2008 Women's Month Focuses on Women's Economic Rights
The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) leads the celebration of the 2008 Women's Month. This year's theme, "CEDAW ng Bayan: Yaman ng Kababaihan" hopes to empower more women to claim their rights with as much passion and vigor as the country's predecessors in women’s movement who struggled to fight for our rights.
The Philippine government recognizes the Filipino women who struggle to transform their lives, especially those from the marginalized sector who managed to rise above their conditions and contribute to local and national development
Supporting the achievement of poverty reduction and the specific goal of bringing about the economic development and empowerment of women, the NCRFW through the Gender-Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT Women) Project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) underscores the interplay between good governance and the creation of an enabling environment for the economic empowerment of women.
To highlight the Aim High Pinay Campaign activities, the NCRFW together with Department of Education, National Youth Commission, Department of Health, Commission on Higher Education, Girl Scouts of the Philippines (GSP) and Bridges@Com, is organizing the 2008 Women's Day Celebration on March 8 at the PUP Gymnasium, Teresa Street, Sta. Mesa, Manila. More than 2,000 young participants are expected to attend the occasion.
The five-year initiative aims to encourage and improve women's microenterprises especially in the countryside which, over the long term, is expected to translate into better incomes and a better quality of life.
According to NCRFW Chairperson Myrna T. Yao, the government is creating a more gender-responsive enabling business environment for our women micro-entrepreneurs by bringing them closer to such services and facilities as skills training, microfinance, market linkaging, business development and management, social protection, and other forms of support.
Data from the NCRFW reveal that women dominate the informal sector and most of them are engaged in microenterprises.
Of the estimated 800,000 registered microenterprises in the country in 2004, 95 percent of these involve women. This is the group that the NCRFW is targeting to improve their economic and social conditions.
Chair Yao added that policies and programs are deemed gender-responsive when they incorporate or address concerns of both women and men to reduce inequalities between them.
"Gender-responsive policies and programs will mitigate the burdens of poverty on women, who usually bear these difficulties in a more intense way because they have to balance their domestic role with their income-generating economic endeavors - be they micro, small, or medium," she said.
"But all of these issues-poverty, unemployment, gender inequality can be eliminated by making every Filipino women financially independent. An economically empowered Filipina is one who enjoys equal opportunities," Chair Yao noted.
For comments and questions, please contact
Ms. Louie Alonso Belmonte
Information Officer, NCRFW
735-8509; 0916-4150871