MODULE2: Filipino Women Issues and Trends

LESSON 5: Women and Population

OBJECTIVES

1. Infer the basic concepts of women in society.

2. Explain how urbanization prompted the migration of more women than men to the cities
urban centers.

TIME FRAME
1 week

OVERVIEW

This lesson puts together some of the available statistics and information on women and
population.

ACTIVITY

Put an X on the corresponding box if you think the statement is true, false or if it depends subjectively.

Statement True False Depends

subjectively

1. The national sex ratio shows that the

Philippine population is made up of slightly
more men than women.

2. Urbanization processes have prompted

the migration of more women than men to
the cities and urban centers.
 3. The entry of the young population into
the labor market decreased the country’s
dependency ratio.

4. Women live longer than men.

5.Women assume primary responsibility

not only for the care of children but other
members of the population.

ANALYSIS

Which statement/s above you answer “it depends”. Why do you think so?
 ABSTRACTION

Women and Population

Philippines Population Yearly Change Global Share Global Rank

109,581,078 + 1.35% 1.4% 13

https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/philippines-demographics/

The Philippines, with a total population of 109,581,078 in 2020, is the 13th most populous country in the
world today. The Philippine population is projected to reach 142 million by 2045. This signifies about 49
million persons added to the country’s population from 2010 to 2045, equivalent to an average annual
growth rate of 1.21 percent.

The rapid rate of population growth has become a national concern considering the challenge that this
poses to the country’s ability to manage economic growth, and to raise income levels and improve the
delivery of social services to the population.

Under conditions of poverty and rapid population growth, women emerge as a particularly vulnerable
group given their multiple social roles and responsibilities. As child bearers and homemakers, women bear
much of the burden imposed by poverty on families and households. As the traditional care-givers,
women also assume primary responsibility not only for the care of children but for other members of the
dependent population including the sick, the disabled, the elderly, the out of school youth and those who
are unable to seek productive employment. Finally, as economic providers, women are tasked to ensure
not only their own but their children’s and families’ economic security and well-being.

Sex and Age Composition

https://theodora.com/wfbcurrent/philippines/RP_popgraph_2018.jpg

Life Expectancy

BOTH SEXES FEMALES MALES

71.7 years 75.9 years 67.7 years

(life expectancy at birth, both (life expectancy at birth, (life expectancy at birth, males)
sexes combined) females)

https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/philippines-demographics/

Women exhibit older mean ages and longer life expectancies than men. The life expectancy stood at 75.9
years for women and 67.7 years for men. Owing to sex differentials in mortality patterns which generally
tend to favour women and women’s biological advantage to men, there are more women in older age
groups than men.
 APPLICATION

Draw or post a population pyramid of your own barangay or purok. The population pyramid must show
the data on sex and age.
 LESSON 6: Women, Families and Households

OBJECTIVES

1. Identify the little changes in the allocation of gender tasks and responsibilities within the
home.
2. Analyze the factors that change gender roles within families and households.

TIME FRAME

1 week

OVERVIEW

In this lesson you will learn about the gender tasks of men and women within the families and
households. What is your task in your family?

ACTIVITY

WHO DOES WHAT? Kindly tick your answer.

Household Tasks Men Women Both

1. Washing the dishes

2. Ironing the clothes

3. Cooking

4. Mopping/Scrubbing the floor

5. Changing the curtains

6. Feeding the pets

7. Chopping the woods

8. Washing the clothes

9. Cleaning the backyard

10. Tending the plants and flowers/garden

 ANALYSIS

What are your thoughts about these gender tasks?

ABSTRACTION

Ongoing modernization and development processes are reshaping Filipinos families and
households. In response to broader socio-economic and demographic changes, Filipino families are
becoming smaller in size and more nuclear in composition and organization. In turn, these changes are
engendering other changes in the relationships among family members, and in the roles and
responsibilities of adults and children, and of men and women within the family unit.

Women’s changing roles in particular have salient consequences for families and households and
for the women’s own individual well-being. For one, Filipino women are marrying at later ages than
previously, thus delaying the onset of family formation. Increasing number of them are also opting to have
fewer children. Compared to earlier periods, there are now more Filipino women in the labor force,
majority of whom are mothers. As a result of these and other related changes, an increasing number of
Filipino families no longer conform to the notion of a family as necessarily consisting of a married couple
and their children and where the father works and the mother keeps house.
 A challenge facing contemporary families, therefore, is the redefinition and readjustment of
gender roles within the home and the redistribution of tasks and responsibilities more equitably among
family members.

Marriage Pattern
In 2017, the total number of marriages recorded was 434,932, an increase of 3.6 percent from
419,628 marriages in 2016. The number of registered marriages showed an erratic trend from 2008 to
2017, with a noticeable varying of figures in 2012 to 2013. (See Figure 1)

The decrease in marriages in a span of 10 years changed from 14.4 percent for 2007 to 2016
to 10.6 percent for 2008 to 2017 after an increase of 15,304 marriages in the annual count.

www.psa.gov.ph
 www.psa.gov.ph

Women married younger than men

The median age of women that got married in 2017 was two years lower than the median age of
their male counterparts. It was observed that the median age for men and women went up a single year
from last year.
 www.psa.gov.ph

Most brides and grooms married between ages 25-29 years old

About one third of the brides and the grooms married between ages 25-29 years old, where
grooms with 157,407 or 36.2 percent of the total marriages and brides with 148,618 or 34.2 percent.

It was also observed that there are four teenage brides (32,404) for every one teenage groom
(7,609) for marriages involving teenagers. (See Figure 4)
 www.psa.gov.ph

Household

The household population of the Philippines reached 100.57 million persons in 2015. This is 8.48
million higher than the 92.10 million household population reported in 2010, and 24.24 million more
than the 76.33 million household population posted in 2000.

The average household size was 4.4 persons in 2015. The country’s average household size
decreased from 4.6 persons in 2010 to 4.4 persons in 2015. In 2000, there were 5.0 persons, on average,
per household.
APPLICATION

Come up with a plan on how you can contrast the existing stereotypes about men and women.
 LESSON 7: Women and Employment

OBJECTIVES

1. understand fully the relationship of gender , gender equality and labor.

2. List down gender-typing of occupations that we easily perceived in the society.
3. Discuss the implication of overseas employment to family and society.

TIME FRAME

1 week

OVERVIEW

In this lesson we will look into the participation of women in the labor force. There are some
statistical data presented for better understanding of the topic.

ACTIVITY

Fill in the information in the table below: Please tick your response.

Work/Job Man (does this at Woman (does Man (does this Woman (does
home) this at home) outside) this outside)

Teacher

Househelp (Maid)

Driver

Doctors

Waiter

Tailor

Washing clothes
(laundry)
 ANALYSIS

1. Does being born as a boy or girl, decide the type of work an individual does when she/he grows up?
Why?
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2. Can girls/women take up something that is normally considered done by boys/men? Which ones can
be taken up and which ones cannot be done? Why?
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3. Can boys/men take up work that is normally considered done by girls/women? Which ones can be taken
up and which ones cannot be done? Why?
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ABSTRACTION

Filipino women have been joining the labor force partly out of economic necessity and partly in
response to economic opportunities. But although they have grown both in actual numbers and in
participation rate, Filipino women in productive work still have to approximate the employment levels
and labor force participation rates of men. Women’s is still lower than men, employers still prefer male
workers and that women’s ability to enter the labor force is constrained by family and housekeeping
responsibilities.
 The table above provides data for the Philippines from 1990 to 2019. The average value for the
Philippines during that period was 47.76 percent with a minimum of 45.42 percent in 2017 and a
maximum of 49.52 percent in 2014. The latest value from 2019 is 46.1 percent. For comparison, the world
average in 2019 based on 182 countries is 51.98 percent.

The female labor force participation rate is the percent of the female population ages 15 and older
who are economically active. That includes the employed people as well as the unemployed people.

Employment and Unemployment Rates

www.psa.gov.ph
 Other inequalities characterize the employment of women and men including the gender-typing
of occupations which in turn results in lower earnings for women. There are for instance, more men than
women occupying top-level administrative and executive positions. Various industries such as production
and manufacturing, and heavier infrastructure industries not only employ more men than women but also
tend to pay men higher wages. In some of these lower-level occupations, as well as in agriculture and
service work, women’s earnings are further depressed by the fact that several of them are employed as
unpaid family workers. On the other hand, women appear to have the edge in professional and technical
occupations and in clerical work and sales jobs which do not only employ more female workers but also
pay them better wages than men.

One of the developments in the employment field has been the long-term growth in the number
of Filipino women and men leaving the country for employment overseas, in response to the persistent
shortage of domestic jobs.

Employment Sectors

Agriculture

Women farmers do not have an equal opportunity to acquire land or register it in their own
names. They have fewer inheritance rights than male farmers. Land ownership is important not only to
women’s ability to earn income, but also as a source of empowerment and autonomy within the
household.
Industry and Manufacturing

The number of women working in economic zones is estimated to represent 64% of total
employment and may be much higher in some industries, such as electronics and apparel (World Bank
2011). Women’s share of employment in the export- processing zones is much greater than women’s
share of the labor force as a whole, and the conditions of employment are of concern.

Tourism

Within the tourism industry, relatively few women have the educational qualifications or foreign
language skills to compete for front-of-house positions in the hotel industry, as tour guides, or in travel
agencies, and women are more likely to be employed as housekeepers, waitresses or similar low-level
positions.

Business Processing Outsourcing

The Philippines’ Information Technology- Business Process Outsourcing Road Map 2011-2016 is
not gender-responsive and does not address women’s constraints in accessing higher paid work in non-
voice services or the likely growth in information technology and engineering.

Government Services

Public sector employment is an important source of jobs with better pay and conditions for
women than many other industrial sectors, but women are constrained by being predominantly employed
in traditional, gender-stereotyped care sector government occupations such as health and education, and
they are under-represented in the higher paying subsectors.

Entrepreneurship

There has been a rapid surge in the number and proportion of female entrepreneurs in developing
countries (Minniti and Naude 2010). Studies indicate that female-led MSMEs increase employment
opportunities for women and contribute to wider development goals (ADB and ILO, 2013). One survey
conducted by the Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council 2007 said that there are more women
entrepreneurs than men in which motivated by necessity; these are livelihood-oriented entrepreneurs
attempting to escape unemployment.
 APPLICATION

As an adolescent who may soon be initiated to the world of work, how do you think you will manage
to succeed in the career of your choice? Do you think your gender identity will have an influence on your
work of choice? Why/why not? How?
 LESSON 8: Women and Public Life

OBJECTIVES

1. Critique why Filipino women’s participation in electoral politics remain limited.

2. Explain the importance of women in politics
3. Recognize the role of women in the community development

TIME FRAME

1 week

OVERVIEW

Hello again!! Ready to continue other trends and issues on women? In this lesson, it will present
women in politics.

ACTIVITY

Answer the following poll. Just tick your answer. Response categories are “Strongly agree,” “Somewhat
agree,” “Neither agree nor disagree,” “Somewhat disagree,” “Strongly Disagree,” and “Don’t know”

Statements SA SoA NAorD SoD SD DK

1. I would feel comfortable voting for a woman for

president.

2. The role of a president should be given to a man.

3. My neighbors would be comfortable voting for a

woman for president.

4. There is no place in politics for women.

5. I will vote for a woman for barangay captain.

 6. The woman is only good for the position of vice
president.

7. Men contribute more in politics

8. The women in politics do not receive as much

encouragement as men.

9. I will vote for a man as a mayor of the city.

10. I am not comfortable voting for a woman for

president.

ANALYSIS

What statement above that you strongly disagree with? What is your reason/s?

ABSTRACTION

After campaigning spiritedly for almost three decades, Filipino women won the right of suffrage
at a plebiscite held on April 30, 1937, during which 147,725 more women than the required 300,000
turned out to vote for women’s political enfranchisement.

Since then women have participated extensively in Philippine politics as voters in national and
local elections. Moreover, they have vied for elective positions at all levels of public office. In 1986 the
national presidency was won by a woman for the first time, and in 1992 two women were among the six
contenders in the presidential race. Although women continue to be underrepresented in elective
positions, current trends point to their increasing visibility in electoral politics whether at the local or
national level.

Such low representation owes largely to the fact that fewer women than men run for public office.
This is mainly because women’s ability to enter politics depends a lot on the degree of support they
receive from their families, and from political parties and society as a whole. In the Philippines as
elsewhere, women who wish to pursue a political career do not receive as much encouragement as men.

Women election into public office is expected over the longer term to spur changes in political
processes and value systems. Less concerned with having political power for its own sake and more
steadfast in upholding ideals, women can help curb corruption and abuse in government. They can also
help direct government resources toward such concerns as crime reduction, ecological conservation, and
the improvement of education and social welfare policies and programs.

https://www.comelec.gov.ph/php-tpls-
attachments/SpecialProjects/GenderandDevelopmentProgram/NewsCorner/Magazine/COMELEC-
GAD_GenderAndElections_Magazine.pdf
 Since Independence and through various changes in the government, both the Philippine Senate
and the House of Representatives always had at least one woman member, and long term trends show
women’s share in lawmaking posts to be improving.

Between 1988 and 1992, slight increases were also noted in the number of Filipino women
occupying elective positions in provincial, city and municipal governments. Available data suggest that
Filipino women may be making more inroads in electoral politics at the grassroots or at the lowest level
of barangay government administration.
 APPLICATION

Look into women’s participation in the military and police service. Post its data and analyse it. What do
you think we should do to increase the participation of women in this sector?

Data

Plan a program to increase the participation of women.

 LESSON 9: Women and Education

OBJECTIVES

1. Explain the rights of women to education.

2. Illustrate the schooling of girls.
3. Understand issues related to gender in school.

TIME FRAME
1 week

OVERVIEW

In the educational field, the country boasts of a highly literate and a relatively well-educated
population with no significant disparities in the educational attainment of women and men. In this lesson,
we will learn gender disparities in education and how it affects women and girls in our society

ACTIVITY

What gets in the way of having equal rights in education? Write your answers on the picture.
1. Should gender be a deciding factor for people to access education?

ANALYSIS

2. Are there specific needs that women, men and LGBTQ+ have in school? If yes, what are those
needs?
 ABSTRACTION

Education System in the Philippines

http://uis.unesco.org/en/country/ph

The liberal education policies pursued by the government during the American colonial period
have left their mark on Philippine society. These policies which encouraged “Education for all” were not
discriminatory towards women nor to other groups or sectors of society. Education has come to be
perceived by Filipinos as the most important vehicle for upward social mobility, providing one with a ticket
to a better life and long-term economic and social security.

Literacy
 http://uis.unesco.org/en/country/ph

http://uis.unesco.org/en/country/ph

Nationally and in both rural and urban areas, literacy rates in the last two decades have been on
the uptrend for both sexes but more so for women. By 2015, literacy rates among Filipinos stood at a high
and roughly 99.27 (15-24 years), 98.24 (15 and older) and 94.12 (65 and older) for women and 98.9, 98.12
and 94.6 respectively for men.

Based on the Functional Literacy Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) definition of
functional literacy which emphasized not only one’s ability to read and write a simple message but also
perform basic computational tasks for day-to-day living, there are fewer Filipino men and women who
are functionally literate.
 APPLICATION

How do you think the educational system in the

Philippines is addressing the gender needs? Cite
specific educational programs that you observed
or experience.

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 LESSON10: Women and Health

OBJECTIVES

1. discuss how and why gender lens is necessary in understanding other social issues such
health.
2. show appreciation of the intersectionality between gender and health.

TIME FRAME

1 week

OVERVIEW

In principle, humans regardless of genders have basic human rights emerging from their intrinsic
human dignity. One of the primary needs of individuals is the access to health services. This lesson will
look into the intersectionality between gender and health.

ACTIVITY

Go to the nearest barangay health center in your vicinity. Ask the Barangay Health Worker what are the
particular health services in the following components, which responds to the needs of women, men and
LGBTQ+.

Cluster Specific Services

Public health
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

Nutrition

Mental Health and Psychosocial Service

ANALYSIS
 Are the needs of women, men and LGBTQ+ being addressed through these health services? If not,
why do you think so? What factors hinders the access of these services?

________________________________________________________________________________
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ABSTRACTION

Two indicators best show the Philippines’ improved health status –the longer life expectancies
currently enjoyed by Filipinos, and much-reduced mortality rates among the entire population but
particularly among infants and new-born.

Much of the gains in life expectancy may be attributed to the decline in deaths from
communicable diseases, thanks to the institution of public health measures and modern medical
technology. Such diseases have been the cause of the majority of deaths in infants and children, whose
mortality rates contribute most to total deaths. The drop in IMR has been a remarkable 77 percent from
the post-war years, from 105. 3 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in the 1950s to 24.3 in 1990.

In view of women’s known biological advantages for survival, women live longer and exhibit lower
mortality rates during childhood and adulthood than men. Although the leading causes of mortality
are broadly similar among men and women, the risk of accidents is higher for men while cancers are
more likely to afflict women. The most common cancers afflicting women are those of the breast,
lungs, and uterus, while the most common cancers among men are those found in the lungs, stomach and
pharynx.
 The expansion of health care services has brought about dramatic declines in the country’s
maternal mortality rates. However, causes related to pregnancy and childbirth continue to be a major
cause of death for women of childbearing age, translating into a high 5 to 6 maternal deaths daily. The
incidence of anemia also remains high among mothers and children, and adolescent and adult women are
more prone to malnutrition than men.

Compared to earlier years, more couples today are practicing some form of family planning and
are having fewer children. Modern contraceptive use, however, continues to be mostly a woman’s
initiative, with direct male participation being limited to the use of natural family planning methods and
withdrawal.

Men outnumber the women among the disabled population and those found infected with the
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or suffering from AIDS. The incidence of these ailments in women,
however, has risen rapidly. In particular, women face relatively high disability and impairment risks at
older ages, and suffer from blindness, deafness and mental illness more than men.

https://psa.gov.ph.

The number of deaths from 2008 to 2016 showed an increasing trend but slightly declined in 2017.
The increase during the ten-year period is about a quarter, or 25.5 percent, from 461,581 in 2008 to
579,237 in 2017.
 The top three regions in terms of number of deaths by usual residence were found in Luzon:
CALABARZON with 84,971 or 14.7 percent, followed by NCR with 75,187 or 13.0 percent then Central
Luzon with 67,980 or 11.7 percent. The combined share of these three regions was 39.4 percent of the
total deaths. On the other hand, the three regions which had the least number of deaths were ARMM
(3,036 or 0.5%), CAR (8,176 or 1.4%) and Caraga (14,928 or 2.6%). These numbers accounted for only 4.5
percent of the total deaths in the country.
 The month of August recorded the highest number of deaths with 51,154 or 8.8 percent, while
February had the least number with 44,765 or 7.7 percent share of the total deaths. Daily Index is the
increase/decrease from the overall daily average of event occurrences. In 2017, the months of March to
July fall below the national daily index of 100.0.
 In 2017, the number of deaths in males (332,517) was higher than deaths in females (246,720).
This translates to a sex ratio of 135, which means that there are 135 male deaths for every 100 female
deaths.

Figure 4 shows the age and sex pattern of death in 2017. It reflects an inverted pyramid, with
fewer deaths at the younger ages, except for children under one, and progressively increasing as people
age. As in most parts of the world, males are more likely to die before females at all ages. In the
Philippines, it is clearly shown that males died at a higher rate than females before reaching the age of 80
years, with the greatest difference observed at ages 60 to 64 years (15,362 deaths). Higher proportions
of female deaths were observed in the older age groups, which is indicative of higher survival rate of
females than males.
 The ten leading causes of death in 2017. It can be seen that among the total deaths, ischaemic
heart diseases were the leading causes of death with 84,120 or 14.5 percent. Second were neoplasms
which are commonly known as “cancer” with 64,125 or 11.1 percent, followed by cerebrovascular
diseases with 59,774 or 10.3 percent.

Among males, ischaemic heart diseases were also the leading causes of death with 50,503 or 15.2
percent followed by cerebrovascular diseases (33,610 or 10.1%) and neoplasms (30,800 or 9.3%). It was
also observed that assault was included in the 10 leading causes of death with 10,866 or 3.3 percent of
the total deaths in males. On the other hand, similar to males, the top cause of death among females was
also ischaemic heart disease (33,617 or 13.6%), followed by neoplasm with 33,325 or 13.5 percent and
pneumonia with 28,835 or 11.7 percent of the total deaths in females.

Mental Health

One of the most prevalent issues facing adolescents nowadays is mental health. The changing
environment also brings forth stressors that were not existing before. People are challenged to pay

In the context of gender and sexuality, some issues faced by humans related to their sexuality and
to the roles they assume in the society are mental/ psychological in nature. Some of these issues are as
follows:

● Coping with sexual and reproductive health issues (teen pregnancy, STD/HIV, confusion and
doubt);
● Psychological impacts of SOGIE –related concerns and gender roles and expectations;
● Psychological concerns emerging from intimate/romantic relationships; and
● Psychological trauma from GBV.
 APPLICATION

Conduct and interview with some of your teachers, school heads, and or counsellors. Ask them what the
schools’ programs for mental health are. Ask them also about programs for gender-related issues. Post a
sample program here. Reflect on the following:

Sample program here:

Reflection:

1. How do you think these programs will help you as an adolescent?

Congratulations!!! You are through with module 2, Filipino Women Issues and Trends. I hope you have
learned something from these topics.