Following the Philippines on the rankings were Mainland China with 91 percent; Malaysia, 85 percent; Brazil, 83 percent; Hong Kong, 83 percent; Thailand, 81 percent; Taiwan, 80 percent; South Africa, 77 percent; Botswana, 74 percent and Russia, 73 percent.
At the bottom of the list was Japan, where only 25 percent of businesses had women in top positions. Also ranked low were the Netherlands, 27 percent; Luxembourg, 37 percent; Germany, 41 percent; and Italy, 42 percent.
Brion attributed the rise in the number of women supervisors and managers in the country to education. He said that the same BLES data showed that one out of three employed women or 32.8 % of the total 12.8 million employed women in the country in 2006 had reached college. In contrast, only one out of five men or 22.5 % of the total 20.156 million employed men in the country had reached college.
More Filipino employed women in the country also completed college than men. One out of five of them finished college or higher education while only one out of 10 employed Filipino men completed their college education last year.
With higher education, women have better chances of also getting better paying and higher positions, the DOLE chief said.
In 2006, women also dominated their male counterpart in the following occupations: professionals (7.7 % versus 2.2 %), technicians and associate professional (3.6 % versus 2.2 %), clerks (7.7 % versus 2.7 %), service workers and shop and markets sales workers (12.5 % versus 7.6 %), and laborers and unskilled workers (36.1 % versus 28.8 %).
At first glance, western readers of this piece might jump to the conclusion that it’s just another example of feminism extending its tentacles all over the world. However much of it should be taken with a pinch of salt and interpreted in the local context.
First we must remember that The Phils is a relatively poor, developing country. However it’s only two generations since it was a US colony and likes to describe itself in western terms. In countries such as ours there is a huge divide and between city rich and rural poor. An ‘executive’ in the western sense would have to come from the minority of highly-educated elite and most likely need connections with one of the small number of ruling families. If they hadn’t become so-called executives they would be helping to administrate the family estates or merely ordering servants around.
Second, we might wonder if it’s actually true. How do we actually define an ‘executive’ and is the same definition applicable to different business styles around the world? In South and Southeast Asia particularly, there is a fondness for giving people fancy titles rather than an actual increase in salary.
Just this afternoon I was discussing this with a Swedish ex-pat and he recounted the story of an incident in Dakka, Bangladesh. His company was obliged to make cutbacks and they decided some so-called executives would have to be demoted. He told of both men and women bursting into tears in his office, fearing the painful loss of face that they would suffer. Most pleaded, “Reduce my salary if it has to be done, but please let me keep the title”.
Is the woman that keeps a roadside fruit-stall and has a couple of young girls to help her an executive? Why not? She owns and manages her own business and supervises employees. Her husband may make more money at his regular job but he is not an executive.
Third, assuming that the statistics are true – so what? Filipino women have always been involved in business, from the ‘sari-sari’ (corner store) to big farming enterprises. It did not come about as the result of some noble feminist revolution, it was always so. In rural families today it is still the traditional practice for the wife to hold the family’s cash. This can be misinterpreted. It doesn’t make her President - it makes her Chief Accountant.
If The Philippines is now trying to ape a western corporate model it’s hardly surprising that these enterprising women should be re-labeled as ‘executives’. A key difference is that the rest of the feminist package is not included. Even the sharpest businesswoman has no desire to become a pseudo-man. Traditionally femininity is a matter of national pride and that might explain why western men are washing up on these shores in increasing numbers looking for wives.
Traditional values show little sign of weakening. The thin veneer of westernization; the pop-music, fast food and signs in mangled English deceive many first-time visitors. Traditional culture has survived 300 years of Spanish and 50 years of American colonization. What our children learn in the school and community today, respect for age, obedience to parents and father as head of household, is as relevant as ever.
Life in the provinces goes on as it always did. Nothing is going to change much in my lifetime or my children’s for that matter. They may have more western gadgets but it will take more than that to start a gender war.
If the D.O.L.E. wants to engage in a bit of national backslapping to demonstrate how “progressive” we are, let them get on with it. I am unalarmed.
