Status

Women and Public Life
(Published and released by the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, 1998)

Women in electoral politics

• Voter turn-out in the Philippines has generally been higher among women than men. In the 1995 national and local elections, the turn-out rate for women was 71.0% and 70.3% for men, although there were more registered male voters (18.3M) than female voters (18.1M).

• There has been no significant increase in the number of women running for elective posts, much less those who actually win. In 1995, there were 6 female candidates out of the 28 total candidates for senatorial posts (21.4%). On the other hand, there were 56 female candidates out of the total 611 candidates for congressional posts, or 9.2%.

• Women won 2 of the 12 Senate posts (16.67%) and 25 of 207 congressional seats (12.08%) in the 1998 national and local elections.

• At the local level, as of October 1998, the preliminary results from the Commission on Elections showed that women covered 21.31% of the total gubernatorial posts (233 of 1544), and 13.64% of the total vice-gubernatorial posts (9 of 75). Women board members account for 16.26% (or 94 out of 672) of the total posts.

• Almost eighteen percent (17.77%) of the total mayoralty posts were women, and 12.78% were women vice-mayors. There were 2,102 women councilors out of the 12,680 contested seats.

Women in the bureaucracy

• There are more women than men in the government bureaucracy, with women accounting for 53.81% of the total 1.38 million government personnel in 1997. This figure is 0.51% lower than the 1996 figure of 54.32%.

• Women dominate only the second-level positions with 72.26% in 1997. At the first level, they were outnumbered by men at 34% and at the third level, the highest, they form 32.5%.

• There are also more men holding contractual/casual positions with 62.5% leaving women with only 37.5%.

Women in Decision-Making Positions

• The present cabinet includes 2 women (12.5%) heading the social welfare and tourism departments.

• The number of women heads of the constitutional commissions increased from 3 in 1990 to 4 in 1996. Percentage-wise, however, there was a slight decrease due to the increased number of commissioners and with men filling up the additional posts (from 3 in 1990 to 4 of 13 in 1995).

Women in the Judiciary

• Women comprised 17.8% of the total incumbent judges in the Philippine courts in 1997 or 301 out of the total 1694 incumbent judges.

• Women’s representation in the 14-member Supreme Court remained the same from 1993 to 1997 with only one representative.

• In 1990, the Philippines had 3 women members of the Supreme Court. However, after two of them retired, male justices took their place and today, only one woman sits in the 15-member court.

• Of the fifteen incumbent justices in the Sandiganbayan, 3 are women. However, the Court of Tax Appeals (with 3 justices) has remained all-male and so have the three Shari’a District Courts.

• Women comprised 29% of the country’s 121 State prosecutors in 1995.

Women in the Diplomatic Service and International Level Posts

• In 1995, there was a total of 138 women diplomats. They accounted for 41.6% of the total number of diplomatic posts.

• Of the 138 women diplomatic service personnel employed in 1995, 37 were Chiefs of Mission with the rank of Ambassador, 21 were Minister-Counsellors, and 80 were holders of Foreign Service Officer positions.

• Out of the 147 PMA graduates in 1997, 7 were women.

• Three of the pioneer seven cadettes are among the year’s topnotchers (3rd, 8th and 9th placers).

• Sixteen females passed the rigid physical and mental tests at the PMA in 1993 but only seven completed the course. The others dropped out or filed for honorable dismissals.

• As of 1995, women police officers comprised 3.1% of the total 2,658 police force.

• Women have become active members of labor unions. Almost 60% of registered members of public sector labor unions between 1994 and 1996 were women.

• Likewise, 41.4% of the total labor union membership of 858,900 in the private industries in 1993 were women. As expected, female shares of union membership are highest in industries where the majority of workers are women, and lowest in the male-dominated industries.

• Women’s share of union leadership was registered at 20.7% of the presidents of 314 registered public sector unions for the same period.

• Based on the available data from the National Confederation of Cooperatives, Inc. and the Philippine Federation of Credit

• However, women’s share in decision-making positions remain low. This pattern is also true in other institutions in both government and private sectors where women’s participation also decreases as the position level goes up.

Women’s Organizations

• Women’s organizations continue to be formed both at the national and local levels. Some 558 women’s organizations and associations have registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1990 up to mid-1994. Of these, about 75% are based at the subnational level while 25% are in the Metropolitan Manila.

• In 1993, 3,000 women’s organizations were accredited for the holding of elections to elect women sectoral representatives to the Local Development Council.