Posted by Belarmino Dabalos Saguing Rome, Italy 30 /o6/2014
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The
Philippines has made some progress in promoting gender equality in the last
decade. The Government’s Framework Plan for Women emphasises women’s economic
empowerment, women’s human rights and gender- responsive governance as the keys
to gender equality and the empowerment of women. Despite these commitments, obstacles
to substantive gender equality remain. Although the Philippines has achieved
gender parity in primary, secondary and tertiary education, this has not
translated to equality in economic opportunity or political participation.
Women in rural areas are particularly marginalised. The United Nations Committee on
Discrimination Against Women has noted the persistence of deep-rooted
stereotypes about the roles and responsibilities of women and men as an
impediment to women’s equal participation in economic and political life. Women are over-represented in the
informal economy which bears negative consequences for their access to basic
services such as social security and health care. Further, in recent decades
there has been a significant growth in the number of women migrating overseas
to work as domestic workers or nurses, where they are vulnerable to becoming
victims of exploitation, violence and trafficking.
The Philippines has a disceiminatory Family Code. The 1997 Family
Code sets the legal age of marriage at 18 years for both men and women.
However, the Muslim Personal Laws permit marriage of girls under
the age of 18 as well as allowing arranged marriages.
The United Nations reports, based on 2003 data that 9% of girls
between 15 and 19 years of age were married, divorced or widowed, compared to
2% of boys in the same age range. In 1980, 14% of girls aged between 15 and 19
were married, divorced or widowed which indicates that societal acceptance of
early marriage has declined slowly in recent decades.
The mean age of marriage for women is 23.
In 2006, the United Nations Committee on Discrimination Against
Women expressed concern about the persistent practice of early marriage amongst
Muslim women With respect to other discriminatory practices against women
in marriage, the Mindanao Commission on Women reports that bride abduction,
forced marriage and payment of bride price still persist as part of the
culturally sanctioned practices in the island of Mindanao. Polygamy is illegal
for men under the Penal Code in the form of concubinage However, the
Muslim Personal Laws permit polygamy. Article 27 allows a man to have more than
one wife "if he can deal with them with equal companionship and just
treatment as enjoined by Islamic law and only in exceptional cases", but a
woman may not have more than one husband.
The 1997 Family Code granted men and women
equal parental authority and shared responsibility for raising their children.
The law also permits women to retain parental authority over her
children after remarriage.
In 2006, the United Nations Committee on Discrimination Against
Women expressed concern about the lack of a law on divorce which makes it
impossible for women to obtain a legal divorce, The Family Code does
however provide for legal separation on the grounds of repeated violence,
psychological incapacity, homosexuality and lesbianism and drug addiction.
Legal separation provides for separate living arrangements and
terminated the marital rights of husband and wife, but the couple remained
married in name.
Women also experience
discrimination in the Philippines under the laws relating to adultery. The
Revised Penal Code defines sexual infidelity differently for men and women. A
wife can be made criminally liable for mere adultery, while a husband will need
to have committed concubinage. The crime of adultery carries stiffer penalties
compared with concubinage
There is no legal
discrimination between men and women in the area of inheritance. Inheritance
follows both the male and the female line, succession norms adopt either the
primogeniture system (whereby land is inherited by the eldest male or female
child) or the equal sharing system (whereby all male and female heirs inherit
equally). The surviving spouse, male or female, may not inherit, but holds land
as a trustee for the children.
However, in 2004 the government reported that there is some
evidence that propertied parents leave lands to sons but ensure the future of
daughters by investing in their education.
The Philippines has
experienced a rise in the number of female-headed households in recent decades. The
government’s response to this shift may indicate a change in attitudes towards
women’s role in the family. For example, in 2000 the government passed the Solo
Parents Welfare Act of 2000 which provides for a comprehensive program of
social development and welfare services for sole parents and their children
including flexible work arrangements and parental leave of seven working days,
livelihood development services, educational and housing benefits, among
others.
Violence
against women in the Philippines it is reported to be a serious problem. Non-government organisations report
that domestic violence is the most common form of gender-based violence in the
Philippines country, followed by rape. A 2008 Demographic Health Survey found
that about three in ten women report having experienced spousal violence
(physical, sexual or other) at some time in their life. One in seven
ever-married women report having experienced physical violence by their
husbands, and 8% report that having experienced sexual violence by their
husbands. The survey found that 9% of women age 15-49 have ever experienced
sexual violence.
Source: WkiGender
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