CEDAW/C/PHI/4
English
Page 55
221. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, in cooperation with ILO,
launched the entrepreneurship on migrant earnings project to start off
initiatives for programmes that will assist returning migrants in establishing
viable and sustainable livelihood projects. The project, which has been made
part of the integrated livelihood programmes of the Department of Labour and
Employment, involves skills upgrading, entrepreneurship development training and
business awareness.
Other developments
222. The Philippine representatives to the United Nations took the lead in the
adoption in April 1995 of a resolution that tackled the plight of women migrant
workers.
Other issues
223. Employment as a major development strategy requires more policy reforms and
long-term strategies, including solid guarantees for women's equal access to
employment, as spelled out in the proposed National Employment Plan.
224. In addition, the Structural Adjustment Program and its possible effects on
women workers needs to be considered carefully. With the Philippines'
ratification of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), adjustment
measures will need to be implemented both to cushion the possible temporary
displacement of workers and to help the sectors favourably affected to respond
to increased demand for qualified workers.
225. Women trade unionists figure prominently as board members, secretaries,
treasurers and auditors - positions that may be regarded as extensions of their
mother/housewife roles. Women's relegation to lower positions in the unions
reflects to some extent their socialization as men's subordinates. Other
barriers to their equal participation include lack of time (because of their
multiple roles as mother, wife and worker), lack of support (the trade union
culture being male-oriented) and less access to training and education. These
constraints in effect deny women's fair representation in both policy-making and
decision-making in trade unions. Affirmative measures therefore need to be
applied in order to promote women's empowerment and reduce the barriers to
inequality in trade union participation.
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