DFA Launches Own Gender Statistics Report in Celebration of the 2020 National Women’s Month

MANILA 31 March 2020 - In its observance of the 2020 National Women’s Month, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) launched the “DFA Gender Statistics Report 2019” on the DFA website and official social media platforms yesterday.

The DFA Gender Statistics Report, generated on 31 December 2019 with 2019 as baseline year, presents the outcome of the DFA’s efforts to collect and analyse sex- and age- disaggregated data of its personnel.

Based on the generated data, women make up 57% of the DFA’s more than 3,000 personnel assigned in various offices in the Philippines and in 94 Embassies, Consulates General, and Missions all over the world.

Based on the information, the majority of the DFA employees are female, single, and between the ages 30 to 34.  Meanwhile, majority of the Heads of Post (Embassies and Consulates General) are male, married, with an average age of between 60 to 64.

Among its top officials occupying the ranks of Chiefs of Mission  I and II, around 38% are women. Around 25 of them are in fact the Ambassadors and Consuls General who are at the heart of the Philippine government’s care and response efforts in ensuring the health and safety of overseas Filipinos abroad amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The report also revealed that while there are more women entering the DFA at a younger age, their numbers decrease over time. In fact, data showed that a greater proportion of those who resigned in 2019 are female employees.

As the DFA strives to narrow the gender gap among its top officials, the foundation for such improvement is already laid as 51% of the DFA’s officer corps are female. This includes the 83 female Foreign Service Officer IV (FSO IV), which overwhelmingly outnumbers the 55 male FSO IVs.

Women leadership in the DFA has come a long way since women first participated in the highly competitive Foreign Service Examination in 1958. Coincidentally, this is the year when Trinidad Legarda was appointed as the first woman Ambassador of the Philippines.

In advancing gender mainstreaming, the DFA has incorporated the promotion of gender and development in its Quality Policy. The DFA anchors its efforts on its GAD Agenda 2018-2022 which contains key interventions to address gender issues. These key programs include the reorganization of the GAD Focal Point System, basic Gender Sensitivity Training for all personnel, creation of a Gender Resource Pool, conduct of a Gender-Responsive Retreat for DFA’s Top Management officials, and creation of the Online Gender Sensitivity Training (GST) embedded in the Department’s Learning Management System, among others.

The DFA Gender Statistics Report will be generated every year to measure the effectiveness of GAD activities and to develop more targeted GAD policies and programs for the DFA. END