Wanted: More Gender-Responsive LGUs

By OLIVE P. TIU
March 31, 2008

Critical to the goal of achieving a better quality of life for everyone in the community, is being able to address the specific needs of women and men.

This means that the Local Chief Executive and the local government officials must be gender-responsive, which unfortunately can not be said to be true to many local government units.

There is a need to remind the local chief executives that being Gender-Responsive means that it is important to be sensitive to gender in determining the needs and resources of the locality, in planning and carrying out programs, and in running the local government machinery itself.

Being Gender-Responsive also means ensuring that the human rights of constituents, especially women and children, are protected and promoted.

Being Gender Responsive means that the gender blindness that has hampered much of local development efforts in the past will be corrected, and that women and men constituents, led by the Local Chief Executives, will consequently be empowered to work together in elevating their community to the level of sustainable development they envision.

Gender Responsive development at the local level is basic to achieving the gender equality provided for in the Constitution, laws, and even in the Millennium Development Goal (2015-2020) wherein one of the eight goals identified is "to promote gender equality and empowerment of women," which affirms once more that women concerns are a priority agenda of the global community. The Local Chief Executives and the local government officials are the primary agents in making this happen.

Because of the resources at its command, the local government has the lead role in correcting inequalities and in establishing an environment where everyone is afforded the chance to become a productive member of the community.

Local Government Units are duty-bound to implement the law and to carry out their duties. The 1987 Constitution says that the State recognizes the role of women in nation building, and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men (Art.II, Sec. 14).

RA 7192 directs all government agencies to institute measures that would eliminate gender bias in government policies, programs and projects, and to ensure that women are given the means to participate fully in development and nation-building.

It also requires the allocation of a substantial portion of all Official Development Assistance to women and development projects starting with at least 5% in the first year of the implementation of the law, and gradually increasing in subsequent years.

RA 7160 or the Local Government Code also puts emphasis on the role of women in community development. It has a provision for women’s representation in local policy making in the provincial and municipal councils. To make this operational, the Department of Interior and Local Government with the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women and the Department of Budget and Management issued Joint Memorandum Circular No. 2001-01 giving guidelines on how the GAD approach can be incorporated into the local planning and budgeting system through the formulation of GAD plans.

Local Chief Executives are judged in their performance by how well they practice good governance which the Local Government Code defines as the process by which communities address their own needs, problems and priorities through more responsive and accountable local governments.