Article by: Jhanavi Ravi
Visual by: Erica Nido
One of the towering problems in the world is educational inequity, and a key cause of it is gender inequality. Culturally, women in Asia are expected to become housewives and mothers at a very young age, which leads to disproportionate gender balances in schools.
The Philippines is ranked as the 16th most gender-equal country in the world in the Global Gender Gap Report 2020. Because the Philippines has a greater gender balance in schools, gender equality is more prevalent. However, that is not to insinuate gender inequality in education does not exist in the Philippines, but merely that it exists to a lesser degree. A gender imbalance in school enrollment means less students are given a proper education, and therefore less students are well equipped to get stable jobs, leaving a wide gender inequity in higher education.
The minimum age of employment in the Philippines is 15 years old. Like most countries in Asia, the Philippines is a LEDC, meaning that people who come from poor families cannot turn down any employment offers because they would have no other way to earn money. Because of this, it is more likely for boys to drop out of secondary education to earn wages. This is why there are more girls enrolled in education than boys. They may also be discouraged from pursuing a higher education because of the pressure to enter the workforce at such a young age. Moreover, women are more likely to be engaged in low-wage work at 17.7% than men are at 11.8%.
In addition to that, in the Philippines, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields are dominated by men. There are strongly impactful gender differences within tertiary education across the board. Females are underrepresented in law, information technology, engineering, agriculture, and architecture. 76% of the computer information technology workforce is male, while over 70% of Engineering and IT jobs are dominated by men.
Jessica Dator-Bercilla, a member of Social Watch Philippines-Visayas, wrote, “The data from the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education suggests that … more females are able to complete secondary school as compared to their male counterparts”. Despite this, more men end up participating in the workforce. This might be because the Philippine’s 2012 Reproductive Health Care Law prohibits the use of birth control and contraception without parental consent. This along with the age of consent in the Philippines - which is 12 years old - result in an increase in teenage pregnancies. Teenage mothers are mostly denied access to education, which is why they are unable to complete their basic education and tertiary education. This makes it improbable that a teenage mother would be able to do skilled labor. Although girls as a whole outnumber boys in primary and secondary education in the Philippines.
When a country has tremendous gender inequity in education, the economic potential of the respective country is reduced. A thesis by Kevin Sheehan from the University of Connecticut claimed that if there was inequality in school, there would also be inequality in society. Meaning gender inequality in education would be responsible for fewer opportunities for students later in life, subsequently decreasing motivation to perform well in school and therefore academic achievement.
Gender inequality in education is a barrier that governments around the world have struggled to overcome for centuries. Society has created boundaries, which limit people - historically women- from reaching their true potentials. The only economically, and socially responsible path forward is to make wide-scale systemic and/or local change.
Works Cited:
Bercilla, Jessica Dator. “Facing the Continuing Challenge of Gender Inequality and Inequity.” Social Watch Philippines, Social Watch Philippines, www.socialwatch.org/sites/default/files/pdf/en/09_missingtargets.pdf.
“Gender Equality in the Labor Market in the Philippines.” Asian Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, 2013, www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/31194/gender-equality-labor-market-philippines.pdf.
Sheehan, Kevin. “UCONN Library.” UCONN Library, UCONN Library, 5 June 2012, https://opencommons.uconn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1251&context=srhonors_theses.
“Teen Pregnancy Rates in the Asia Pacific Are Rising.” Plan International Australia, Plan International Australia, www.plan.org.au/media/media-releases/teen-pregnancy-rates-in-the-asia-pacific-are-rising.
“Women at Work Trends.” International Labor Organization, International Labor Office, 2016, www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_457317.pdf.
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