Equality

WITHOUT gender equality, without the skills of women, global society is functioning ‘with one eye covered.’” This is the message shared by Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist, during this year’s celebration of International Women’s Day
“Imagine trying to watch a beautiful movie with one eye covered. Imagine trying to get something done with one eye covered. Building peace, having development. It’s time for us to uncover the other eye, so that our world can function better. Gender equality all the way! Women’s empowerment all the way!” Gbowee said on Sunday, March 8, at Times Square in New York.
On Monday, March 9, the Commission on the Status of Women opened its 59th session at the United Nations (UN) Headquarters in New York where delegates delivered a keynote address relishing the twenty years that have passed since the 1995 landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
“As women thrive, so will humanity but if girls are held back, the whole world will feel the pain,” UN Secretary General Ban-ki moon said. He mentioned that women continue to suffer disproportionately from the economic crisis, from the impacts of climate change, from the displacement caused by conflict, persecution and so much else.
While the world celebrates the gains that have been made for gender equality in the last 20 years, the UN insists that more can be done. Women of the world are still subject to sexual violence and lag behind men in an array of critical aspects of life, like health, education, wages, property ownership and political participation. Challenges such as inequality, exploitation, fundamentalism in all religions and threats still need tackling.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Philippines is ninth among the world’s most gender equal countries in the world. The country has recorded improvements in participation and opportunity for women. It is 10th overall for political empowerment and is the only country in Asia and the Pacific to have fully closed the gender gap in both education and health.  While it remains the highest ranking country from Asia, the Philippines fell from last year’s 5th place among 142 countries.
Despite the country’s notable progress in empowerment, Sen. Pia Cayetano said Filipinos need to increase the voice of women in governance and policy making. Currently, there are six out of 24 members in the Senate, and 79 out of 289 members in the House of Representatives.
“At the local level, women’s representation is even lower. They occupy 22 percent of gubernatorial posts, 18 percent of vice-gubernatorial posts, 18 percent of provincial board seats, 21 percent of mayoralty posts, 20 percent of city councils, and 20 percent of municipal councils. On the average, only one in five elected local executives is a woman,” Cayetano pointed out.
Cayetano encourages more women to run for office in the upcoming national elections next year because she said “women bring a different perspective and approach to governance and can offer alternative solutions to the socioeconomic problems we face.”
Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) insists that economic growth in the country has yet to translate into inclusive growth for women, which means expanding employment opportunities and decent work outcomes for women to promote gender equality in labor markets.
“There has been little improvement in gender equality in the labor market, as measured by the share of women in waged employment in the nonagriculture sector. In the Philippines, the estimated proportion of women’s annual earnings to men’s annual earnings stands at less than 60 percent,” ADB noted.
For its part, the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) suggests that for the country must bridge gender disparities and shortfalls especially in areas with low development levels such as areas with high poverty level, and are hazard-prone and disaster affected.
For the world to truly enjoy the gender equality, the international community must continue exerting tremendous efforts to identify remaining difficulties threatening women’s development, not just for their advancement but for the better future of all. 
(AJPress)