This week, I am giving way to Rosemarie “Ut” Rafael, an empowered woman and the bosom buddy of a very special friend, another empowered woman, Ida Joseph, who with their charm, wit and intelligence are very much in the forefront of demonstrating that women are not only as strong and as resilient as the male of the species but, in fact, often armed with a smile, can be more effective in pushing their advocacies than us menfolk.

Ut’s article.

Recently, I attended the APEC meeting for women empowerment, representing the Philippine Commission on Women for the public sector and the Women Business Council of the Philippines for the private sector on Jeju Island, South Korea. This was exciting for me as I had recently watched a Netflix series set on Jeju Island, “When Life Gives You Tangerines.”

I was able to relate to the series when I experienced the sweetness of the tangerines and I also noted that the Haenyeo (women divers) were prominently featured because their livelihood was diving for abalone, octopus, seaweed, and other marine products which showed the resiliency and strength of women.

There were no male divers then because of their lower numbers due to deaths in deep sea fishing accidents and wars. The women divers were over 50 years old and symbolized Jeju’s struggle against the marine environment that forced them to do what they needed to do to survive.

I believe that women become stronger when they don’t have any choice but to fend for themselves and their families. Women are nurturers and have a built-in endurance in the face of challenges.

The conference on the women sector was focused on the theme, “Connect, Innovate and Prosper.”

Many years ago, women’s affairs in the Philippines were under the Department of Social Welfare and Development because it was considered a welfare concern. I am happy to note that aside from being under the socio-cultural pillar, women’s concerns are now also under the economic pillar.

One concern is the digital transformation, specifically building AI capacities in all levels in both the government and private sectors. It’s important that domestic efforts to develop AI tools are in place and the upskilling of government employees on the use of AI as well. Business capacity must be leveled up as the use of AI tools can bring efficiency and be translated to profitability. There is a need to have programs for upskilling and reskilling programs for workers for consumer capacity.

There is a need to come up with awareness programs and domestic initiatives for the support of digital readiness for the general public.

Second is the care economy where the challenges range from caregiving without pay for “apo”stolic reasons, to a sandwich generation where a family member, usually a woman making do with a sandwich for a quick meal break, is tasked to care for their elderly parents and their children.

The balancing of tasks by women has been an issue for many years now and there is a need for the promotion of institutional support to systematically share the burden of family caregiving and to enhance the value of caregiving by creating a family friendly environment for work-life balance. There will be no proper economic growth if we do not address this.

Third is the support that is needed by businesses led by women entrepreneurs and their participation in trade. There has to be an exchange of best practices among Asean member economies, which collectively is the fifth largest economy in the world, and which can move up to fourth with focus and collaboration.

There have to be incentives from the government and trade policies must be geared toward promoting gender equality and encouraging women entrepreneurs and startups. When there are more sustainable livelihood programs and training — such as a one town, one product initiative — no woman will be left behind.

Gender pay gaps must be closed and we need to encourage corporations to make this happen.

Businesses should adopt strategies to reduce gender-based disparity through voluntary and/or mandatory actions on various initiatives such as increasing the percentage of women in the boardroom. We need to lobby for more women representation in corporate and government boardrooms.

Women leadership and participation in our economy has been growing but we still need to address concerns such as the under-representation of women in management and addressing cultural and structural barriers.

Overall, I am proud to say that things are looking good for women leaders who are making headway in sectors that are male dominated and where women are not common. Jeju has been a nostalgic and most appropriate location to talk about women empowerment as this place is known for its rock formation, its unique culture, and its strong women, re the Haenyeo.

As I finished watching “When Life Gives You Tangerines” before going to Jeju, it made me confident that undoubtedly gaps can be closed with our consistent work on gender equality.

Life, after all, can and should be fair.

Until next week… OBF!

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