CEDAW/C/PHI/4
English
Page 70
(a) Those that would require legislative and executive actions to minimize
and neutralize temporary dislocation in the sector before and after
ratification;
(b) Those that are designed to enhance the competitiveness of farmers and
fisherfolk to enable them to seize the opportunities provided by the opening up
of new and more stable markets for Philippine agricultural products.
These initiatives could be of great help to rural women considering that the
majority of them are in these sectors.
296. To encourage and enhance women's participation in agricultural planning,
the Philippine-Australian Pilot Provincial Agricultural Extension Project was
initiated in 1992 in two regions of the country. An integral part of the
project was the organization and mobilization of rural-based organizations in
drafting a community plan and, in particular, an agricultural sector plan
through research and planning. Though the participants found the process too
time-intensive, they acknowledged two benefits: learning from their involvement
in the project, and confidence in the resulting plans.
297. KaBaPa, a coalition of peasant women's organizations, has been active in
electoral literacy through the production of voter's manuals and translation
into various Philippine languages and dialects. They also conduct study
sessions for its members to discuss pressing political matters, such as foreign
debt.
298. The Technology Outreach and Community Help Foundation (TOUCH), a
non-governmental organization working with people's organizations in Mindanao,
conducts sessions in which couples are brought together to discuss gender
issues. The topics are mainly personal and cover such questions as how the man
treats his spouse, work-sharing at home, leisure and vices. The sessions give
emphasis to the couple's experience via-à-vis gender roles and sexual relations;
women's expanding roles; men's sharing in home and family responsibilities; and
recognition of women's right to self-determination. Women beneficiaries have
revealed much improvement in their spouses, such as in helping with housework
and cutting down on their drinking.
299. The Department of Agrarian Reform, on the other hand, has continuously
committed itself to make the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program equally
beneficial and accessible to women and men. As of 1992, the programme was able
to distribute a total of 363,276.65 hectares of agricultural land to farmer
beneficiaries. Of this number, 270,096 were under the emancipation patents and
28,455 were for certificates of land ownership agreements. It could be noted,
however, that of the emancipation patent holders, only 11.5 per cent were women.
In terms of hectarage, approximately 326,496 or 90 per cent were owned and
controlled by men and only 35,815 or 10 per cent were owned by women.
300. The certificate, on the other hand, was also predominantly awarded to men,
who comprised 82 per cent of the total holders as compared with only 18 per cent
for women.
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