Women Empowerment and COVID-19: How Do Women in Fishing Communities Fare During a Pandemic?
Cherrylyn P. Labayo
Bicol University
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions on multiple fronts around the world. Governments' decisive actions to halt the spread of the virus have upended global development goals in all aspects of life, spanning different sectors and genders. Women, in particular, were disproportionately impacted by mobility restrictions caused by lockdown measures. In light of enormous shifts brought about by the pandemic and SDG 5, which calls for gender equality and women empowerment, this study analyzed women’s empowerment using the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) with a focus on the fisheries sector in the Bicol Region. The WEAI is composed of two subindexes: (1) the 5DE index and (2) the Gender Parity Index (GPI). In this study, only the 5DE was used to determine women’s empowerment within their households and communities across the five domains of empowerment in agriculture, namely: (1) production, (2) resources, (3) income, (4) leadership, and (5) time. Results from a sample of 133 respondents revealed that only 21% of the women in the study area were empowered. Those who were disempowered (79%) were found to have, on average, inadequate achievements in 41% of domains. The domains that contributed the most to women’s disempowerment were agricultural production (42%) and access to and control of productive resources (24%). Such indicators with high inadequacy suggest areas for intervention to increase empowerment. Governments can do this by supporting the meaningful engagements of women at the community level and extending gender-responsive social protection mechanisms to increase access and remove barriers to women's economic recovery and empowerment.
The Digital Divide among Women Slum Dwellers during the Pandemic
Violet B. Valdez
Ateneo Center for Asian Studies
Samantha P. Javier
Department of Communication​
Ateneo de Manila University
The study examined first, the digital divide in the situation of women dwellers in a slum area in the Manila metropolis in the Philippines at the time of the pandemic; and second, the ways in which the women appropriated information and communication technologies, especially the internet in everyday life during the pandemic. Data was gathered from in-depth interviews of ten women slum dwellers who were living in familial situations. Findings show that economic situation, familial and social relationships, and role and value conceptions shaped the women’s access to and use of the internet and its benefits and potential opportunities. Device opportunities were limited to smartphones and laptops. The need for their children to attend online classes was the compelling reason for the women to acquire and sustain physical and material access to the internet during the pandemic. Overall in the context of the pandemic the internet provided the women an important tool for coping and survival during the COVID-19 pandemic as it afforded them familial connectivity, a space to enact parental and other familial roles, to articulate their faith, enact their spirituality and values and to obtain support in their daily struggles.
#BreakTheBias: UNSDG and Socio-Theological Pandemic Response from a Gender Lens
Ma. Maricel S. Ibita
Department of Theology
Ateneo de Manila University
Ma. Marilou S. Ibita
De la Salle University
KU Leuven, NL
Urban poor communities are not just a problem in today’s world. They are part of the solution. We need to #BreakTheBias. This is theme of the 2022 International Women’s Day. It is vital as the COVID-19 pandemic caused a general decline in global human development. The April 2020 UN Policy Brief on the impact of Covid-19 on women already warned about its exacerbated impact in economics, health and gender-based violence. A multi-correlational response aimed at realizing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) is therefore needed in building back better. This presentation posits that a socio-theological approach employed in the international, multi-sectoral, and multidisciplinary project (sociology, law, journalism and theology) Urban Poor Women and Children with Academics for Reaching and Delivering on UNSDGs in the Philippines (UPWARD-UP), originally designed to help achieve a more life-giving, gender-inclusive realization and monitoring of the UNSDGs, will support more effective community responses to the unprecedented challenges that COVID-19 brought to the world in general and the Alliance of People’s Organization along the Manggahan Floodway (APOAMF) urban poor women community in particular. Here we combine the theological-pastoral spiral (see-judge-act, JC. Cardijn, 1920) of Basic Ecclesial Communities and the hiyang sociological approach (T. Obusan, 1994) as follows: sense (pakiramdaman, comprises the socio-economic issues that the APOAMF women face during the COVID-19 pandemic.), judge (kwento at kasulatan involves a socio-theological dialogue between the APOAMF reality and the Syrophoenician woman in Mk 7:24-30), and act (kilos-damay through the citizen journalism component of UPWARD-UP in monitoring APOAMF’s preferred UNSDGs). We also add evaluate (nilay-tasa, to assess the impact of UPWARD-UP on APOAMF) and celebrate-ritualize (diwang-ritwal, to integrate the experiences of the APOAMF community). This five-fold spiral transforms and integrates the process of creating ever new realities for the APOAMF and the other stakeholders of the UPWARD-UP project to truly #BreakTheBias.
The Grouper Culture in the Bicol Region, Philippines: Challenges and Opportunities
Emmanuel M. Preña
Bicol University Center for Policy Studies and Development
Cherrylyn P. Labayo
Bicol University Center for Policy Studies and Development
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The study focused on five grouper culture farm sites within the municipal waters of the towns of Del Gallego and Ragay, Camarines Sur, Philippines. The grouper (mainly Epinephelus coioides), is one of the most commercially important food fishes in the Bicol Region and an important resource for the daily life of fishers who rely on a variety of natural assets to make a living. These farm sites became the recipient sites of the Fisheries, Coastal Resources and Livelihood Project (FishCORAL), a poverty alleviation initiative of the Philippine Government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Understanding the level of achievement of the livelihood project is necessary to capture its important development changes as inputs for policy development and implementation. The study employed an array of methods: (i) review of secondary documents, (ii) semi-structured interviews with key informants, and (iii) focus group discussions with small-scale grouper farmers. Findings revealed that grouper farmers live in challenging socioeconomic conditions and were extremely vulnerable, particularly to natural shocks. The analysis of livelihood asset ownership confirmed a wide range of coping strategies to manage their basic needs and shocks. Although the project was relevant, its effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability were still uncertain due to uncontrolled shortcomings in the implementation. After the project's inception, the evaluation confirmed that its poverty reduction objectives could not be achieved within the short term of implementation. The evaluation also found a very high proportion of women grouper farmers who were disempowered. A capacity-building package for grouper farmers must be provided to make them more resilient even in the face of vulnerabilities and contingencies. A future evaluation is necessary to document the gains and lessons from the current project implementation for possible replication and modification of future related projects. Keywords: Livelihood assets, project evaluation, socioeconomics, women empowerment