BAGUIO CITY – Economically active women in the country are estimated at 17,455,000 million and their number is projected to increase by 54 per cent by year 2028.
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) stressed that the Philippine women labor force would even be greater if housework and women’s role in economic activity in its broadest sense were included.
Current standing of women in the country is both a reason and optimism to accelerate efforts for promoting better access to jobs for women and closing further remaining key gender gaps.
A study by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) titled “Determinants of Female Labor Force Participation in the Philippines,” female labor force participation by more than 50 per cent has been achieved by Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Ilocos Region, MIMAROPA, CALABARZON, ARMM, Eastern Visayas Region, Central Luzon Region and Northern Mindanao.
The National Capital Region (NCR), which is supposed to be the center of culture, economy, education and government in the Philippines achieved only 48 per cent women labor force participation, NEDA revealed in the study.
PSA-CAR estimated 569,504 women employed in various CAR jobs in 2020, with ages ranging from 15 to 64 years old. These women are of reproductive age.
The 8th Edition of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) handbook found that three in every five women in CAR belonged to the working age population of 15-65 years old.
Education sector is one of the few areas where women are given relatively equal opportunities, as men. In fact, CAR women seem to play the more significant role and reap the greater benefits in education, the latest PSA handbook revealed.
In reality, there are more women academic degree holders in CAR and the majority of those enrolled in higher education institutions are women.
PSA estimated that the total number of CAR women of reproductive age (15 to 49 years of age) in 2020 totaled 464, 847 individuals, 48 per cent of these from Baguio City and Benguet. The lowest number recorded was in Apayao with 30, 993 females of reproductive age.
Apart from Baguio City and Benguet, the provinces of Abra and Kalinga reported above 100-thousand count of women in household population. There were 122,677 females in Abra that comprised 49.0 per cent of its total population in 2020. For Kalinga, there were 110,789 women that represented 483 per cent of the province’s inhabitants.
Working age population for both male and female in CAR was estimated in 2020 to have reached 1.18 million. Working age persons in CAR provinces were also male dominated, with the exception of Baguio City with a sex ratio of 97 females over 100 males in the 15 to 64 years old age.
Among provinces with male-dominated population with Ifugao having the least share of women in its 207, 130 household population, Mountain Province followed with 75,860 women in its 157, 798 populations and Apayao with 59,716 women out of 123, 937 individuals in the province.
Overall dependency ratio of CAR household population was 52, meaning, there was a total of 52 young (under 15 years old) and old dependents (65 years old and over) for every 100 working age individuals (15 – 64 years old). In this ratio, 26 were male dependents and also 26 for female dependents.
Young dependents, meanwhile, were 43 persons per 100 working age CAR individuals which comprised 22 male young dependents and 21 female young dependents, computed from a total of 505, 157 young dependents in the household population, wherein 51.8 percent were males and 48.2 percent females.
Occupations where women were in most occasions occupy were: managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerks, service and sales work and business entrepreneurs (self-employed);
Farming or agriculture, forestry work, fishing, craft and related trade works, plant machine operators and assembling, laborers, unskilled workers, police work, fire protection work, penology work, Armed Forces in the Philippines and special occupations.
In mining, CAR women are making their presence felt. Already there are about 700 women out of more than 7000 workers employed by mining companies.
In the NEDA study, while the Philippines closed gaps in educational attainment, it, however was 106th placer out of 149 countries wanting in gender equality participation, making the country the third worst in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in terms of gender inequality in labor force participation, nest to Indonesia and Myanmar.
A modeled International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that female labor force participation rate of the Philippines in the ASEAN region to be 46 per cent, NEDA pointed out.
It is on record that statistics on female labor force participation rates do not take into account participation Filipina women in overseas labor markets. PSA estimates the number of overseas Filipino workers at 2.34 million of which 1.26 million or 54 per cent are women.
In PSA’s guidelines which follow international standards, overseas Filipino workers are not counted as part of the Philippines working age population and therefore not part of the domestic labor force.
Regardless of whether female economic participation is measured for the domestic labor market, or expanded to include the overseas labor market, the raters still pale in comparison to that of the ASEAN neighboring countries.
A study by World Bank (WB) titled “Overcoming Barriers: To Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Philippines,” took note that: “A large portion of women in the Philippines remains out of the Labor force, with limited progress achieved in expanding participation rates over the past three decades.”
Also, overall labor force participation rates declined for both men and women when the Philippine government imposed a change in the educational system by adding two years of schooling in order to achieve a high school diploma, WB reported.
WB observed that women’s low labor force participation represents a missed opportunity for economic growth and increased prosperity. An increase of women’s labor supply by a mere 0.5 percentage points per year would increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita by about 6 percent by year 2040 and almost 10 percent by 2050.
Four main barriers that impede women’s labor force participation were cited by WB as:
– Skills. Women who work are mostly concentrated in low skill positions (due to economic necessity) or high skill occupations (because of high rates of education);
– Wage gap. Women earn more on average than men, but women in low skill position earn much less than men;
– Care responsibilities. The number of children reduces the likelihood of women employment, and;
– Norms. Attitudes and beliefs about women’s roles and responsibilities decrease the probability of women’s engagement in the labor market by 14 to 22 percentage points.
WB pointed out a 2021 WB national survey on women’s work and child care and respondents still hold the notion that “A man’s job is to earn money and a woman’s job is to take care of the family and home.”
More than 70 per cent of men and 76 per cent of the women nationally surveyed believed that the emotional and psychosocial development skills of a preschooler suffer, when a mother is working outside the home.
Moreover, willingness to use child care services is limited, with over 95 per cent of those surveyed believed that childcare should be “provided by family members.”
What can the Philippines do more to raise women labor force participation? WB recommends five prospects which are:
- Support more flexible work arrangements, particularly remote work models. The pandemic has accelerated adoption of remote work models which could incentivize more women to enter the labor force given that it provides flexibility, compatible with care work while reducing time in commuting to and from work.
The Philippine House of Representatives proposed amendment of the Telecommuting Act (RA11165) to expand work from home capabilities and support as an important step forward in this regard.
- Scales efforts in re-skilling and up-skilling of women. Providing women, the opportunity to acquire new skills such as ICT and other Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) related fields could help them find and secure more productive work in the “new normal.”
- Strengthen support for women entrepreneurs. WB findings suggest that e-commerce can be a valuable tool in increasing women labor force participation, determining their work location, work schedule and allowing them to grow their business while engaged in domestic work and childcare. Support could take the form of skills training, financial literacy, marketing and financial assistance.
- Encourage firms to expand opportunities for women who wish to re-enter the labor force. WB data reveals that 14 percent of Filipina women cite gaps in work experience as the main obstacle in re-entering the labor force. Returnship programs, typically providing would-be-workers with mentorship and skills upgrade, could help women re-enter the labor force.
- Address gendered social norms which affect women’s participation in the labor force. Addressing gendered social norms with policies is challenging, but interventions like media campaigns, behavior change communication and attitude change models as possible solutions to shifting cultural norms and narrowing gender gaps.
No society in the Philippines can afford to lose out on the skills and capabilities of half of its population if it wants to realize the promise of a more prosperous future. The Philippines Country Gender Action Plan 2020 – 2024 identifies addressing women’s low labor force participation as a priority area.
In the Philippines, women can play a catalytic role in promoting social development in order to achieve the country’s “AmBisyon Natin 2040” vision.
Expanding women’s opportunities, enhancing their productivity and promoting their economic participation are among the most promising avenues for fostering inclusive development in the country.