The Philippines’ ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap 2024 report dropped nine places, placing 25th out of 146 economies in terms of gender parity, down from 16th spot last year.
Although it remains among the leading countries in Eastern Asia and the Pacific region, the steady decline of gender equality in the country is disappointing, especially considering the gains we had accomplished, which are turning out to be unsustainable.
The WEF said the years during which the government was led by Corazon Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo continue to elevate the country’s political parity score despite the lower levels of parity in ministerial roles and lack of progress on parliamentary seats. Unless there are more opportunities available for women in those roles, we could be seeing a further decline in succeeding years.
The WEF report ranks economies based on the progress in closing the gender gap across the following dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, as well as political empowerment.
In terms of economic participation and opportunity, the Philippines’ ranking slid to 20th from 17th last year, as it saw a reduction in the share of women legislators, senior officials and managers, as well as a drop in perceived wage equality for similar work.
In educational attainment, the country ranked 32nd this year. In the health and survival dimension, our 86th rank is the same as last year’s. Political empowerment fell from 30th last year to 34th.
It would seem that the Philippines, after having broken into the Global Gender Gap index top 10 around a decade ago, becoming the highest ranked Asian country then, has been unable to sustain its gains when it comes to closing the gender gap, and the steady decline of the past years seems to indicate that those years where it seemed we were actually trailblazing and making progress were just a fluke.
The measurable progress that we were able to achieve then, which was compared with other countries, indicates what our society is capable of when it comes to gender equality, perhaps if and when everything somehow comes together. The fact that we were able to achieve it before means it is a potentially low hanging fruit that our leaders could decide to cultivate and reap once again, granted that gender equality is indeed a priority.
Is it an aspiration for our government and the leaders we have put in place? Or was the gender equality ranking that we were able to become a leader in just another happy accident that we are now unable to replicate?*
