CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6
inspection of establishments, develop inspection guidelines on women workers’ concerns, and
strengthen the national policy on homeworkers.
370. During the period under review, the Philippine Congress enacted several legislation that
address gender-based discrimination issues in the workplace. The Solo Parents Act provides
that an employer may not discriminate against any solo parent with respect to terms and
conditions of employment. Another law, RA 8187, grants a seven-day paid paternity leave to a
married male employee in both public and private sectors whose legitimate spouse delivered a
child or suffered a miscarriage, to enable him to effectively lend her care and support during
and after childbirth and assist in the care of the newborn. In addition, there are bills in the
Senate (Nos. 601 and 1248) that seek to empower women by providing for development
programs, financial assistance to foster investment in businesses by women, and education and
information assistance.
371. In the few cases of discrimination that reached the Supreme Court, the Court has decided in
favor of the woman complainant. Consonant with Sec. 2, Art. 11 of the Constitution, the
Supreme Court cited the Convention that prohibits discrimination against women with respect
to terms and conditions of employment as the basis of corrective labor and social laws where
the services of a female employee were terminated because she contracted marriage during
employment (Supreme Court Reports Annotated [SCRA] 1997).
372. During the period under review, several studies were conducted that were aimed at promoting
better understanding of the effects of globalization on women, gender-based discrimination in
the workplace, and the contributions women make to the economy. These studies were
undertaken partly in support of policymaking. Among these studies are the following:
a. From 1997 to 2001, the National Statistical Coordination Board engaged in the development
of a framework for measuring women’s and men’s contribution to the economy. It used
secondary data and the pilot time-use survey by the National Statistics Office19 to test a
framework for measuring women’s contribution in the proposed satellite account in the
System of National Accounts.
b. In 2001, the University of the Philippines Center for Women’s Studies supported a series of
studies to investigate the immediate and long-term impact of globalization on women in
various occupation groups: women in the garments industry, indigenous women, and migrant
women. The garments industry study in particular noted changes in the structure of the
industry, such as the by-passing of middle-level subcontractors due to increased competition
and to the crisis that left only big firms surviving the competition; a shrinking market share
of domestic producers caused by the flooding of cheaper imports; and increased vulnerability
of homeworkers to layoffs and loss of orders due to the introduction of new technologies
such as computer-aided embroidery.
c. As part of a joint regional technical assistance of the Asian Development Bank and the ILO
entitled “Strengthening International Labor Standards in Selected Developing Member
19The
pilot time use survey focused on household population 10 years old and over. It aimed at generating
data on how they allocate their time to paid work, housework, other non-market work and free-time activities;
providing quantitative information needed in estimating the value of unpaid housework; and identifying the
factors that influence a person’s choice of the use of time and how these are distributed among different
population sub-groups.
102
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