The Philippine Constitution upholds the fundamental equality before the law of women and men and recognizes the vital role of women in nation-building. In recent years, the Philippines’ legal framework and policy priorities have further advanced gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The status of women in the Philippines has notably improved and the country has demonstrated significant progress in closing key gender gaps. In 2018, the Philippines ranked 8 out of 149 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report 2018, which situated the country in the top 10 performing countries.

Despite declining in the Global Gender Gap Report 2022 ranking compared to previous years, the Philippines registers one of the highest levels of gender parity in the region. According to the report, the Philippines ranks 19 out of 146 countries. While the country has improved upon its first gender parity score by 4.2 percentage points, the country records a gender gap of 21.7 per cent in 2022, similar to 2021. No significant changes, positive or negative, occurred in health and survival or political empowerment gender gaps. However, the share of women participating in the workforce is still 24.5 percentage points lower than the share of men.

The gender gap in the labour force continue to persist. A large proportion of women are held back from employment opportunities because of their family responsibilities and women’s participation in high-skill positions declines considerably when they have young children. Progress towards closing the labour force participation gap has been minimal and female labour force participation has remained roughly the same since 1990 (World Bank, 2021).

Last updated September 2022