18 March 2014 - In commemoration of International Women’s Day, the Philippine Embassy in Rome held a forum with the Embassy staff on March 07 to share experiences and insights in further strengthening gender equality in the workplace.

Consistent with the 2014 International Women's Day official theme Equality for Women is Progress for All, the forum participants shared valuable information on the vital role of women in Philippine society.

The World Bank identified the Philippines as a world leader in gender equality, particularly in the fields of legislation, management and government.  In its 2013 survey, the World Bank said that 55 percent of Filipino lawmakers, senior officials and managers are female.  This is the highest percentage in the World Bank report with data from 88 countries.

The Philippines is one of the only two countries in the world with more women than men in the said professions. Following the Philippines' lead is The Bahamas, a chain of islands in the Caribbean, with women comprising 52 percent of its leaders.

The 2013 Global Gender Gap Report also named the Philippines as Asia’s best performing country in terms of gender equality, ranking the country as fifth worldwide.  Iceland remained in the number one spot, followed by Finland, Norway, and Sweden.  “(The) Philippines is the only country in Asia and the Pacific that has fully closed the gender gap in both education and health,” the 2013 report said.

During the Embassy forum, the participants noted the exceptional performance of the Philippines in gender equality issues.  There was consensus during the forum that this can be attributed to historical equality of the male and female in Philippine pre-Hispanic society.

Citing from the work La Mujer Indigena— A Description of the Filipino Woman during Pre-Spanish Time by Lorna S. Torralba Titgemeyer, the forum participants discussed the following points to prove the historical gender equality in Philippine pre-colonial society:

(1) In the early Philippines there had always been an egalitarian relationship not only between husband and wife, but also in the upbringing of offsprings.  The early Filipinos gave equal importance to both male and female offsprings. Inheritance was divided equally among them. Education was an opportunity for both sexes.

(2) The pre-colonial Filipino wife was treated as a companion, not as slave. She enjoyed freedom in making decisions in the family. Her say was not only confined to domestic affairs like having a baby or not.

(3) She enjoyed a key role in the economic stability of the family. Formal contracts were done only in her presence.  In fact there were only very few husbands who would dare enter into contracts without the consent or presence of their wives.

In his remarks during the forum, Consul Enrique Voltaire Pingol said that gender equality has always been rooted in the Filipino’s psyche.  Consul Pingol recounted the legend of “Malakas at Maganda,” which proves that man and woman were equal from the very beginning, simultaneously originating from the same bamboo stem, without one preceding the other.

Even in religious prayer, Mr. Pingol said that the Filipino term for “Hail Mary” is “Aba Ginoong Maria” further exemplifying the equality between man and woman in the Philippines. END