CEDAW/C/SR.l79 English Page 8 (Ms. Licuanan) act on violations. Greater gender-consciousness was required and, with that in mind, the Government was developing programmes to provide training for judges and other legal personnel to make them more sensitive to women's issues. Another aspect of the problem was the need for greater legal awareness among women themselves and a general change in attitude. In conclusion, she assured the Committee that a written report would be made available without delay and that any missing statistics would be forwarded from her country. 47. The CHAIRPERSQN commended the efforts made in the Philippines to improve the status of women, especially the enactment of legislation in such areas as work at home and violence against women. She noted with interest the innovative idea of an awareness campaign and the training of judges in women's issues, an idea that might be taken up by other countries. 48. Ms. EVAII associated herself with the Chairperson's comments. As a citizen of Australia, she particularly commended the efforts being made to prevent advertising for and trade in wives between the two countries, a practice which resulted in many Philippine women suffering violence and oppression in a country alien to them. She was also gratified to note the steps being taken to introduce agrarian reforms, even though much remained to be done. She drew attention to the need, in a country with such a high fertility rate, to improve access to contraceptive advice, family planning services and safe abortion. Another question about which information would be welcome was the way in which women, in particular, suffered as a result of civil unrest, for instance as refugees. 49. Ms. AKAMATS~ welcomed the progress that the Philippine Government had made in eliminating discrimination against women; however, she hoped that more statistics and details of court cases would be included in the third periodic report. From the information already before the Committee, it seemed that many women in the Philippines wished to work, but were hampered by the large size of their families, the lack of child-care facilities, and the attitudes of men. 50. tl_$_._QES_ER congratulated the Philippine delegation on its second periodic report, which dealt much more frankly with the problems and progress of women in the Philippines than the initial report had done. 51. The section of the report dealing with article 3 of the Convention (CEDAW/C/13/Add.l7, p. 22) referred to a series of workshops to increase awareness of women's issues among key government planners and technical personnel. However, it was stated in a footnote that, out of 13 planned workshops, only one had been held. Why was that? 52. Ms. ABAKA said she understood from the Philippine representative's statement that the school drop-out rate among boys and girls was roughly equal, and was mainly due to economic factors. However, in many countries, including her own, the school drop-out rate was higher among girls because of teenage pregnancies. Did that problem not exist in the Philippines and, if not, how had it been avoided? 53. M~IOU-ANTONIQU said that, in her opinion, the Philippines needed a high-level government body to work on behalf of women and ensure that women were appointed to Cabinet posts and other high-ranking positions. Such a body should not be afraid to ask for the resources it needed and should harness women's I . ..