UN Women in the Philippines

The Republic of the Philippines is made up of over 7,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Its history of colonization – first by Spain and then the United States – has shaped its affinity with the West. English is one of its official languages, and Roman Catholicism its predominant religion. With a population of 88.6 million as of the 2007 census, the Philippines is one of the most populated countries in the region.

While it has experienced significant economic growth in recent years numbers, deep poverty, access to social services and effective implementation of policies remain issues of high importance with particular impact on the empowerment of women. A large number of Filipinos migrate for work – 3.8 million Filipinos were in overseas jobs in 2006 – especially as domestic workers, so one of the key challenges to gender equality is the protection of rights of migrant women and prevention of exploitation.

The Philippines has made significant progress in advancing gender equality. The Government’s Framework Plan for Women addresses women’s empowerment and human comprehensively. The Philippines has also signed on to various international women’s human rights instruments, including CEDAW and the Beijing Platform for Action. In August 2009, the Magna Carta of Women, a landmark legislation for gender equality, was signed into law.

UNIFEM is working in the Philippines in the following areas:

• The regional CEDAW-Southeast Asia Programme (SEAP) has worked to develop institutional capacities within the government to formulate and implement legislation to advance gender equality in accordance with CEDAW and other international instruments, with most recent success in the Magna Carta for Women.
• The CEDAW SEAP also works to empower women’s groups, with particular focus on the most marginalized, such as ethnic minority women, rural women and women migrant workers, to participate in development processes, advocate for gender responsive and rights-based policies and programmes and legal protections.
• The CEDAW SEAP also pilots innovative initiatives that promote gender responsive governance and empower women to claim their human rights, and documenting good practices for sharing with other countries.
• The Regional Programme to Empower Women Migrant Workers in Asia is also active in the Philippines and UNIFEM is currently conducting a 4-country research study on the social costs of migration in partnership with WAGI, Miriam College.