As the world marked International Women’s Day on Friday, a United Nations official commended the Philippines for narrowing the gap between women and men when…
As the world marked International Women’s Day on Friday, a United Nations official commended the Philippines for narrowing the gap between women and men when it comes to rights and opportunities, but also noted that more efforts were needed to reduce childbirth-related deaths as well as incidents of sexual and physical violence among women and girls.
Ola Almgren, the UN resident coordinator in the Philippines, said the country’s efforts to increase women’s representation in national and global centers of power have contributed to it ranking eighth in the 2018 Gender Gap Report of the World Economic Forum.
The report rates 149 countries on their progress toward gender parity on four indicators: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.
Almgren cited several outstanding Filipino women who have put the country on the map, including Dr. Jane Gerardo-Abaya, who was appointed this year as one of the directors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the world’s preeminent organization for nuclear technology, and its safe and peaceful applications.
The UN official also recalled the International Labor Organization’s citation last February of four Filipino women who have distinguished themselves in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
They are Aileen Judan Jiao, president and country general manager of IBM Philippines and the first Filipina leader of the company; Ambe Tierro, senior managing director for global artificial intelligence of Accenture Technologies; Maria Cristina Coronel, president and chief executive officer of Pointwest Technologies; and Michie Ang, founding director of Women Who Code Manila.
