Report - Social Watch Philippines

Table 5. Distribution of Government Personnel in Career Service Positions
As of March 2007* As of March 2010*
Women Men Women Men
Total number of personnel in career 722,401 543,767 583,045 531,040
First level (%) 21.1 38.7 26.1 36.4
Second level (%) 78.1 59.4 72.3 60.4
Third level (%) 0.4 1.1 0.9 1.5
Non-executive career (%) 0.4 0.8 0.7 1.6
Source: Reference period/source: 2004 and 2008 Civil Service Commission, NSCB Fact Sheets, March 2007 and March 2010 respectively.
more than 70 percent of employees in the second level
(professional, technical and scientifi c positions doing
both supervisory and non-supervisory work). As of the
2008 Civil Service Commission (CSC) data, women in
career executive positions (third level) numbered just
over 5,000 or 0.9 percent as compared to 1.5 percent
for men or almost 8,000. There were even fewer women
in the past, when they totaled only 2,889 (0.4 percent)
as against close to 6,000 men (1.1 percent).
The same patterns hold for the judiciary where
women are in the minority at 20 percent of total positions
in this governmental branch. The participation
of women in the judiciary barely increased from 20
percent of the total incumbent judges in the fi rst and
second level courts, including Shari’a courts (2001);
to 24 percent in 2002; 25 percent in 2003; and 26
percent in 2004. The Philippine Commission on
Women itself described women’s presence in the
judicial system as “dismal”. The same can be said of
the Supreme Court. There were 3 women out of 15
justices in 2001; 4 out of 15 in 2002; 4 out of 14 in
2003; 5 out of 15 in 2004; and 5 out of 15 in 2007 13
(see Figures 1 and 2).
Women’s economic empowerment: lagging behind
Gains in gender parity in education are diffi cult to
make sense of when weighed against stubborn conditions
of gender inequality that hold back women’s empowerment.
We do not discount the fact that socio-cultural factors
also impede women’s empowerment, but it is often
the case that where women are enabled economically,
they also advance in empowerment and autonomy.
In this area of women’s economic participation,
signifi cant gaps endure, affecting other gender parity
58 SOCIAL WATCH PHILIPPINES
Figure 1: Women Judges in the 1st, 2nd Level
Courts including Sharia Courts (percent)
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
80.4
3
19.6
76.4
23.6
74.3 73.6
25.3
2001 2002 2003 2004
12
11
4 4
Men Women
5 5
26.4
Figure 2: Women Justices in the Supreme Court
(in tens)
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
10 10 10
2001 2002 2003 2004 2007
Women Men
Source for both fi gures: Philippine Commission on Women, “Statistics on
Filipino Women in Politics and Governance”
13 Philippine Commission of Women, “Statistics on Filipino Women Participation in Politics and Governance,” http://www.ncrfw.gov.ph/index.php/statistics-on-fi
lipino-women/14-factsheets-on-fi lipino-women/72-statistics-fs-fi lipino-women-politics-governance (accessed
June 3, 2010).