Duterte believes in competence, capability of women, says Palace
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration have always believed in the competence and capability of women, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Thursday.
Malacañang welcomed the Global Gender Gap Report 2018 of the World Economic Forum, where the Philippines turned out as the country with the narrowest gender gap in Asia and eighth in the world.
The Malacañang spokesman said the Duterte administration commits itself to further promote "substantive equality" as the government maintains to uphold the rights and dignity of women.
"The Philippines continues to aspire for inclusive development where there is equality and genuine collaboration between men and women, and we are honored that our efforts have been given global recognition," Panelo said in a statement.
The gender gap index was measured through four key pillars — economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment.
Obtaining an overall score of 79 percent, the Philippines ranked first in educational attainment, 13th in political empowerment 14th in economic participation and 42nd in health and survival.
Though the administration insists that it is committed to recognizing Filipino women for their contributions to society, Duterte has been criticized for making sexist and misogynist remarks.
In September, the president said there were many cases of rape in his hometown Davao City because of beautiful women. Duterte drew flak for his controversial statement but was quick to justify himself, citing freedom of expression.
"They would say again I am a misogynist ako... There are many rape cases in Davao. I said 'perhaps there are many beautiful women in Davao.' I did not say all of them were raped," Duterte said.
Women's rights group Gabriela then accused the president of being the top enabler of violence against women.
"Instead of accordingly addressing this alarming issue of violence against women and their children, Duterte proceeded to blabber his sexist and misogynist remarks," Gabriela said in a statement. — Patricia Lourdes Viray
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