March is observed as National Women’s Month in the Philippines, but the realities faced by women across sectors show that inequality remains deeply embedded in our economic and social structures. Women farmers, fisherfolk, Indigenous leaders, migrant workers, and those in urban poor communities contribute significantly to their families and communities, yet their labor is often undervalued, informalized, or rendered invisible. In agriculture alone, women make up about a quarter of the workforce, but they continue to earn lower wages and face barriers to accessing productive resources such as land, credit, and agricultural support services.
Across sectors, structural barriers limit women’s access to economic security and decision-making power. Land and resource ownership remains concentrated among men; historically only a small proportion of agrarian reform land titles have been awarded to women despite their substantial role in farming and food production. Women workers are also concentrated in lower-paid and precarious forms of labor, including domestic work, care work, and informal employment, contributing to persistent gender wage gaps.
These conditions persist not because women lack capability or participation, but because inequality is embedded in a social order shaped by patriarchal norms and economic systems that continue to concentrate power, land, and wealth in the hands of a few. Recognizing these realities means confronting the structures that sustain them and advancing the collective struggle for genuine equality, and social justice for women across all sectors.
