Lino Gilbert K. Parone
Women Pay Dearly for Working
While women have achieved a higher level of competence in the traditionally male worlds of business and political governance, the price they pay is still stiff, a foreign study on Filipino women in the workplace said.
The study by Sylvia Chant and Cathy McIlwaine on the women of Boracay and Cebu provided a glimpse of the conditions of employment our local women are enduring.
"Quid pro quo sexual harassment" before and during employment is still prevalent. The "hostile environment" tops the list of violations against women in the workplace, the study pointed out.
Though not so much in foreign-owned factories of the Mactan Export Processing Zone (MEPZA), women in other manufacturing and service areas continue to suffer from varied degrees of exploitation and harassment.
Chant admitted that myths still have a firm hold of the consciousness of even young men and women workers.
"These myths may have to b dissected to highlight the facts in seexual harassment cases," the study recommended.
Fear of embarassment, retaliation, loss of jobs, anxiety, and lack of awareness constitute the common reasons women hesitate or refuse to report sexual harassment, said Lolit Villacastin of Legal Alternatives for Women Center (LAW Center) Inc.
For his part, Dr. Francisco Nemenzon, Chancellor of the University of the Philippines-Visayas considers Republic Act 7877 or the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law of 1995 and RA 3815 or the Rape Law of 1997 as "toothless" and calls for amendmens to some provisions.
He points out that even the implementing agency, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), has yet to fully grasp its roles in the implementation of these laws.
He laments particularly the less than subtle-ways that an offender can victimize. "These are not almost touched by those laws, or sometimes authorities say they can but don't know how to deal with it."
While the law dilly-dallies, the violations against women continue and lives are continually being destroyed," Nemenzo added.
Nancy, a teacher, insists that despite women's lack of traditional representation in institutions of the state and global governance, they have done remarkably well in acting on their own behalf. In the 1995 Chant survey funded by the London School of Economics, majority of the women workforce in Cebu (36 percent) were said to be employed in various industries, in factories or subcontracting firms. A minority (114-17 percent) is composed of teachers.
Factory owners favor women because of "their natural dexterity and the fact that they are normally more compliant and docile than men," the study said.
The statistics likewise showed there were more white-collar female workers than teachers in 1995 with the trend increasing to the former's favor.
Majority of home-based activities are still lorded over by women although a great number are leaving traditional roles at home to work in factories or offices.
Cebu, being considered an industrial, shipping and commercial center, is also an increasingly important destination for international tourism.
While some of Cebu's attraction for foreign tourists revolved around beach and sports facilities such as golf courses, it's "entertainment industry" has likewise been considered critical to the area's growing prominence as an international tourism destination.
A report by the Women's Resource Center of Cebu Research Collective showed that part of selling Cebu to foreign investors and tourists has ben through prostitution and trafficking of women.
Between 1987 and 1991, the number of amusement clubs. bars and coctail lounges rose from 47 to 135. Now, with the popular karaoke bars, the number has increased.
When sex workers of Olongapo and Angeles City were displaced due to the closure of Subic and Clark bases, some were reported to have stayed in Cebu.
Up to the present, female labor force participation in Metro Cebu as a whole has grown faster than that of men.
Studies have also shown that there is some relationship between female selective migration and the high demand for female workers in Cebu, particularly at the Mepz.
Eight out of 10 workers at the Mepz are women.
Meanwhile, the United Nations is expected to play a more aggressive and improtant role in empowering women through various international initiatives.
Today is International Women's Day.
The LAW Center, Inc. vows to confront the pressing problems of women in the Cebu communities.
Villacastin said they are currently servicing the women's legal needs of Barangay Apas, Camputhaw, Lorega-San Miguel, Mabolo, Cogon-Ramos, Capitol and Kasambagan.
Among their strategies is to build linkages with its barangay communities to draw out active citizens who will eventually be trained as local documentors.
Since 1986, they have received 18 complaints from women-victims of gender-related violated, two cases of child support successfully litigated in favor of clients, one rape case on appeal and another one submitted for decision.
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