PHILIPPINES-WOMEN: First Class Students Gain Second Class Jobs

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Tina Cielo

MANILA, Jun 7 1996 (IPS) - When Philippine university doors reopen for the new semester later this month, most of the students will be female. They also dominate the honour roll at graduation time and outnumber their male counterparts as student association leaders.

Yet, surveys show that Filipino women continue to earn less than their male counterparts who more often than not, land the senior company jobs.

Slightly more than 55 per cent of all university students in the Philippines are women.

“There may be more women in tertiary education, but it’s still easier for men to get better-paid employment,” notes Jenny Llaguno of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women.

This is supported by a recent study made by the Bureau of Women and Young Workers. Based on 1991 census figures, the study says men on average make at least 1,086 pesos (about 41 dollars) more per quarter than female workers.

That may be hard pill to swallow, particularly for students at city-based institutions like the Ateneo de Manila University, where almost 60 percent of those who made it to the Dean’s List in 1995-1996 were also female.

Similarly, at the nearby University of the Philippines (UP), women made up more than 54 per cent of the 1996 graduates. And of those who earned their degrees with honours, women outnumbered the men three times over.

Indeed, Filipino women have a higher literacy rate and educational attainment than those in most developing nations.

While two-thirds of adult illiterates worldwide are women — largely because they do not get the same education opportunities as men, Philippine literacy rates are just about equal when comparing men and women.

But such statistics do not seem to mean much in the Philippine workplace. Explains Llaguno: “The relationship between gender, educational attainment and employment is complex. The factors of nation, class, and culture need to be considered.”

To some extent, this is also the case at the education level for while females are the leading performers at city institutions, the same does not hold true in the provinces.

For example, at the Central Luzon State University (CLSU) north of the capital, male students play the dominant role in most spheres of activity.

“Because it’s more traditional in the province, women here are less aggressive than in the city,” acknowledges Mila Santos of the CLSU Office of Student Activities. A female student agrees: “If you’re too aggressive it’s looked at badly.”

The predominance of men in power positions is mirrored in the university’s administration with only five women among the 31 council members.

“Because rural and agricultural areas tend to be more of a hand- to mouth existence, the students here have to be more responsible to their families,” notes Academic Affairs Vice President Teresita Maquiso, who explains that the female students are under more pressure to help out at home.

Besides cultures and traditions, academics say another issue to take into account when examining the male-female performance at university and their subsequent job prospects, is the economic factor.

For example, Ateneo university is basically a “rich kids” institution and graduates — male or female — normally land good jobs.”Many of these students are from families who are in position to open doors for their children,” notes Ateneo Placement Director Chit Javier Concepcion.

Graduates who are more dependent on the decisions of personnel managers, meanwhile, are more vulnerable to prevalent cultural attitudes. This almost automatically means less access to high- paying and challenging jobs for women, who find themselves battling gender stereotypes.

Work for which women are requested by private firms are often those where they earn least, surveys show.

The Bureau of Women and Young Workers study says that in the work arena, women outnumber men only in the wholesale and retail trade and service industries, where the average wage ranges between 11,500 pesos to 12,200 pesos (440 to 480 dollars) per quarter.

“The (top) companies that come in to recruit sometimes do have preferences for males over females,” says Beatrice Cabrera, head of the Far Eastern University (FEU) Guidance Counseling Centre. “Women, for example, are wanted for clerks and executive secretaries, since they are (deemed) more patient than men.”

Cultural norms also sometimes result in male students seeking degrees in areas where they are assured of higher-paying jobs — and again this is particularly so in the provinces.

Records from CLSU alumni office show that of the 1993 veterinary medicine graduates, more than 75 percent were male, and all are now employed. In contrast, less than half of CLSU’s 1993 home economics graduates — all female — have jobs.

But even those female students who do decide to venture into the male dominated domain, face gender-biased obstacles when they begin the job.

Michelly Gose, a 1993 UP medical graduate now training in neurology at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), notes that women are allotted less residency slots in some fields of specialisation.

Of the five residents accepted annually for ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgery training, for example, there is only one opening — in rare instances two — for women. Out of the 60 residents for general surgery at PGH, only ten are women.

“Surgery is the toughest specialisation in terms of training,” says Gose, “and the general stereotype is that women become irritable under pressure.”

She further claims that male surgeons often say they would rather not work with their female counterparts. “It’s a vicious cycle, since these women surgeons are under more pressure, with additional pressure to prove themselves.”

But some students are optimistic. Ateneo’s April Lyn Cagape laughs with schoolmate Steve Te when told of existing gender disparities in the workplace. “It’s the bosses of the older generations that are the problems,” she says. “When they retire, it’s our turn.”