From a distance, there is not much to improve in the Philippines' gender landscape. The country is 8th in the global ranking of gender parity and the only one in Asia to be included in the top 10. But the picture on the ground reveals persistent gender gaps in education, employment, and wages. They can undermine the country's hard-won advances, long-term development aspirations, and international commitments if we continue to turn a blind eye on them.
This very first book on gender and development of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies articulates the salient challenges confronting men and women today. It features research studies on the apparent lag in the education of boys, the gender differences in educational mobility, the important roles of housework in the economy, the effects of nonmarket work such as housework on labor market participation, and the gender pay gap in agriculture. This volume will hopefully widen the public's understanding of these gender issues and stimulate our policymakers to reflect on the evidence and recommendations.
