Women Working Together and Why it Matters

I read somewhere that when women support each other, incredible things happen. And I totally relate with this because women—even amazingly powerful women—get so much more guts to raise their hands to try untested propositions when they know they’ve got a tribe of other successful women who have their back.

The Philippine Women’s Economic Network (PhilWEN) recognizes the immense power of harnessing the strengths of women economic organizations under one umbrella. As a coalition of women’s business groups in the Philippines, PhilWEN seeks to amplify the magic of women collaborating with each other to realize its shared advocacy of gender equality, diversity, and inclusion. As a network of women seeking economic empowerment for women in the workplace and in the community, PhilWEN aims to be the catalyst for its member organizations to access funding, training and upskilling, and representation in international fora to become an influential voice of Filipino women.

Today, PhilWEN has five member organizations with a common interest to positively influence the local business landscape to be a safe, inclusive, and equitable place where women can succeed. Individually, each member organization is founded on specific women-oriented economic spheres: women in the marketplace (start-ups, micro, small, medium, and large enterprises), women in the workplace (senior leaders, CEOs, and board directors) across various industries, as well as women in communities (marginalized women in urban and rural communities).

Business and Professional Women BGC welcomes women leaders in the small and medium-sized professional and business enterprises to reach their full professional and leadership potential through networking, skills-building workshops, and seminars.

Filipina CEO Circle (FCC) represents Filipina CEOs who rose from the ranks to become senior corporate leaders in professional services, investments, fashion, infrastructure, technology, health care, and manufacturing. FCC inspires its members through activities designed to fuel their professional growth, passion, and success.Network for Enterprising Women (NEW) provides a platform for aspiring women entrepreneurs to anchor their business growth through right business ethics, networking, and business workshops. It recently partnered with Miriam College to mentor students who aspire to become entrepreneurs through consultations, immersions, and learning sessions with NEW members.

NextGen Organization of Women Corporate Directors (NOWCD) is composed of women board directors advocating for good governance and gender diversity in boards of publicly listed companies and nonprofits. Its mission is to leverage strategic partnerships to increase the number of Filipino women sitting in Philippine board rooms.

SPARK! Philippines focuses on creating equal opportunities for women, especially those who are financially challenged, to boost the country’s economic growth and development. SPARK! recently partnered with the United States Embassy and the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs for training and mentorship for 350 Filipino women.

At PhilWEN, we believe our journey toward achieving our shared advocacy for women economic empowerment needs a united front. Collaborative partnerships to amplify our voice, transparent communication in safe and inclusive environments, and trust are the cornerstones to accelerating women’s economic empowerment in our country.

A perfect regional example. In 2017, we influenced and inspired our sisters from the Asean Women Entrepreneurs’ Network (AWEN) to do the same—create coalitions than work separately on the same advocacies. Thus, AWEN Thailand was formed, Cambodian Women Entrepreneurs Network in Cambodia, AWEN Malaysia, Singapore Women Entrepreneurs Network for Singapore, and the rest will soon follow suit. A coalition of women economic organizations is the best example of working together. After we showed the Philippines’ example, no other way can you show inclusivity among strong women leaders working on empowering the least, the last, and the smallest.

With over 200 members in PhilWEN, we cross ages, skills, years of experience, and a diversity no single organization may achieve. And a bigger reach is achieved with a wider net cast across different demographics. We are grateful to our PhilWEN partners who help us build bridges so every Filipino woman can thrive and be successful. Because truly, when women support each other, magic can happen.

Gender Fair Education

With the recent opening of schools, I was reminded of a significant milestone that took place in September 2015, when 193 countries of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, including the Philippines, committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Among the 17 Global Goals are SDG 4: Quality Education and SDG 5: Gender Equality.

It has been eight years since the SDGs were adopted. The question to ask is are we even there yet?

With reference to the UN’s “The Sustainable Development Goals Report: 2023 Special Edition” which presented a candid assessment of the global progress on SDGs, an estimated 84 million children and young people will still be out of school by 2030 and it will take 140 years for women to be represented in leadership positions. UN cited the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine as the major causes that reversed the decades of progress we have so far achieved. Given this, the world is falling far behind in achieving quality education and is not on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.

GENDER BIAS IN FAMILIES
The family, as a primary agent of socialization, is the foundation of values, behaviors, and social development. As a matter of fact, in Filipino culture, the family ranks in the top list of our life priorities. Inadvertently, gender and social norms, such as women being the default caregivers and men as the main financial providers of the family, are being perpetuated at home.

Oxfam’s report entitled “Understanding Norms Around the Gendered Division of Labour” reveals that the concepts of obligation or responsibility and the idea that each household member fulfills a prescribed role contributes to family harmony and unity. As traditional values still dominate our society, families inevitably conform to these expectations and socially accepted norms based on gender to avoid conflicts.

Furthermore, the language and social cues used within families perpetuate gender bias. In the same report, women who did not fulfill care responsibilities were generally perceived in a negative manner, often described as “lazy,” “negligent,” and “untrustworthy.” Therefore, as the report noted, the notion of women not being involved in care responsibilities is unacceptable. In addition, the Women in the Philippine C-Suite Study of the Philippine Business Coalition for Women Empowerment (PBCWE) and the Makati Business Club (MBC) found that, “timing is apparently crucial for women, especially when we recognize that aside from work, they also need to anticipate, plan, and prepare for their child-bearing and child-rearing years or when prioritizing having a family.” Overall, the mindsets and perceptions that children learn at home are carried over in school, and eventually when they pursue their chosen professional careers.

FORMAL EDUCATION
Schools are extensions of a child’s “home,” and therefore, play an important role in eliminating gendered expectations by fostering safe and inclusive learning environments. Materials, such as textbooks and visual aids, are fundamental to learning (and unlearning) gender stereotypes. One of the prevailing examples of stereotypes is the belief that boys are “naturally” gifted in learning technical skills in math and science, while girls are good at livelihood education and literature. This example only further exacerbates the notion that gender is a major determinant of what professions children should pursue, which should not be the case.

Notwithstanding that gender bias still exists, we are seeing gradual changes albeit at a slow pace. Using data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Department of Science and Technology — Science Education Institute (DoST-SEI) reported that there was a 148% increase, from 179,000 in 1990 to 445,000 in 2015, in Filipino women pursuing careers related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Females occupy nearly half of the country’s total science and technology workforce, prominently in the health industry, while women in engineering, architecture, and ICT-related fields remain to be under-represented. The under-representation can be attributed to the long-standing metaphor called the “leaky pipeline,” which refers to the decrease in number of female employees as they progress in their careers due to many factors, such as discrimination, lack of role models, gender pay gap, and the outdated idea of job segregation. Insights from the recent Women in Engineering Baseline Study, spearheaded by the Council of Engineering Consultants of the Philippines-Young Professionals Forum (CECOPHIL-YPF), further uncover that while it is believed that opportunities for men are similarly offered to women, factors that are unique to women must be considered — one of the main reasons why there is a need to conduct gender sensitivity trainings in the workplace.

SOLVING PROBLEMS TOGETHER
Education starts at home and therefore, unlearning gender biases must start within families. When people are limited to conforming to obsolete beliefs, it hurts everyone. In a similar manner, academic institutions must hold gender sensitivity training among teachers and learners. In addition, an extensive review of the current curricula must be initiated to ensure that gender bias and harmful norms are removed from learning materials, and one is free to pursue a professional career, regardless of gender. Without a doubt, rendering a more gender-fair environment at home is conducive to achieving success in school and in the workplace.

The likelihood of achieving the global targets outlined in the SDGs is unlikely, but we are not saying that it is impossible. You may ask, what can we do immediately? I believe now is the right time to reverse mindsets and stand up for gender equality at home and in school. Let us start accepting the norm that men should have an active role in doing care work, and that it is normal for women to provide for the family. As they say, if not now, when?

I would like to end by sharing an African proverb, “If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation. When girls are educated, countries become stronger and more prosperous.”

(This article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP).)

Ma. Aurora “Boots” D. Geotina-Garcia is a member of the MAP Committee on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She is the founding chair and president of PHILWEN. She is also chair of the Governing Council of the PBCWE and president of Mageo Consulting, Inc., a corporate finance advisory services firm.

map@map.org.ph

magg@mageo.net

Hot Flat World

If you have read Thomas Friedman who started with a flat world (The World is Flat, 2005) then followed it up with the sequel on how we should green the world (Hot, Flat and Crowded, 2008), that was a good 15 years ago. And today, listening to Lopez Group chairman Federico “Piki” Lopez speak, we are in big trouble. Our world is hotter and only a conscious effort to rebuild, renew and regenerate our planet will save it from burning out.

We had Mr. Lopez at the annual membership meeting of the Nextgen Organization of Women Corporate Directors (NOWCD) and he talked about REGENERATION. “Sustainability alone is not enough,” he shared. The power of billions of people to bring this world to hotness can be the same power to regenerate it. The solution really sounds simple, if we all make the effort.

Who wants to live with floods and heat waves, forest fires and tsunamis? We definitely do not want to. And the way to do it is really to avoid the use of coal and start going electric. But electricity must also be from greener sources like solar, wind and hydropower if we are to enjoy its benefits. And first and foremost is to make businesses think about how to be green and still be profitable.

We are now in a good place to convert to renewable sources of energy. There is an array of electric vehicles and hybrid cars available, albeit still with a steep price. There also is the seemingly disposable electric tricycle, because its battery replacement cost is almost the same as the cost of a complete brand new unit.

As early as 15 years ago, we had a campaign called “Live Green” and we gave talks on the use of CFLs (now LEDs) instead of fluorescent lamps, the use of power strips which you could turn off rather than have all your appliances on the “wait” mode, consuming power even when not in use. We also started adopting the use of inverter appliances like air conditioners. Today, technology has inverter models of washing machines, power drills and other equipment. There is no reason not to change over to inverter and power-saving versions of household staples like air conditioners.

Today, making green choices is easier than ever. There are solar lamps and chargers for household lights, security lamps and solar versions of almost every appliance. Thanks to the lowering of prices of photovoltaic (PV) cells, we also now have a lot of solar farms, gathering electricity at lower costs than coal. These solar farms sell back the power to the grid, adding to our reduced dependence on fossil fuels as a country.

The other activity we all must do is to reforest, replant and regenerate our farms. Did you know that there is a law requiring every able-bodied Filipino 12 years and older to plant one tree a year? I had the most interesting conversation with a learned public servant who is a forester and a CENRO or Community Environment and Natural Resources Office head. He told me more about free seedlings the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is giving away. I was able to get a Narra seedling from the event I attended in Laguna. Apparently, DENR distributes these for free as they are replacement of trees coming from areas with tree cutting permits. For every tree cut, 50 seedlings replace the cut tree. For naturally growing trees, the replacement is 100 seedlings. All one has to do is to visit a DENR office and ask for a seedling.

Besides these free seedlings, we at the Coffee Board (www.philcoffeeboard.com) also have a program with GCash to plant coffee trees all over the country. So I asked my new consultant if they could help us source shade trees. Coffee seedlings need shade in their early stage. In Benguet they use native alnos or pine, and in Cavite they use madre de cacao.

It is really enriching to talk to foresters who mean well and who further added that he is recruiting young graduates who can continue work he has started to reforest our lands. Now that’s a good example of someone thinking of the next generation already, even before his retirement. His team was just as interested in the dispersal of seedlings and showed their love for their work…on a Saturday, too. It is rare to have government people work on weekends, but this group was in their uniforms, ready to help consumers like myself by answering many queries I had.

For example, why do we distribute mahogany seedlings when we know that its leaves are acidic to the soil and that they are not indigenous to our forests? They cleverly answered that distribution of mahogany is allowed IF it is for production and not for reforestation. Clearly, they do not recommend mahogany to be planted just anywhere but purely for production purposes (imagine a manufacturing plant for wood) as it is harmful to animals and for biodiversity in general. Now, that is an intelligent clarification I truly appreciated.

So for your community, family or company, you can partner with an organization like GCash and Coffee Board to plant your tree, anywhere in the country. You may also volunteer to dig holes, spend a day in the warm sun and get your Vitamin D. We will work with the CENRO, PENRO (Provincial Environment and Resource Office), the farmers’ groups to get your trees planted and maintained. With today’s available technology like drones, GPS and satellites or similar monitoring equipment, we can see these trees through their infancy to adulthood.

As Mr. Lopez shared, we have to now regenerate and reforest. Planting a tree (the correct species) is the simplest, best thing anyone can do. Imagine 100 million trees a year. Now that can make our country cool in no time. And reap other benefits of regeneration. A cooler world for all.

First appeared on Philstar by Chit U. Juan