MANILA, June 3 (PNA) — The Philippines gears to further strengthen women’s participation in the country’s economy through the Gender Responsive Economic Actions for the Transformation of Women (GREAT Women) program.
In a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) statement Tuesday, Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado said during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation-Women and the Economy Forum (APEC-WEF) in Beijing, China that the country is now on the second phase of GREAT Women program which aims to enhance the participation of women in developing the country’s economy.
GREAT Women program is a governance and capacity development program “to create an environment for a more gender-responsive governance and enterprise value chain support platforms.”
The Philippines received financial and technical assistance from Canadian government through the Canadian International Development Agency for the program.
“While the Philippines had fully closed the gender gaps in the education and health categories, we still have room to improve in the areas of economic and political empowerment. Thus, our plan is to continue with our GREAT Women Program,” said Terrado.
In the latest World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, the country ranked 5th among 136 countries which means the country excels in terms of economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
“We recognize the need to take relevant actions in the areas of innovation, ICT (information and communications technology), women leadership, green growth, health and education because these are crucial to the effective participation of women in economic development and in sustaining inclusive growth,” Terrado added.
She also mentioned that the government will further support initiatives to help women entrepreneurs be adaptive to climate change and be resilient from natural disasters.
Among these programs of the government that supports women entrepreneurship are: (a) DTI’s shared service facility program which hastens competitiveness of women small and medium enterprises; (b) Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Kabuhayan Program; and (c) Technical Education and Skills Development Authority’s (TESDA) training programs and business management training for women who run convenience stores at home.
The DTI Undersecretary further stressed that women are key drivers of economic growth.
“The greater inclusion of Women in many economic activities is beneficial to the prosperity of the region and the well-being of future generations,” DTI reiterated. (PNA)