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There is a need to disaggregate data concerning men and women in the
Philippines for a better implementation and design of development
programs and projects for women.
Making a call in a Advocacy Forum on Gender
Statistics held recently in Makati City, government and civil
society representatives said this need becomes more pressing as
statisticians and specialists uncovered certain aspects of economic
activities in which women’s contributions are not well monitored
and recorded, such as their unpaid work in the households, farms and
home-based industries.
Also missing in many government statistics are
the extent by which women partake of economic and other services,
such as their participation and their availment of support measures
in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, among others.
Ironically, women are the recipients of many
development funds, and their welfare and well being have to be
monitored to find out if all these interventions are making an
impact in women’s lives and in the national development, in
general.
Jessamyn Encarnacion, a division chief of the
National Statistical Coordination Board, said that if the government
makes an adjustment of gross domestic production (GDP) figures at
current prices, it will have to adjust the GDP by at least 66.19
percent on account of the non-recording of women’s economic
activities, many of which are unpaid.
Methods used in the valuation of unpaid work are
estimations of the opportunity cost and market price of the services
rendered by women. The statistical board’s adjusted estimate
included the total time spent in community services, since Filipinas,
on the average, are expected to perform community service.
With proper adjustment, women’s share in the
GDP has increased by 8 percentage points from 2000 to 2006,
Encarnacion said.
Yet, women are not paid for many hours spent in
serving their families and communities, and their services account
for 59.6 percent of unpaid work in the Philippines. Women not in the
labor force also account for half of the total value of unpaid work
of women, Encarnacion added.
Women contributed 46.2 percent of the adjusted
gross national product from 38.0 percent when unpaid work was not
included.
The study by the statistical board also
indicated that women accounted for only 27.4 percent of net factor
income from abroad, even if male-female labor migration has shifted,
and women now comprise almost half of all migrant workers.
-- Nora O. Gamolo
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