Is the Philippines leading the way in advancing women’s empowerment?

IN 2015, the global community will mark the milestone year of several consensus and international standards agreements: the 20th year of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the 15th year of the United Nations Security Council 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, and the target year for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, among others.

In so far as institutional discourse go, the primordial objective is to advance women’s human rights in various fronts and multiple contexts through women’s empowerment. Where is the Philippines in all this?

Last Nov. 17 to 20, the Philippines joined 47 members and associate members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), as well as 188 civil society organizations, in the Asian and the Pacific Conference on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Bangkok, Thailand.

The conference aimed to identify and discuss gains and gaps in the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA).

This forum culminated with the drafting of the Asian and Pacific Ministerial Declaration on Advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, which will feed into the global review process on the implementation of the BPFA. This in turn will take place during the 59th Session of the UN Committee on the Status of Women next year.

BPFA lists 12 critical areas of concern:

• Women and poverty

• Education and training of women

• Women and health

• Violence against women

• Women and armed conflict

• Women and the economy

• Women in power and decision-making

• Institutional mechanisms;

• Human rights of women

• Women in media

• Women and the environment

• The girl child

As contained in the Philippine Progress Report on the Implementation of the BPFA, one of the major achievements in the last 20 years has been in the areas of policy and legislation, with the passage of key women’s human rights laws. These are:

• Republic Act (RA) 8353, or the Anti-Rape Law (1997)

• RA 8505, or the Rape Victim and Assistance Act (1998)

• RA 8972, or the Solo Parent’s Welfare Act (2000)

• RA 9208, or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act (2003)

• RA 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children (2004)

• RA 9710, or the Magna Carta of Women (2009)

• RA 10354, or the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act (2012)

• RA 10361, or the Domestic Workers Act (2013)

In the area of the private business sector, the Philippine Progress Report, citing the Grand Thornton International Business Report, stated that “four out of 10 senior roles in private business companies in the Philippines are occupied by women, an improvement from last year’s 37% and higher than the 24% global average.” This “boosted the country’s ranking in the global league of countries with the highest proportion of women holding senior posts to third place this 2014 from fifth in the previous year’s ranking.”

With regard to women in politics, the term of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo saw the most number of women being appointed in Cabinet positions, while during President Benigno Aquino III’s administration, about 56 women occupy high posts in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.

But according to the Philippine Progress Report, “possibly one of the most dramatic developments in governance efforts is the peace process,” particularly in light of the peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. At the helm of the peace process are women led by Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, and Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, chief negotiator of the government panel.

Key indicators in “engendering” the peace agreement have been the inclusion of provisions on the “right of women to meaningful political participation, and protection from all forms of violence” in the 2012 Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro and on identifying the role of women in development and governance in the annexes on wealth-sharing, power-sharing and normalization.

The draft Bangsamoro Basic Law submitted to the Philippine Congress also explicitly includes gender-sensitive provisions in Articles V (Powers of Government), VI (Intergovernmental Relations), VII (The BangsamoroGovernment), IX (Basic Rights), and XIII (Economy and Patrimony).

Furthermore, the Philippines was the first country in Asia that launched the Philippine National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAP WPS) in 2010 — a concrete result of collaborative politics between civil society and the government. In 2014, the Philippine government further refined the NAP WPS and stepped up efforts to capacitate national government agency members of the National Steering Committee on Women, Peace and Security on the implementation of the NAP WPS.

At the level of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Philippines is also leading the way in advocating for women’s empowerment and human rights, particularly in light of their protection in armed conflict situations and the rights of migrant workers. This was the position shared by President Benigno Aquino III during the ASEAN Summit activities held in Myanmar in November.

To further make this advocacy more concrete, the Philippines, through its Representative in the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), will host a regional consultation workshop on exploring protective mechanisms to address violence against women and girls. This will be in February next year.

Having taken note of all these, is the Philippines leading the way in advancing women’s empowerment? I strongly believe it is — for whatever it has gained in the last two decades, a bit of celebration is in order; however, for whatever it is yet to achieve, serious work must continue in order to address identified gaps. After all, women’s empowerment must be seen beyond numbers, policies, activities and programs — it will only make sense when women themselves experience it. –Ma. Lourdes Veneracion-Rallonza, http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=is-the-philippines-leading-the-way-in-advancing-women&8217s-empowerment&id=99255

Ma. Lourdes Veneracion-Rallonza, PhD, is an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science, Ateneo de Manila University. She currently serves as consultant on the implementation of the Philippine National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security for the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.