Saturday, February 17, 2007 'Cultural biases still prevail vs women' By Grace L. Plata
MORE and more women are becoming the family's breadwinner, and yet they are still not regarded as key contributors to the economy, worse, they are considered as a liability to companies because they can get pregnant.
This was among the persistent cultural biases women face that was tackled by media practitioners gathered yesterday by Davao City Hall's Integrated Gender development Division (IGDD) at the Grand Men Seng Hotel with the intent of forming a technical working group for the advancement of women's issues and the promotion of gender-sensitivity in the city.
Irene Morada Santiago, chair and chief executive officer of the Mindanao Commission on Women, who was invited to shed light on these issues said that even as gender sensitivity training have been conducted for different sectors both in government and private organizations, people still simplify the issue of gender as the mere sexual difference between the male and female, which it is not.
"Sex is based on the biological or physical characteristics of a person while gender is his or her psychological and emotional make-up and sexual preference," she clarified.
This difficulty to differentiate sex and gender, she added, is but indicative of the lack of understanding on issues of gender sensitivity and the prevailing cultural biases that women suffer, especially in the workplace.
Indeed, more and more women are being employed these days, she said. But while there are employers who do prefer women workers for their track record of being more attentive to details, there are more who prefer women in the general belief that the women deserve smaller salaries than men in the wrong concept that women's income is but supplemental to that of their husbands, she added.
Especially among the blue-collar workers, while there is a job market for single women, once married, they become less preferred because employers only see their tendency to get pregnant, enjoy maternity leaves and pays as well, she said.
The forum was held in pursuant to Section 19 of the Women Development Code of Davao City, which states that a local monitoring board for movie, print, broadcast and multi-media shall be set-up to classify, censure, prohibit and regulate exhibition of materials degrading women.
Aside from the media, these types of fora are held for each of city's 11 political districts as well as for the academe, the judiciary, the indigenous people, health institutions, business sector and the police.
This is to provide venue and enable each sector to formulate viable recommendations on how to address women's issues as well as to develop a gender and development support system within.
The local IGDD also aims to consolidate Barangay Councils for Women in the 11 political districts towards crafting a unified women's political agenda.
Sectoral and district recommendations will be presented at the 8th Women Summit on March 5, 2007.
