Friday, March 29, 2013

East Visayas women occupy only 1/4 of electoral posts



The results of the last National and Local Elections conducted in May 2010 showed that women occupy only 25.4% or one-fourth of electoral positions in Eastern Visayas region.

The National Statistical Coordination Board in Region 8 said that men dominated all electoral positions at 74.6%, but largely the congressional, gubernatorial and vice-gubernatorial positions at 83.3%.

On the other hand, a considerable proportion vice mayors are women at 27.3%, mayors, 25.9% and board members, 23.2% of local legislative bodies.

According to NSCB, in the 2010 elections, only 21.4 percent of those elected to government positions in the country, were women.

In the Philippine Senate, in the outgoing 15th Congress, out of 24 senators only three are women.

The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of promoting gender equality and empowering women, which targets 50.0% of electoral positions to be held by women by 2015, is still far from being achieved.

However, although only a quarter of electoral seats are occupied by Eastern Visayas women, they are in equal footing with men in terms of exercising their rights to suffrage.

Based on the data of the Commission on Elections, voters’ turnout among women (80.8%) was slightly higher than among men (80.0%). Women posted higher voters’ turnout than their male counterpart in all provinces, except in Southern Leyte.

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