As
the country observes Women’s Month this
March, state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies released
two timely policy notes on women entrepreneurs as outputs of the APEC 2015
Research Project commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs. The author
and PIDS consultant, Lucita Lazo, explores the different obstacles women
entrepreneurs face in the Philippines. Her policy notes outline challenges and
opportunities for policymakers to help women entrepreneurs scale up their
business ventures in the backdrop of the ASEAN integration and freer
trade.
Even with the Philippines
coming ahead in international gender indices and local literacy rate surveys,
affirming that Filipino women outperform Filipino men, experts say that
translating these capabilities into business and leadership opportunities is
still a work in progress.
There are more educated
Filipino women, yet men’s employment still exceeds women’s significantly. The
Philippines boasts of having the highest ratio of female-to-male business
leaders, yet experts believe that opportunities for women continue to be held
back by oppressive conditions, and most of all, by persistent economic
inequality.
Challenges
In the first policy note, “Challenges in the economic
participation of women as entrepreneurs”, Ms. Lazo cites a survey by the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2009 showing that women make up 54
percent of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which are known to be the
foremost economic vehicle for generating employment. She also cites the Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor Survey in 2006-2007 ranking the Philippines second
highest for having entrepreneurially active women.
Ms. Lazo warns that the
growth of these positive recognitions are hindered by several factors, namely,
access to resources; the sustainability of their businesses; lack of a business
discipline, preparation and readiness for changing economic outlooks; lack of
women representatives on decision making levels; lack of access to health and
socio-legal protection; and a simple lack of information for a nuanced
understanding on the part of leaders and policymakers.
Despite all the government
projects targeted to provide information, service facilities, technology, and
innovation to women in SMEs and microenterprises, access is weakened by a
network of problems.
Women are most vulnerable to
cultural and economic hindrances that often force them to choose their families
over their businesses. Their independent access to finance is restricted
without their husband’s consent, as indicated by the Family Code. More women
register businesses, according to the DTI citation, but more men renew
licenses. Women’s decision are affected the most by health risks, economic
instabilities and catastrophes, making them altogether less able to sustain their
businesses.
The lack of organization and
representation of women entrepreneurs and bureaucratic firewalls only
exacerbate the situation.
Recommendations
Ms. Lazo presents her policy recommendations for both the
national and regional level in a follow-up policy note titled “Promoting
women’s participation in the APEC economies: some recommendations”. She
argues that merit often predominates all other judgment, and purveyors don a
“blind” attitude toward gender issues.
“Where agency heads perceive
gender as inconsequential or unrelated to their respective agency mandates, the
talk of gender will not walk far enough to reach the frontlines where it
matters,” says Lazo. “If policymakers see the link between gender and national
productivity and wealth creation, the case for gender will become a more
attractive position.”
Ms. Lazo identified three
goals for policymaking at the national level: empowerment, enhancing
competitiveness, and ensuring sustainability and resilience.
Leaders can empower women
entrepreneurs by eliminating barriers to accessing resources, skills,
protection, and other opportunities that allow women to build up the readiness,
sustainability, and competitiveness of their businesses. Local leaders play an
important role if they can provide services such as financial services,
counseling, and strengthening linkages through trade fairs and training
seminars.
Getting women entrepreneurs
organized is essential, not only to help them share the wisdom and knowledge of
doing business with other women in their category, but also making it easier to
inform each other of the opportunities and challenges affecting them. Lazo
specifically recommends incentivizing business registration with access to “the
supply chain of government procurement programs”.
It is also worth globalizing
women’s business outlook, by making them aware of the economic and geopolitical
environment in which they operate. Standardizing the quality of their output
through information campaigns and service provisions will enable women to make
their goods more competitive in the national and international
market.
On the matter of enhancing
competitiveness, leaders must also tap information and communication
technologies as part of a comprehensive capacity development. Lazo also
highlights the need to inculcate business discipline, ingenuity, and creativity
in women entrepreneurs—values essential to remain competitive.
Last but not least, national
policymakers have to create social safety nets, such as improving access to
credit and healthcare, to encourage women to sustain their business ventures
and withstand threats of instability and catastrophes.
At the regional level, the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has set programs in place, such as the
APEC Women in Transportation, which aims to identify barriers to women’s entry
in the transportation industry and focuses on “key areas of the career
continuum”, namely, education, access to job opportunities, and leadership
development. On top of these initiatives, Lazo recommends that the regional
business sector be continuously educated, to remind it that the region’s
business climate relies on women’s increased access to productivity.
Ms. Lazo encourages an
informed and dynamic dialogue and research, especially with regard to
monitoring the effect of APEC free trade on women entrepreneurs. The effects
will be different between men and women in the different levels and sectors of
society, but women are always most likely to be negatively affected given their
traditional roles in ASEAN and Filipino societies.
In summary, the author
concludes that the economic contributions of Filipino women are not being
harnessed to the fullest because of cultural and economic setbacks.
The rate of women who leave
the country seeking better jobs for their family offsets the notion that the
Philippines is a progressively equal opportunities country. Women often take on
the lowest paying jobs with the lowest security, not just in terms of
employment continuity but also in terms of health and wellbeing. (PIDS)
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