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Friday, January 23, 2004
Women better breadwinners than men: NSCB
By Christie Enriquez-Uayan
HOUSEHOLDS led by females posted an annual income of P86,703, higher than families headed by males, which registered P85,144, according to the 2003 statistics on women and men in the Philippines by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).
The NSCB was quick to add that women might contribute even more, considering that a high 52 percent of women working in the agricultural sector are unpaid, more than three times the figure for males.
"If women's unpaid work in subsistence agriculture, housework, and family care were fully counted in labor force statistics, their participation in the labor force may prove to be equal to or greater than men's," the NSCB observed in its 2003 report.
Most of the women are employed as laborers and unskilled workers in the wholesale and retail industry, the supporting data by the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed.
Most male breadwinners, on the other hand, are engaged in farming, forestry, and fishing.
Unemployment rate among women in the country is slightly lower than men, pegged at 10.5 percent and 10. 6 percent, respectively.
But only 50.9 percent of the 40.3 million women registered by the NSO as of 2003 are participating in the labor force, lower than the 80.6 percent of the 40.8 million men in the Philippines.
Girl power in business
Proving that they are not the "weaker sex", more and more women are also dipping their hands in the business sector, and in the process "becoming effective tools in economic development and poverty alleviation," revealed a report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Of the more than 700,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country recorded by NSO as of 1999, 48 percent were headed by women.
"Most of the best entrepreneurs in the country and perhaps in the world are women," Technical Education Skills and Development Authority (TESDA)- UNDP deputy project director Agripina Zafra said on Thursday.
She said women are actually becoming more assertive in their participation in all the aspects of the society, especially in the economy.
According to the report by Tesda-UNDP project consultant Mary Cecile Legaspi, women-led firms are mostly operated by women aged 40 years old and above, and those who have obtained a college degree.
Most of the businesses, especially micro and small enterprises are run solely by the viwes, and the husbands only enter into the picture when the business becomes successful or is embarking on expansion.
Majority of the establishments led by women are home-based and family-owned that usually start as single proprietorships.
But despite success attained by these women-led firms, problems still crop up according to Legaspi.
These include limited education and training, limited access to information, technology, credit and resources, lack of marketing contacts and networks, multiple responsibilities, among others.
(January 23, 2004 issue)
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