CEDAW/C/PHI/4 English Page 6 B. Information updates on the status of women 23. With the equality provision of the Constitution as well as a number of significant laws that have been passed for the benefit of women, the Philippine Government has committed itself to the advancement of women. Apart from the very clear legal mandate, there is relatively strong State machinery for women, the bureaucracy has started to recognize the significance of women's role in development and the women's movement has started to be felt as a strong force. In spite of these small successes, so much more remains to be done before de facto equality for women is actualized. 24. The 1992 Labor Force Survey shows that only 46.8 per cent of females are employed compared with 85.7 per cent of males. In short, less than half of the women have direct access to income from wages or formal sector employment. Women, however, compensate for this by working in the informal sector but the majority of their productive contribution to family subsistence is invisible in national income accounts. In addition to their home and family-related duties, women perform most of the volunteer work needed to mobilize a community regarding health, sanitation and other related activities. 25. From 1980 to 1993, the total fertility rate decreased from 5.0 to 4.08 children per woman. Despite the virtual standstill of the family planning programme because of the strong resistance from the Catholic Church, to which approximately 80 per cent of Filipinos belong, the contraceptive prevalence rate rose from 32 to 40 per cent in 1993 (Philippine country report for women, 1986-1995). 26. A critical phenomenon of the decade is the feminization of overseas employment. Around 52 per cent of the total overseas contract workers deployed in 1991 were women. This trend reflects employment distress adversely affecting the working women population more than the men. Women domestic helpers deployed in neighbouring South-East Asian countries comprised 57 per cent of such workers in the service sector and entertainers and nurses represented 34 per cent of the professional sector. Issues such as non-payment of wages, discrimination and sexual abuse abound. Inadequacy of protective mechanisms to deal with abusive employers in host countries is a major concern of the Government. 27. Beginning in late 1994, women's issues, such as rape, domestic violence and reproductive rights, became a focus of public debate. As a result, an increasing number of legislators filed bills on these issues. Dealing with the new forms of exploitation and discrimination, even as old ones are mitigated, remains a continuing challenge for the NCRFW, the prime government body for promoting the advancement of women in the country. In its work NCRFW has found valuable allies, not only among the many women's groups and non-governmental organizations that sprang up in the wake of the political turmoil of the mid-1980s. A strong women's movement in the country has been one of the highlights of the last decade. /...