PH Mission to WTO enhances capacity to advocate for women’s empowerment, trade, gender concerns

Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the WTO Manuel AJ Teehankee (middle) and Philippine Mission to the WTO personnel attended a seminar on laws and WTO initiatives related to gender and development and women empowerment in Gruyeres, Switzerland on 17 December 2021. (Geneva WTO-PM photo)

GENEVA, 18 December 2021 – Philippine Mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) personnel, led by Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the WTO Manuel AJ Teehankee, organized on 17 December 2021 a whole-day seminar on Philippine laws related to gender and development and women empowerment and on WTO initiatives on gender and trade.

Among the laws discussed were the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995, the 2017 Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service (RACCS), the Bawal Bastos Law, the Magna Carta of Women, the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004 and the constitutional provisions for the protection for women.  

In discussing the foregoing laws and rules, First Secretary Oliver Delfin stressed that even if the Philippines remains the top country in Asia in terms of closing the gender gap challenges to further strengthen and implement the country’s strong policy for gender equality and women’s empowerment remain. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 of the World Economic Forum, the Philippines ranked 16th out of 153 countries on progress towards gender parity in four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. 

The seminar also highlighted that the Philippines’ active participation in the WTO Informal Working Group on Trade and Gender has provided an opportunity for the country to learn from the best practices of other WTO members on women economic empowerment and to participate in relevant initiatives including the “2017 Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment”. Commercial Attaché Maria Emmanuel Burgos said the actions outlined in the Buenos Aires Declaration will ultimately boost economic growth worldwide and provide more and better paid jobs for women. These actions will also contribute to UN Global Development Goals, including the Sustainable Development Goal to achieve gender equality through the empowerment of women and girls (SDG 5).

Mission is also actively participating in the negotiations for the WTO 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) “Ministerial Declaration on the Advancement of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment Within Trade” and actively promotes and supports the SheTrades Initiative (www.shetrades.com/en), a platform that connects women entrepreneurs and women-owned small businesses to global market.

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Teehankee said it is essential for Mission personnel to know the legal framework of the Philippines on women empowerment as they perform their duties and functions within the WTO, at the same time acknowledging the Department’s full support for deepening personnel’s knowledge on policies and laws that promote women empowerment and gender and development.

“Mission hopes activities like this motivate us even more to work on breaking gender-based stereotypes and ensuring equal opportunities between genders as we carry our work,” the Ambassador stressed. END

For more information, visit https://wtopm.dfa.gov.ph/.