CEDAW/C/PHI/4 English Page 11 obtaining support for gender and development from other units within their respective agencies; (b) competing priorities between the agency head and the technical staff; (c) work overload (gender and development activities are performed as an "add on" function); and (d) lack of resources and support from the highest official. Issues related to the public in general 42. Women in a poverty situation. The acute poverty situation remains the country's priority focus of attention affecting women more seriously as family treasurers and as health and economic providers. With the diminished purchasing power of the peso, more and more women are forced to find ways to augment family income. 43. Lack of concerted and massive public education on gender issues and concerns. Gender-responsiveness in the development process has been difficult to achieve, mainly because of the lack of public understanding of gender issues. A strong public advocacy programme is strongly needed in order to create a social environment supportive of women's gender concerns. Issues related to social institutions 44. Stereotyping in schools. Among the social institutions, schools continue to play pivotal roles in reinforcing and perpetuating sex-role stereotyping and sexist concepts still found in the curricula, textbooks and instructional materials. Studies have consistently pointed out that such stereotypes not only restrict the role orientation of learners but also reinforce traditional views of female subordination. There is a need therefore to continuously review the curricula and educational and instructional materials across levels vis-à-vis their relevance to the changing roles of women and men. There is also a continuing need to critique, review and evaluate the Philippine educational system in terms of content, methods and learning processes and institutional mechanisms and structures vis-à-vis its relevance and responsiveness to the demands of contemporary times. 45. Negative influence of the media. As in the educational institutions, women continue to be portrayed in very limited, sexist and stereotyped roles in the news, radio, television programmes, advertisements and movies. There is an overabundance of movies that portray women as victims, sex objects, weaklings and hopeless romantics. Similarly, advertisements continue to confine women to homemaker roles or depict them as glamour-obsessed objects of desire. While there are plenty of broadcast programmes with women leads and characters, as well as publications aimed at a female readership, the local media in general remain untapped as a potent means for advancing women's development. 46. The church's traditional views about women remain unchanged. The Government, on the other hand, has been showing an optimistic level of responsiveness to the gender equality agenda, although its basic institutional make-up remains male-oriented. /...