In the security services sector, there are increasing numbers of women who study criminology, take the criminology licensure examinations, and work in private security services agencies. Still, the hiring situation can be improved for women if the college admission and employment screening standards are reviewed to check for biases against women simply because of their physical strength.
The Department of Labor and Employment – Bureau of Working Conditions should take a closer look at how gender biases in the security service sector can be minimized. Perhaps it may be necessary for Congress to pass legislation setting standards, processes, and goals on removing gender barriers in all professions and making all workplaces safe spaces for women, as well as for the LGBT.
To improve PNP recruitment of women from current levels, so there will be women police officers at all stations and precincts, the colleges and universities and the PNP academy should admit and graduate more women. There should be a roadmap with an action plan to make this happen.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines should also have a similar roadmap and action plan to actively recruit and retain more women at the Philippine Military Academy and among enlisted personnel.
To improve admissions access for both women and men, it may perhaps be time to establish campuses of the PMA and the PNPA in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The Philippine Coast Guard does not yet have its own academy. There are two PCG Academy bills in the Senate but none in the House. The future charter of the PCG Academy should be explicit on the recruitment and retention of women in their ranks.
Relatedly, Congress, the Department of Education, the Department of National Defense, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government may want to establish voluntary Senior High School Tracks for careers in the armed services and civilian public service, as an alternative to ROTC.