Closing the gender gap (how the Pinoy machos are becoming domesticated!)

For the second time, the World Economic Forum has ranked the Philippines number 6 in its 2007 Gender Gap Index, an indication that the country is one the most “women-friendly” countries in the world. Other countries in the top ten are Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, New Zealand, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, and Spain.

In a related development, Dr. Romulo Virola says the Pinoy machos are getting domesticated.

The Global Gender Gap Report 2007 measures the size of the gender gap in four critical areas of inequality between men and women:

Economic participation and opportunity – outcomes on salaries,
participation levels and access to high-skilled employment;

Educational attainment – outcomes on access to basic and higher level
education;

Political empowerment – outcomes on representation in decision-making
structures;

Health and survival – outcomes on life expectancy and sex ratio.

According to the Report, the Philippines ranked second in the subindex on economic participation and opportunity for women and 14th in political empowerment. The country also ranked first in educational attainment along with Australia, Belgium, Belize, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, France, the Honduras, Ireland, Jamaica, Lesotho, Luxembourg, the Maldives, Poland and the United Kingdom.

The Philippines also shares first place in health and survival with Angola, Argentina, Austria, Belize, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, the Gambia, Guatemala, the Honduras, the Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Panama, Paraguay, the Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yemen.

In Asia, the WEF said the Philippines and Sri Lanka, which is at 15th place, remain the only countries included in the top 20.

“The Philippines is, once again, the only country in Asia to have closed the gender gap on both education and health and is one of only six in the world to have done so,” said the WEF. “The Philippines’s scores on political empowerment improved further, as did some of its economic indicators, such as estimated income, labor-force participation and income equality for similar work.”

I'll reflect on this tomorrow.