The Commission on Higher Education formally launched on Friday the nationwide access to the Philippine Higher Education Gender and Development Information System or PHLGADIS which seeks to gather data on the sex and gender of the higher education institutions for future policies on gender and development.

PHLGADIS will also revolve on data related on the implementation of anti-gender violence laws in the country — Republic Act 7877 or the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995, RA 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act, RA 9710 or the Magna Carta for Women, and RA 11313 or the Safe Spaces Act.

“We have to look at the implementation of the four enabling laws that concerns the benefits of men, women and the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders plus. This particular system will help CHEd to come up with very good programs in terms of equality and equity in HEIs,” said CHEd Region IX director Rody Garcia.

Part of the PHLGADIS is a website dedicated for the gathering and presentation of “sex aggregated” data from HEIs.

As of Friday, the system has received data of 420,962 enrolled students and 9,766 graduates in the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, Bicol Region, Western Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula.

The said data was used to present a comparative graph of the dominating sexes in specific fields of study, with women dominating significantly in Education, Science and Teacher Training and Business Administration and Related Courses. Men, on the other hand, are dominating in Information Technology, Trade, Craft and Industrial courses and other disciplines unspecified.