CEDAW/C/PHI/5-6 be viewed as extensions of women’s gender roles. In comparison, male workers were in “masculine” occupations that required physical strength. Hence, women are a minority among machine operators and assemblers (8.9 percent), farmers, fishers and forestry workers (15.1 percent), trade and related workers (26.1 percent) and laborers and unskilled workers (44.3 percent). 340. The concentration of women workers in certain industries or occupations may be linked to gender-based choices of college training or career, as well as to “pre-employment sex discrimination,” as evident in sexist job advertisements (Morada and Santos 1998). Between 1975 and 1995, the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics noted a general decline in the proportion of discriminatory print ads, especially during the 1975 to 1985 period; but observed, as well, a strengthening preference for female accountants and male waiters. In fact, there also seemed to have been reversals in the direction of bias. In 1975, for instance, employers wanted male accountants and female cooks. Twenty years later, they were advertising for female accountants and “male chefs.” 341. For other fields, gender biases persisted. Females continued to be preferred for some posts: cashier, secretary, nurse, teacher, waiter, and weaver. The gender bias seems to rest on employers’ notion of women as (more) trustworthy, honest, meticulous, and patient. Like the garments industry of the past, semiconductor and electronic firms reportedly prefer young women because “they settle for low wages, their fingers are nimble, and they are patient and docile” (Aganon 1999:71). “Preferably male” notices were noted for the following: driver, messenger, mechanic, and security guard. As women engineers increase and more women perform well as managers, the bias for men in these fields has not been as rigid as before. Such an easing up of employers’ gender biases is expanding job opportunities for both women and men. 342. In 1995, trade unions numbered 7,882, with a total membership of 3.6 million. They increased to 9,374 in 1998 and 10,296 in 2000 (NSO 2002). In 2002, there were 11,365 labor organizations (BLES 2003a). By September 2003, these increased to 11,796 (BLES 2003). Meanwhile, union membership rose from 3.92 million in 2002 to 3.96 million in September 2003. Women account for no more that a third of its members. About 75 percent of the women trade unionists were from the private sector and 25 percent in the public sector. The labor department estimates that women account for about 26 percent of the trade union leaders. 343. Apex labor organizations, such as the Federation of Free Workers, National Federation of Labor (NFL), and Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), as well as their affiliate unions, have sought to address gender concerns in various ways (Illo 2002b). NFL appointed a woman general secretary for the first time. One labor organization involved creating leadership opportunities for women by allotting several seats for women in the board and/or forming a special group to oversee programs or projects related to women members, and lead the GAD advocacy within the organization. Another focused on building leadership capacities of women members and, in the case of the Federation of Free Workers, preparing women members to participate in negotiations for collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). A third area of GAD advocacy is sexual harassment (see relevant section, below), while another concerns women workers in the informal sector. 95