CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6
rated, piece-rate), ownership of establishments retrenching or closing, workers affected by noncompliance to labor standards, compliance data on gender equality standards, and the like. The
situation of women entrepreneurs needs looking into, but it has been difficult to establish a
database on them.
Work conditions and social protection
422. The Anti-Sexual Harassment Law has to be reviewed, particularly the scope and its
enforcement in the private sector. Presently, the law is not clear as to which agency should
monitor private sector observance of the law. Data on its implementation in this sector are also
not available.
423. Compliance to labor legislation on gender-based discrimination need to be monitored regularly
and sanctions imposed on violators. One may assume that if compliance rates to general labor
standards, such as the minimum wage, and payment of SSS premiums by employers are low,
compliance rate to gender equality standards would also be low, if not lower.
424. Occupational hazards persist for women, men, girls, and boys. These may be greater in the
informal sector and in small enterprises where workers are often not aware of the occupational
hazards and risks they face. There is a need to disseminate a wide range of information to raise
the awareness on the risks and dangers and the needed precautions for those in hazardous
occupations. This can be reinforced with continuous seminars for small and medium
enterprises in hazardous industries to enlighten both the workers and the owners about the
dangers inherent in their jobs.
425. Data on beneficiaries must be disaggregated by sex to determine how many women and men
avail of and have access to social benefits. This is particularly important in light of the fact that
women have higher life expectancy than men and depend on their pension as support in their
old age. On health insurance, there is a need to advocate for the provision of full benefits to
beneficiaries who will pay the full cost of hospital charges, doctor’s fees, surgical expenses and
surgical or family planning procedures.
Support for self-employed workers, particularly those in the informal sector
426. Workers in the informal sector continue to face problems related to social protection. There is
the difficulty to access formal social security measures due to the complexity of the SSS
administrative processes from registration, collection of contributions, and verification of
claims to actual provision of the benefits. Given the irregularity and seasonality of informal
sector workers’ incomes, their financial capacity to pay the required contributions, by itself, is
already a serious concern. Identifying the correct and necessary amount of contribution and
mode of collection further complicate the problem. Also, there are acknowledged difficulties
with respect to the adjudication of benefits, such as requirements and procedures for access,
particularly for the self-employed. Finally, informal sector workers are hardly organized. This
fragmentation and, sometimes, isolation, makes it extremely difficult for social development
agencies and, probably, specialized insurance companies to reach them for the extension of
social protection and support services.
115
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents