CEDAW/C/SR.327 English Page 11 provide day-care services to their employees’ children under the age of five. The Department of Labour and Employment was carrying out programmes to support women inn the areas of self-employment, entrepreneurship and cooperative endeavour, and to enhance the capabilities of rural workers, including women; Government banks were also making collateral-free loans available to women. Women were continuing to be consigned to the reproductive sphere, even as growing numbers of them joined the labour force. Their work at home remained unpaid and did not contribute to eligibility for retirement or other workrelated benefits. However, the Philippines had recognized the value of housework at least insofar as providing that spouses who engaged in full-time housework might be eligible for social security. 67. The right of women to return to the same employment after maternity leave, the rights to promotion and advancement, and the right to retain social security benefits all applied equally to women in the free-trade zones. The constitutionally-guaranteed right to self-organization also applied to women in those zones. 68. Women remained under represented in union leadership; the Department of Labour and Employment was offering a training programme for women in trade unions, focusing on negotiation skills, leadership and communication skills, management and gender sensitivity. The capacity of the Department of Labour and Employment to enforce labour standards for homeworkers was clearly mandated in the Labour Code. 69. Since the passage of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995, six complaints had been recorded. Two cases were pending before the grievance committee of the Civil Service Commission, three offenders had been dismissed from service, and one had been suspended from work. A Supreme Court judge had also been dismissed for harassment of a clerk. However, only one case involving the illegal dismissal of the perpetrator had been filed before the National Labour Relations Commission and affirmed by the Supreme Court. 70. In order to increase awareness of labour laws among women workers and employers, the Department of Labour and Employment was implementing a labour education programme and was disseminating informational materials on the provisions of labour laws. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines was also implementing programmes to increase workers’ and employers’ awareness of labour laws. The Civil Service Commission had made flexible working hours applicable to both women and men. No formal study had been conducted on that policy, but the experience of many government workers indicated that it had helped women organize their career and family commitments with greater flexibility. 71. Women represented the majority among migrant workers owing to a lack of domestic employment opportunities, particularly in rural areas. While no assessment had been made of the project to establish a database on women migrant workers focusing on women domestic helpers, it had clearly contributed to improvements in the data system of the Philippines Overseas Employment Administration, and consequently to the quality of that agency’s ability to assess information and make recommendations to policy makers. To address the growing needs of women who migrated elsewhere to work, the Government was endeavouring to create local jobs that gave women the option to stay, and assisting them with services should they choose to work abroad. Non-farm / ...