The Philippine Online Chronicles

Early last year, in March 2009, Senator Pia Cayetano wrote a letter to Health Secretary Francisco Duque III pushing for the establishment of gender sensitivity boards in all government hospitals and medical facilities. This was after she received reports that female doctors, nurses and interns have experienced sexual harassment and discrimination. Gender sensitivity boards, Cayetano argued, would provide an avenue for resolving gender issues in the workplace.

This issue brings to the fore the larger issue of gender equality in the Philippine government. Is it harder for women to become tenured government employees than their male counterparts? Do males dominate the higher echelons of the Philippine bureaucracy? Let’s take a look at some facts.

Women in the Civil Service

From the point of view of a consumer of government services, there doesn’t seem to be a lack of women in the government. In fact, there appears to be a lot of women catering to thousands of Filipinos who flock to different government agencies during weekdays.

The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) stated that women make up more than half of the Philippine bureaucracy.  The Civil Service Commission (CSC) reported the same thing. The agency noted that in 2004, 1.31 million or 57.6% of the total number of civil servants were women. These female civil servants are more likely to occupy clerical and managerial positions in the second level of the organizational hierarchy.

Women in the Legislative
The Philippine legislature has a long history of being male-dominated. Only during the recent decades have women finally broken through this branch of the national government and not without great difficulty. Just take for example the 2007 national elections. Out of the 37 candidates who vied for the 12 senatorial seats available, only four were women. Only one of these four women candidates won a seat in the Senate. For the May 2010 elections, 14 women out of 61 senatorial candidates are vying for the twelve senatorial seats available.

As for the Lower House of Representatives, 51 female lawmakers made it through the 14^th Congress in the 2007 elections. They helped raise the representation of women in the Lower House from 15.74% in the 13^th Congress to 21.25% in the present assembly. This is indeed a noticeable improvement considering that there is no such thing as a women’s vote in the Philippines.

Women in the Executive

The Philippines, in its tumultuous political history, has had two women presidents – the late Cory Aquino and the incumbent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Both came into power after major political upheavals but only GMA clung to power for nine years.

You would think that with women reigning over the country, there would be more women holding executive positions. But that isn’t the case. Men like Juan Ponce Enrile and Fidel Ramos dominated the political landscape during Aquino’s administration. But her coming into power did pave the way for more women to brave the dirty world of politics.

The Cabinet in Arroyo’s administration is also dominated by men. Out of the 33 Cabinet officials currently heading the different government agencies, only five are women. These are Honorables Agnes Devenadera (Secretary of Justice), Mona Valisno (Secretary of Education), Esperanza Cabral (Secretary of Health), Estrella F. Alabastro (Secretary of Science and Technology), and Celia Yangco (Secretary of Social Work and Development).

Women in the Judiciary

Similar to the other branches of the government, the Philippine judiciary is dominated by male judges, justices, and lawyers. Statistics show that in 2001, only 20% of the judges in the first and second level courts, including Shari’a courts, were women, This figure improved to 24% in 2002 until it reached  26% in 2004.

Women representation is also lacking in the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land. Currently, only two out of the 15 justices in the Supreme Court are women. These are Justices Conchita Carpio-Morales and Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro. Back in 2007 there used to be more women justices--there were five, to be exact.

Conclusion

The participation of women in Philippine politics and governance is progressing slowly despite the Beijing Declaration of 1995. This is the conclusion of the United Nations in its 2005 report on the progress of Filipinas and their role in politics. Indeed, this feature has demonstrated the same thing. Though women civil servants outnumber their male counterparts, there is a shortage of women involved in political decision-making and lawmaking. Hopefully, more women will find their inner steel magnolias and brave the dirty, oftentimes violent, world of Philippine politics.

Photo from Noemi Lardizabal-Dado. Some rights reserved.