Food Security and Productive Resources.
SEC. 20. Food Security and Productive Resources. — The State recognizes the contribution of women to food production and shall ensure its sustainability and sufficiency with the active participation of women. Towards this end, the State shall guarantee, at all times, the availability in the market of safe and health-giving food to satisfy the dietary needs of the population, giving particular attention to the specific needs of poor girl-children and marginalized women, especially pregnant and lactating mothers and their young children. To further address this, the State shall ensure:
Right to Food. — The State shall guarantee the availability of food in quantity and quality sufficient to satisfy the dietary needs of individuals, the physical and economic accessibility for everyone to adequate food that is culturally acceptable and free from unsafe substances and culturally accepted, and the accurate and substantial information to the availability of food, including the right to full, accurate, and truthful information about safe and health-giving foods add how to produce and have regular and easy access to them;
Right to Resources for Food Production. — The State shall guarantee women a vital role in food production, by giving priority to their rights to land, credit, and infrastructure support, technical training and technological and marketing assistance. The State shall promote women-friendly technology as a high priority activity in agriculture and shall promote the right to adequate food by proactively engaging in activities intended to strengthen access to, utilization of, and receipt of accurate and substantial information on resources and means to ensure women's livelihood, including food security:
Equal status shall be given to women and men, whether married or not, in the titling of the land and issuance of stewardship contracts and patents;
Equal treatment shall be given to women and men beneficiaries of the agrarian reform program, wherein the vested right of a woman agrarian reform beneficiary is defined by a woman's relationship to tillage, i.e., her direct and indirect contribution to the, development of the land;
Customary rights of women to the land, including access to and control of the fruits and benefits, shall be recognized in circumstances where private ownership is not possible, such as ancestral domain claims;
Information and assistance in claiming rights to the land shall be made available to women at all times;
Equal rights to women to the enjoyment, use, and management of land, water, and other natural resources within their communities or ancestral domains;
Equal access to the use and management of fisheries and aquatic resources, and all the rights and benefits accruing to stakeholders in the fishing industry;
Equal status shall be given to women and men in the issuance of stewardship or lease agreements and other fishery rights that may be granted for the use and management of coastal and aquatic resources. In the same manner, women's organizations shall be given equal treatment as with other marginalized fishers organizations in the issuance of stewardship or lease agreements or other fishery rights for the use and management of such coastal and aquatic resources which may include providing support to women engaged coastal resources;
There shall be no discrimination against women in the deputization of fish wardens;
Women-friendly and sustainable agriculture technology shall be designed based on accessibility and viability in consultation with women's organizations;
Access to small farmer-based and controIIed seeds production and distribution shall be ensured and protected;
Indigenous practices of women in seed storage and cultivation shall be recognized, encouraged, and protected;
Equal rights shall be given to women to be members of farmers' organizations to ensure wider access to and control of the means of production;
Provide opportunities for empowering women fishers to be involved in the control and management, not only of the catch and production of aquamarine resources but also, to engage in entrepreneurial activities which will add value to production and marketing ventures; and
Provide economic opportunities for the indigenous women, particularly access to market for their produce.
In the enforcement of the foregoing, the requirements of law shall be observed at all times.
Right to Housing.
SEC. 21. Right to Housing. — The State shall develop housing programs for women that are localized simple, accessible, with potable water, and electricity, secure, with viable employment opportunities and affordable amortization. In this regard, the State shall consult women and involve them in community planning and development, especially, in matters pertaining to land use, zoning, and relocation.
Right to Decent Work.
SEC. 22. Right to Decent Work. — The State shall progressively realize and ensure decent work standards for women that involve the creation of jobs of acceptable quality in conditions of freedom, equity, security, and human dignity.
Decent work involves opportunities for work that are productive and fairly remunerative as family living wage, security in the workplace, and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organize, participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.
The State shall further ensure:
Support services and gears to protect them from occupational and health hazards taking into account women's maternal functions;
Support services that will enable women to balance their family obligations and work responsibilities including, but not limited to, the establishment of day care centers and breast-feeding stations at the workplace, and providing maternity leave pursuant to the Labor Code and other pertinent laws;
Membership in unions regardless of status of employment and place of employment; and
Respect for the observance of indigenous peoples’ cultural practices even in the workplace.
In recognition of the temporary nature of overseas work, the State shall exert all efforts to address the causes of out-migration by developing local employment and other economic opportunities for women and by introducing measures to curb violence and forced and involuntary displacement of local women. The State shall ensure the protection and promotion of the rights and welfare of migrant women regardless of their work status, and protect them against discrimination in wages, conditions of work, and employment opportunities in host countries.
Right to Livelihood, Credit, Capital, and Technology.
SEC. 23. Right to Livelihood, Credit, Capital, and Technology. — The State shall ensure that women are provided with the following:
Equal access to formal sources of credit and capital;
Equal share to the produce of farms and aquatic resources; and
Employment opportunities for returning women migrant workers taking into account their skills and qualifications. Corollarily, the State shall also promote skills and entrepreneurship development of returning women migrant workers.
Right to Education and Training.
SEC. 24. Right to Education and Training. — The State shall ensure the following:
Women migrant workers have the opportunity to undergo skills training, if they so desire, before taking on a foreign job, and possible retrainining upon return to the country;
Gender-sensitive training and seminars; and
Equal opportunities in scholarships based on merit and fitness, especially to those interested in research and development aimed towards women-friendly farm technology.
Right to Representation and Participation.
SEC. 25. Right to Representation and Participation. — The State shall ensure women's participation in policy-making or decision-making bodies in the regional, national, and international levels. It shall also ensure the participation of grassroots women leaders in decision and policy-making bodies in their respective sectors including, but not limited to, the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) and its local counterparts; community-based resource management bodies or mechanisms on forest management and stewardship; the National Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (NFARMC) and its local counterparts; the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples; the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor; the National Anti-Poverty Commission; and, where applicable, the local housing boards.
Right to Information.
SEC. 26. Right to Information. — Access to information regarding policies on women including programs, projects, and funding outlays that affect them, shall be ensured.
Social Protection.
SEC. 27. Social Protection. —
The Social Security System (SSS) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) shall support indigenous and community-based social protection schemes.
The State shall institute policies and programs that seek to reduce the poverty and vulnerability to risks and enhance the social status and rights of the marginalized women by promoting and protecting livelihood and employment, protecting against hazards and sudden loss of income, and improving people's capacity to manage risks.
The State shall endeavor to reduce and eventually eliminate transfer costs of remittances from abroad through appropriate bilateral and multilateral agreements. It shall likewise provide access to investment opportunities for remittances in line with national development efforts.
The State shall establish a health insurance program for senior citizens and indigents.
The State shall support women with disabilities on a community-based social protection scheme.
Recognition and Preservation of Cultural Identity and Integrity.
SEC. 28. Recognition and Preservation of Cultural Identity and Integrity. — The State shall recognize and respect the rights of Moro and indigenous women to practice, promote, protect, and preserve their own culture, traditions and institutions and to consider these rights in the formulation and implementation of national policies and programs. To this end, the State shall adopt measures in consultation with the sectors concerned to protect their rights to their indigenous knowledge systems and practices, traditional livelihood, and other manifestations of their cultures and ways of life: Provided, That these cultural systems and practices are not discriminatory to women.
Peace and Development.
SEC. 29. Peace and Development. — The peace process shall be pursued with the following considerations:
Increase the number of women participating in discussions and decision-making in the peace process, including membership in peace panels recognizing women's role in conflict-prevention and peace-making and in indigenous system of conflict resolution;
Ensure the development and inclusion of women's welfare and concerns in the peace agenda in the overall peace strategy and women's participation in the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of rehabilitation and rebuilding of conflict-affected areas;
The institution of measures to ensure the protection of civilians in conflict-affected communities with, special consideration for the specific needs of women and girls;
Include the peace perspective in the education curriculum and other educational undertakings; and
The recognition and support for women's role in conflict-prevention, management, resolution and peacemaking, and in indigenous systems of conflict resolution.
Women in Especially Difficult Circumstances.
SEC. 30. Women in Especially Difficult Circumstances. — For purposes of this Act, "Women in Especially Difficult Circumstances" (WEDC) shall refer to victims and survivors of sexual and physical abuse, illegal recruitment, prostitution, trafficking, armed conflict, women in detention, victims and survivors of rape and incest, and such other related circumstances which, have incapacitated them functionally. Local government units are therefore mandated to deliver the necessary services and interventions to WEDC under their respective jurisdictions.
Services and Interventions.
SEC. 31. Services and Interventions. — WEDC shall be provided with services, and interventions as necessary such as, but not limited to, the following:
Temporary and protective custody;
Medical and dental services;
Psychological evaluation;
Counseling;
Psychiatric evaluation;
Legal services;
Productivity skills capability building;
Livelihood assistance;
Job placement;
Financial assistance; and
Transportation assistance
Protection of Girl-Children.
SEC. 32. Protection of Girl-Children. —
The State shall pursue measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination against girl-children in education, health and nutrition, and skills development.
Girl-children shall be protected from all forms of abuse and exploitation.
Equal access of Moro and indigenous girl-children in the Madaris, schools of living culture and traditions, and the regular schools shall be ensured.
Gender-sensitive curriculum, including legal literacy, books, and curriculum in the Madaris and schools of living culture and traditions shall be developed.
Sensitivity of regular schools to particular Moro and indigenous practices, such as fasting in the month of Ramadan, choice of clothing (including the wearing of hijab), and availability of halal food shall be ensured.
Protection of Senior Citizens.
SEC. 33. Protection of Senior Citizens. — The State shall protect women senior citizens from neglect, abandonment, domestic violence, abuse, exploitation, and discrimination. Towards this end, the State shall ensure special protective mechanisms and support services against violence, sexual abuse, exploitation, and discrimination of older women.
SEC. 34. Women are entitled to the recognition and protection of their rights defined and, guaranteed under, this Act including their right to nondiscrimination.
Discrimination Against Women is Prohibited.
SEC. 35. Discrimination Against Women is Prohibited. — Public and private entities and individuals found to have committed discrimination against women shall be subject to the sanctions provided in Section 41 hereof. Violations of other rights of women shall be subject to sanctions under pertinent laws and regulations.
Source: Supreme Court E-Library, Republic of the Philippines. Philippine laws are public documents (works of the government).
