Between the early 1980s and 1994, natural disasters struck various areas in rural Philippines, a crippling inflation gripped the economy in the mid-1980s, and a huge and ever increasing foreign debt hangs heavy on the shoulders of women, men, and children. Poor employment opportunities have driven more and more women and men to work overseas, with a number of the women ending up as exploited domestic helpers or prostitutes. Efforts of the Philippine government to attain a belated "NIC-hood" for the country have led to conflicts with peasant and environmentalist groups as the industrial estates or industrial corridors threaten not only the livelihood of local communities, but also the environment. However, not all the changes have dire effects or prospects. Democratic processes and institutions have been rebuilt, inflation is being slowly checked, peace has returned to many areas, and an agrarian reform program is in place.
Within this immediate national context, the following developments vis-a-vis women in agriculture or in rural Philippines have been noted:
· Although there are no legal constraints to women's involvement, membership in decision-making circles-be it politics, the rural-development agencies, or rural organizations-continue to be dominated by men, although women have made some inroads; even in homes, men tend to have greater say over a wider array of important matters than the women.
· Women's concerns have been promoted through lobbying Congress for the enactment of pro-women laws; drafting and adopting the Philippine Development Plan for Women; establishing focal points in different line agencies of the government; accreditation of women's groups in preparation for the election of the women's sectoral representatives to various legislative bodies; channelling more development resources to women; and fostering of a partnership between government and NGOs.
- But laws have yet to be enforced;
- Design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation guidelines and instruments have not been developed;
- Actual implementation has not been monitored; and,
- Substantial returns to women's projects have not been ensured.
· Deepening poverty in the countryside has been pushing people and households to move into cities, resulting in a greater decline of female-headed rural households.
· Gender-based earnings differentials persist because, while male and female workers are paid the same rate for the same work, women are generally hired for the lower-paying tasks.
· Landlessness tends to be lower among female-headed households than among male headed households.
· While malnutrition among young children seems to be on the decline, 14 percent of children age 6 years or younger in 1989/90 remained undernourished, with girls outnumbering boys by 2 to 1.
- But infant and child mortality rates are higher for boys than girls, and life expectancy is longer for females than males.
· Whereas major credit schemes for farmers or fishers may continue to be channelled to men, increasing portions of credit funds being disbursed by NGOs are directed to women.
- But loans to women generally remain small, often insufficient to increase the scale of their operations.
· Except in matters of home management, backyard gardens, and small-scale industries, agricultural or rural extension agents continue to work with and for men.
· Movement of male workers to cities or overseas has left an increasing number of women in charge of farms, although the absent males continue to be considered as the household head.
· Rural women and men have higher illiteracy rates than their urban peers, but more women than men overall tend to proceed to tertiary education.
Also during the past decade, initiatives to address sources of gender inequities and inequalities, and of discrimination against women were varied. These included:
· Development of focal points within rural-development departments and other line agencies;
· Systematization of efforts to incorporate gender concerns in the operations and policies of both government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs);
· Development of creative and sustainable credit schemes for women;
· Systematic involvement of women in the preparation of agricultural plans for their barangays;
· Conducting of political education and gender sensitization sessions with women and men;
· Provision of support systems for landless and peasant women; and,
· Encouraging scientists and engineers to orient their technologies for female as well as male users.
Support for projects, programs, and activities for women by government and NGOs has been promoted by several bilateral and multilateral agencies. More conscious earmarking of Official Development Assistance funds has been provided by the Women in Nation Building Act. However, the law's effectiveness is hindered by the following problems:
· Absence of systematic monitoring system by government on allocation and disbursement of ODA funds;
· Absence of guidelines to help government assess gender-responsiveness of projects and programs, and mechanisms for categorizing, recording, and reporting on ODA-funded projects, according to approach used to meet women's needs and concerns;
· Preparedness of foreign experts to assess projects in the Philippines; and,
· Absence of specific guidelines to operationalize certain provisions of the Act.
As part of the strategic plans for the advancement of rural women, a combination of strategies have been identified. These include:
· Providing employment alternatives and opportunities in the rural areas;
· Increasing the scale of funding for women's projects or enterprises;
· Training in new skills and technologies, including resource-enhancing technologies;
· Monitoring compliance to minimum wage laws;
· Arresting further resource depletion;
· Promoting crop diversification, and protecting food supply for rural families; and,
· Sensitizing rural development technicians to the technical needs of women, including the need for new technologies.
According to the women most involved in agriculture, the set of strategies outlined for rural women will define their future. The struggle for access to resources, the need for protection from exploitation, and the desire for the improvement of self, family and community reverberate in the plan of action for women in agriculture.
