(We yield this space to the statement of the Center for Women’s Resources due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
IT IS ALREADY a challenge to be a woman in a country that is led by macho-fascist, misogynistic leaders. But it is even more difficult to be a working woman in a country plagued with poverty, incessant price increases, labor flexibilization, limited work opportunities, and unsafe work conditions.
While the government boasts of improvement in women’s economic participation and opportunity which brought the Philippines to rank No. 8 in the Global Gender Gap Index in 2018, the reality is that majority of women are still mired in poor working conditions and subjected to exploitation. As cited in the 2019 Ulat Lila of the Center for Women’s Resources, women are still confronted with very limited work opportunities and are mostly confined as wage and salary workers in manufacturing and retail trade.
Based on the most recent data on Gender Statistics on Labor and Employment, there are about 4.7 million women workers in wholesale and retail trade and 1.4 million women work in manufacturing. Meanwhile, women who engage in professional and scientific work are a mere 0.30 percent of the total workforce.
Jobs available in manufacturing and in wholesale and retail trade are non-regular and low-wage jobs, and are only extensions of women’s domestic chores. Further, women are often targeted as “seasonal workers” (kasambahay, promodizers, sales agents)l. The Philippine Statistics Authority reported that 2.58 million women engage in short-term or seasonal jobs in 2017 while 297,000 are with different employers on a day-to-day or a week-to-week basis.
However, we remain hopeful that the plight of our women will improve if they continue to assert their rights. Likewise, we urge women workers to revel in “little victories” achieved through collective action such as the enactment of Expanded Maternity Leave law and Occupational Safety and Health Standards Law. These are a result of the hard work of women organizations and rights advocates.
Women workers have the strength and skill to raise the consciousness of the female population and in teaching other women how to use their rights to build a better future. In fighting for their rights, they have nothing to lose but the chain of oppression and exploitation.
