Jinggoy moves to level ‘employment field’ for women

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada moved to institutionalize measures assuring equal employment opportunities for all regardless of gender.

Estrada, concurrent chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development and the joint congressional oversight committee on labor and employment (Cocle), lamented that despite the explicit guarantees expressed by our Constitution, ratified United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (Cedaw) and the recently enacted Magna Carta for Women, it is believed that many cases of discrimination happen everyday in factories, corporate towers and also in government offices.

“With all these legal assurance on equal employment, discrimination still persists in today’s supposed modern times,” Estrada stated.

Estrada noted a study conducted by the Bureau of Women and Young Workers and the National Statistics Office showing that “women employees generally earn less than their male counterparts, they are predominantly in low-skilled jobs and only a few of them advance to the top of the organizational hierarchy.”

He also cited a study by the Department of Labor and Employment– Institute for Labor Studies (DoLE-ILS) revealing a P1,000 monthly salary gap between male and female workers, and the gap increasing from unskilled to managerial and supervisor levels. According to the same research, females tend to be given limited access to training, promotions and other fringe benefits, compared to the males.

Among the bills discussed in yesterday’s Senate labor committee hearing joint with committees on youth, women and family relations and civil service and government reorganization centered on expanding the prohibited acts of discrimination on account of sex and identifying particular work-related instances which can be classified as discriminatory, and therefore illegal.

Specifically, the following proposals were put forward and tackled:

·Amending Article 135 of the Labor Code to prohibit employers from giving preference to male applicant in the hiring process, whether through notices or advertisements for employment, or in the actual recruitment where the particular job can be equally handled by a woman, and the Anti-Gender Discrimination in Employment Advertising Bill

·Amending Article 135 of the Labor Code to prohibit favoring a male employee over a female employee with respect to dismissal of personnel or the application of any retrenchment policy of the employer solely on account of their sexes

·Amending Article 137 of the Labor Code to prohibit denying any woman the benefits of employment or other statutory benefits under our laws by reason of her sex, age, ethnic origin, beliefs or relations

·Proposed Fair Pay Act prohibiting discrimination in the payment of wages on account of sex

·Proposed Unlawful Employment Practice Act prohibiting refusal for employment or training and discharge from employment due to sex or sexual orientation, among others.

The committee also considered the proposed measure to allow night work for women employees when increasing demand for work provides equal opportunities to work at night. The Labor Code generally prohibits night work for women for industrial and commercial undertakings, except in cases of emergencies and calamities, where urgent work has to be performed on machineries, where the employee is holding managerial/technical post, where the workers is engaged in health and welfare, analogous situations identified by the Secretary of Labor and Employment, among others. PNA