For women in many places, life is getting better.
Women and girls are getting better healthcare and education, and as a result are getting better jobs.
One thing I’ve noticed and love about the Philippines, though, is that more women here get practically the same opportunities as men do. In some cases, women here are treated more fairly than women in other, wealthier countries.
Out of 153 countries covered, only about 40 have achieved gender parity in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index for 2020.
In these places, women and girls have as much opportunity as men and boys do to get lifesaving care, gain an education, find jobs or start businesses, or win public office and pursue careers in public service.
The Philippines is number 16 on that list and number 2 in East Asia and the Pacific. Among Southeast Asian countries, it’s at the top of the list.
Australia is at number 44 on the global list (number 4 in the region), and the United States is at number 53.
If you didn’t know the Philippines well, those rankings might surprise you.
How can women in a developing country live better or fare better than women in larger, more powerful economies?
I think there’s something we can learn from the Philippines, and that’s rooted in the expanded support system that their families provide.
It’s not uncommon here for families to share a compound or to live close by, which means there’s always someone to lean on when you need someone you trust to watch your child.
Or when you need an older and wiser family member’s advice.
Josephine Santiago-Bond, the Filipina-American who heads the NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Advanced Engineering Development Branch, believes that a child “can grow to love science and engineering by simply being exposed to it.”
Encouragement from one’s family and institutions to pursue these careers—no matter how unconventional—goes a long way.
Think of all the Filipina girls who grew up dreaming of working in construction or engineering or medicine, possibly because someone in their family made the sacrifice of working abroad—as construction workers, engineers, nurses or doctors—so they could live better.
