In line with the celebration of National Women’s Month, the Department of Labor and Employment recently sat down with leaders from an aggrupation of women workers to discuss issues affecting the female worker in the country’s workforce.

Leaders from the Women Workers United (WWU) presented a draft women worker’s agenda calling for better protection of women from workplace violence, a stop to “informalization” and contractualization of women workers, better social dialogue and protection, stricter enforcement of gender-based laws, and addressing gaps in pay and equal opportunity.

Hosting the group at the DOLE Central Office were Assistant Secretary Dominique Rubia-Tutay, Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns Director Ahmma Charisma Satumba, officials from the Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR), and National Labor Relations Commission Commissioner Gina Cenit-Escoto.

Asec. Tutay assured the women labor leaders that gender equality and protection is embedded in the Labor and Employment Plan (LEP) 2023-2028 and that government recently ratified the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Convention 190, the global call for the elimination of violence and harassment against women in the workplace.

Director Satumba informed the group that DOLE plans to incorporate the tenets of Convention 190 in its GAD program while also underscoring DOLE policies against gender-based discrimination and the marginalization of women in the workplace.