-local-sectoral-rep-

Paxton & Hughes. (2007). Women, Politics and Power: A Global Perspective. California:
Pine Forge Press.

Pellegrino, S. D. (2010). Paths to Power: Advancing Women in Government. UK:

Deloitte.

Philippine Commission on Women. (2009). Leadership and Political Participation.

Retrieved February 2012, from Philippine Commission on Women:
http://pcw.gov.ph/focus-areas/leadership-political-participation/initiatives

Philippine Commission on Women. (2009). Leadership and Political Participation.

Retrieved August 2 012, from Philippine Commission on Women:
www.pcw.gov.ph

Roberts, B. (1996). The Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women. The Canadian
Journal of Sociology.

Shin, H. (2004). CEDAW and Women’s Human Rights: Achievements and Obstacles.
Monash University. Australia: Monash University.

71
Tapales, P. (2003). Gender Policies And Responses Towards Greater Women
Empowerment In The Philippines. Public Administration and Globalization:
Enhancing Public-Private Collaboration in Public Service Delivery, 163-176.

UN Habitat. (2008). Gender Mainstreaming in Local Authorities: Best Practices.

Nairobi: UN Habitat.

UN Women. (2007). Investing in Women – Solving the Poverty Puzzle. New York: UN
Women & Women's Funding Network.

UNESCO. (2003). UNESCO’S Gender Mainstreaming Implementation Framework

(GMIF) for 2002-2007. Paris: UNESCO Bureau of Strategic Planning.

UNFPA. (2012). Gender Equality: A Cornerstone of Development. Retrieved March

2012, from United Nations Population Fund: http://www.unfpa.org/gender/

UNICEF. (2006). The State of the World's Children 2007. New York: UNICEF House.

United Nations. (1995). Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women. United
Nations publication (p. 8). Beijing: United Nations .

United Nations. (2010). The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics. New York:
United Nations.

United Nations Millennium Project. (2005). Taking Action: Achieving Gender Equality
and Empowering Women. New York: Task Force on Education and Gender
Equality.

Virola, R. (1997). Improving gender statistics in the Philippines. ECONOMIC AND

SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC. Bangkok: UNESCAP.

Waldorf, L. (2007). CEDAW and the Human Rights Approach to Programming. New
York: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Women Environment and Development Organization. (2012). Climate Change.

Retrieved from Women Environment and Development Organization:
http://www.wedo.org/category/themes/sustainable-development-
themes/climatechange

World Bank. (2011). World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and
Development. Washington DC: The World Bank.

72
World Bank. (n.d.). Gender and Development: A Trainer's Manual. Retrieved from
World Bank:
http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/192862/Module1/Module1-
index.html

World Economic Forum. (2011). The Global Gender Gap Report. Geneva: World
Economic Forum.

Zwart, G. (1992). From Women in Development to Gender and Development, More than
a Change in. Agenda, 16-21.

73