CEDAW/C/SR.32 English Page 10 (Mr. Nordenfelt) surprising to see that the Government of the Philippines was now sponsoring a law granting menstruation leave to female employees, since such a law was also quite likely to put women at a disadvantage in the labour market. He wished to know whether the bill which would permit night work for women had entered into force and what effect that change had made. He also wondered whether the provisions regarding night work applied to all professions or only to certain specific professions. 54. He asked whether anything had been done to facilitate the participation of women in the traditionally male sectors of the labour market, such as industry or commerce. He noted in that connection that the report did mention (p. 12) two promising progranunes, one to reform the elementary school curriculum so as to emphasize attitudes and values that would eliminate prejudice and stereotyping of roles, and the other to provide scholarships to encourage girls to enroll in traditionally male-dominated courses. It was not clear if the proposed Parliamentary Bill No. 602 fixing the minimum age for marriage at 18 years (p. 9 of the report) applied to both men and women. 55. In connection with the implementation of article 7 of the Convention, the report (p. 16, para. 9) gave figures on the participation of women in political and public office: he asked whether there was any stipulation that a fixed proportion of public officials had to be women, or did the figures given merely reflect the existing situation. 56. In connection with the implementation of article 11 of the Convention, he noted the services providing guidance and counselling on employment and educational opportunities and on ways of reconciling home and job responsibilities (p. 29, para. 1 (c), of the report). He asked if both men and women were counselled on the latter problem and whether there were any other programmes that sought to promote a sense of shared responsibility both at work and a t home. Although it was striking, for instance, that men were required by law to turn their salaries over to their wives, he personally did not regard that as a great step towards equality; a sharing of responsibility for the economy of the home would be preferable. He asked, lastly, for clarification regarding the promotions prescribed by the Civil Service Commission (p. 31 of the report); it was not clear what the figures were meant to illustrate. Also, the report did not state whether all the promotions listed under March to December 1982 had been of women. 57. Mrs. Ider resumed the Chair. 58. Ms. REGENT-LECHOWICZ felt that the oral introduction by the Philippine representative might have painted too optimistic a picture. It was difficult, both from the report and the introduction to understand precisely what the situation was in the Philippines with regard to discrimination against women. The report drafted, it was true, before the guidelines had been issued - none the less had not even complied with the indications on the submission of reports given in article 18 of the Convention: it provided no information on the laws in force in the country or any other Government regulations, and, more particularly, it supplied no legislative texts of any kind. The success or failure of the programmes discussed was not assessed in the report. / ...