PH ‘making ripples’ in gender works: PCW

“In my 18 years in PCW and three decades of GAD work, I can say that we have indeed created ripples, not just in the Philippine but also in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia Pacific, we are recognized,”Emmeline Verzosa, executive director of the PCW said. (File photo: Emmeline L Verzosa/Facebook)

MANILA— The Philippines has made ripples in gender works for over a decade and since the Magna Carta of Women was passed nine years ago, a Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) official said Tuesday.

Citing the 2017 Global Gender Gap Index, Emmeline Verzosa, executive director of the PCW, said the Philippines tops in Asia in terms of gender equality.

“In my 18 years in PCW and three decades of GAD work, I can say that we have indeed created ripples, not just in the Philippine but also in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Asia Pacific, we are recognized,” she said in a speech.

In a separate interview, she told the Philippine News Agency that the ASEAN, in a way, had been looking up to the Philippines in terms of gender mainstreaming.

“It seemed they are looking up at us with the tools we have, for example the gender analysis tools and the frameworks we have in place,” she said.

To recall, the Philippines, through the PCW, organized the “Senior Officials Conference on Gender Mainstreaming in the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) Sectoral Bodies” in June 2018.

The conference was able to produce a gender mainstreaming action plan crafted by senior officials from 12 sectoral bodies of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC).

The initiative is among the series of conferences to be held in Manila, the other two for the bloc’s remaining pillars: the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC), and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

At domestic level, Verzosa listed accomplishments in the implementation of the Magna Carta of Women. Among them is that out of 42,000 barangays in the country, 90 percent now have violence against women desk in place as of June 2018.

Nine years since the passage, Verzosa said the PCW remains committed in making the Magna Carta of Women tangible to its main beneficiaries.

“We’ll continue to push forward the priorities for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. We hope that next years, we’ll see results,” she said.

“Outcomes and results are what we expect to see next year, if the women’s lives have improved, if the men have been more respectful towards them, etc.,” she added.

At the reception, the PCW also launched a gender mainstreaming tool called the “GADtimpala” for national government agencies, a reward system to offices that implement Gender and Development policies efficiently.