Gabriela has appreciated the news that women occupy managerial positions, but lamented  that female managers comprise only the minority of the working women.

“Good but not good enough,” Gabriela Secretary General Joms Salvador said in a statement.

Majority of women workers belong to the services sector and elementary occupations that consist of simple and routine tasks, they said.

These are also the jobs that offer contractual work and pay below minimum wage, Gabriela said.

The condition of the majority of women workers motivates Gabriela to join the fight against contractualization, which also put downward pressure on wages.

“We believe that advancing women economically through regular jobs and decent wages is the road to their empowerment,” said Salvador.

As it is, only 46.6 percent  of women are counted in the labor force and the neoliberal policy of labor flexibilization is implemented especially in companies where majority of workers are women like in export processing zones.

Salvador observes, “Labor policies favor the companies and are tilted against union organizing. Such regressive and ridiculous dogma to red-tag every union member and target union organizers are the goals of Joint Industrial Peace and Concern Office (JIPCO) in the Central Luzon economic zone. JIPCO is an additional grievous weapon of the state to violate workers’ rights.”

“As JIPCO aims to curb unionism, women workers will not take this repression sitting down. And Gabriela unites with the workers in asserting their democratic right to self-organization,” Salvador also said. /Stacy Ang