The fight for gender equality

In 2013, a conference on “Being a Human Being, Being a Person” was scheduled at the prestigious University of Oxford. Six speakers were invited to talk about what it means to be a person, and the nature of humanity.

Of the six speakers, every single one was a man.

That no one then seemed to object to this speaks to the reason why gender inequality is still a major, pervasive problem. We are used to these so-called “manels”, where every person given a platform and a voice to speak about something of universal import is a man. So ingrained is this correlation of men with expertise that even with matters that are specific to women, such as women’s reproductive health or violence against women, it is not unheard of to have the discussion dominated by men.

Of course, men can and must play a role in bringing about a more equal society – precisely because inequality has created structures where much of the power to effect change lies in male hands. Only by making women participate in the decision making process, by enabling women to have access to power and all positions of import – especially with regard to issues that primarily concern women – can a truly equal society be achieved.

And that truly equal society remains a distant dream at this point. According to the United Nations World’s Women Report of 2015:

• Across all sectors and occupations, women on average earn less than men; in most countries, women in full-time jobs earn between 70 and 90 percent of what men earn;

• When both paid and unpaid work such as household chores and caring for children are taken into account, women work longer hours than men – an average of 30 minutes a day longer in developed countries and 50 minutes in developing countries;

Above all, women were significantly underrepresented in decision-making positions, whether this be in the public or private sphere. This stranglehold that men have on power and platforms extends from politics, to business, and to popular culture. The World Women’s Report noted that only 18 percent of appointed ministers were women, and women heads of State were still the exception to the rule; in business, only around half the countries surveyed had women make up more than 30% of those in managerial positions; and in the media, only around 20% of filmmakers and producers were women, and only 7% of directors were women.

Some may argue that these international averages are inapplicable in the Philippines. After all, we’ve had two women Presidents, currently have a woman Vice President, and have women in Congress and in the Supreme Court. While the Philippines has always done well in the Global Gender Index, consistently placing the country in the circle of 10 nations from 2006 to 2016, in the most recent Global Gender Gap Report we have plummeted to 16th place. This is primarily due to the precipitous drop in the Political Empowerment category, one that is “almost entirely attributable to lower female representation in the cabinet, which declined from 25% to 10% between 2017 and 2019. Female representation in the parliament was also slightly down and stood at 28% at the beginning of 2019.”

Factsheets from the Philippine Commission on Women show that in the 2016 elections men consistently dominated the political sphere by occupying 78.5% of all elected positions. Only 23.5% of Governors, 17.5% of Vice-Governors, 23.2% of Mayors, and 19.8% of Vice-Mayors elected in 2016 were women. These numbers remain disproportionate to the ratio of men and women in the population, which as of 2010 Census stood at roughly half.

A harsh reminder that the prominence of powerful women does not on its own correct anti-women mindsets is seen in the statistics on abuse and harassment. According to the Factsheets, one in five women aged 15-49 has experienced physical abuse, and one in seven married women had been physically harmed by their husbands.

But the more telling statistic is that a horrifying 14% of married women surveyed actually believe that a husband is justified in beating his wife in at least one of the following circumstances: if she burns the food, if she argues with him, if she goes out without telling him, if she neglects the children, and if she refuses to have sexual intercourse with him.

Let that sink in for a moment. More than one in ten of the women surveyed believe that their husband had a right to physically abuse them.

It is the persistence of this kind of poisonous attitude in both men and women which reminds us, again and again, that the fight for gender equality is far from won. While some headway has been made in fields such as legislation, even the most well crafted of laws will be rendered useless if society cannot be made to progress in the same fashion. Even as our laws and jurisprudence provide that a husband that forces his wife to have sex commits rape, no justice will be done if neither the man nor the woman believes in the woman’s right to say no.

Changing these internalized prejudices that are a part of everyday life is one of the reasons why it is so important to normalize the involvement of women in decision-making, at all levels. When a society has women as decision-makers, it erodes the patriarchal mentality that men are the ones in control, that it’s the woman’s nature to be passive and obedient. And because women are so often side-lined and marginalized, bringing them to the table would allow the government to adjust its policies to better serve those of its constituents that need it the most. Involving women in government makes for better government.

Women have always fought for a seat at the table, and we will not stop fighting. My voice, this column, will be but a small part of that battle – but if there is one thing that you take away from reading this, it’s that in a male dominated world, every woman’s voice is important.