Facing the Continuing

Challenge of Gender
Inequality and
Inequity
Jessica Dator- Bercill

Submitted by:

Bernadette Shien B. Oropesa

BPA-2A
 GENDER INEQUALITY AND INEQUITY: AN EVERYONE’S BATTLE

Who said that men cannot wear pink? Who told you that women don't need education for she will
just marry later on? Who made you believe that men are the top priority in our community?
Perhaps, you were born in a society full of gender stereotypes- which led to several issues and
concerns. Perhaps, you would need enlightenment. Gender inequality and inequity have become
two of the relevant issues in today's world. Admit it or not, these concerns have made women step
out on the dark and claim what should be theirs- freedom, equality, and equity. But did they
succeed? As you've observed now, there are numerous advancements and improvements in every
woman's life. However, looking back at the previous Philippine setting, there is a different story to
tell but of the same scenario as now.

Understanding Gender Issues and Concerns

Gender inequality pertains to the idea that people of different gender, men and women, are not
equal and how their gender affects their kind of living. Meanwhile, gender inequity happens when
there's a lack of justice and fairness between men and women. Two different issues, both affect
individuals. These two promote biases and concerns needed to be addressed- not neglected. If
people won't have a better understanding of how important parity is, we would stay on the dark
tunnel without knowing that there is a way ou there.

The article of Jessica Dator- Bercilla entitled, Facing the Continuing Challenge of Gender Inequality
and Inequity, presented facts about the gender situation in our country. It is noted that in 2007, the
Gender Equity Index(GEI) of the Philippines scored 76% placing it on rank 18. This ranking, as you
may perceive, was quite high knowing that about 154 countries were classified and ranked. The GEI
value signifies that there is gender development in our country. Honestly, there is. The only alarming
idea is that, compared to countries on the same rank as us such as Australia and Latvia, our GEI
progress remained still. Though we belong on the top 20, our progress can be compared to the
countries on lower ranks. What could be the possible reasons why this happen? Women's lack of
interest in the innovations in-laws and policies? Discouragement in political participation? The idea
of there's nothing else that needs change? Indeed, it is really confusing. How can we have such a low
rating when there are so many innovations and changes made to help women and improve gender
development in our country. Yet, the progress seems hard to reach. Now, others may be wondering
how can we indicate and measure gender equality and the empowerment of a certain country. The
four indicators are presented in the article which is the following: the ratio of girls to boys in
primary, secondary, and tertiary education; the ratio of literate women to men ( 15-24 years old);
share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector; the proportion of seats held by
women in the national parliament. I think these are good indicators to determine whether we are
close enough to achieve gender parity. In the given table of the ratio of boys and girls in different
levels of education, it is observed that women have a high percentage of literacy rate which is 86.3%
while male literacy reached 81.9% in 2003. Given that we have free education now and the
government allocated a high amount of budget for this sector, the literacy rate in both genders
increased with 96.30%. Our education is indeed accessible for both genders. The subsequent
problem emerges now, employment. The share of women in wage employment in the non-
agricultural sector falls out to 41.2% in 2003 in which manifest inequity- favoring men over women.
Not only that, talking about women's participation and representation in politics is another issue of
gender disparity and inequity. The proportion of seats held by women in national parliament has a
huge difference compared to men. All these years, we only had 2 female presidents; the rest are
men. With this simple fact, you can see the big difference in women's participation in politics to
men.
Though women's involvement now in education and politics increased today, these improvements
are still considered relatively low considering the efforts given by the government and non-
government organizations in promoting gender fairness. Just like what stated on the reading: The
Philippines may be relentlessly attempting to mainstream gender equality and equity in public and
private institutions, plans, and programs, yet the efforts may not be enough to facilitate a
transformative process that will produce equality and equity between women and men in the
Philippines.

Another Day for Women

Every single day seems to be similar to yesterday. Another day to face the society you belong with;
another day to remind them of parity. Will there be another day for women when they no longer
need to struggle just to find the place they belong to? Will there be a new day for women with no
more fear, pain, violence, abuse, and discrimination? I bet that day would be far ahead on our
present day.

The article has explained the continuing challenges concerning gender development in our country.
It has provided factual statements that support its claims- the Philippines has a slow process for the
innovations of gender situation. Nowadays, when it comes to education, as observed, and as I've
mentioned earlier, it is already accessible compared to previous years. Back then, common Filipino
citizens would find it hard to let their children finish primary school, if there's luck, continue the
secondary level. But only a few were able to finish the tertiary level because of tuition fees and other
expenses. Granted, a law was enacted to give every Filipino the education they deserve. It has
helped in the improvement of women's participation not only in politics but also in various sectors of
our society. Now, it as been free to all but equality talks more about that. In the field of education,
all people of a different gender must acquire fair treatment and be provided with equal
opportunities. The quality of education matters. According to Bercilla, "Education is supposed to
provide the equal opportunity for human, social, economic, cultural, civic and political development
that will ultimately lead to a society that respects and allows the exercise of rights and entitlements
and one that is fair and just.”If we are able to apply this principle, progress will be noted
immediately. On the other and, education is also seen as the key to lessen poverty and unwanted
circumstances such as discrimination, abuse, and violence. It would lead women not to take the path
of prostitution and not to tolerate the oppression of rights. Education would pave a way towards
social transformation only when students are taught of what is must, fair, and just. Though we see
education as a key for improvements, after this, lack of employment is another challenge that needs
to be overcome. Women's employments dominates in the service sector not only domestically but
also overseas. I, myself, have witnessed how many women decide to work abroad just to be able to
provide the necessities of their families. Plus, the devalued income of the non-agricultural sector in
our country discourages them to work here. If our government is able to provide more opportunities
and a just minimum wage, there would be less Filipino who would work miles away.

With the help of this reading, I've been enlightened of the gender situation of our country and how it
continues to deal with challenges to eliminate gender inequality and inequity. It reminded me to
help in overcoming these challenges by the means I can. Well, even though the reading presented
the picture of the gender situation 15 years before, it had helped me in assessing how these
concerns were handled back then, conduct an analysis, and formulate the answer for these
questions: given that we have titled as one of the countries with GEI value, "Why aren't we
progressing even our society has improved for years?" and "Will we be able to achieve gender parity
and equity as a whole?"