Becky Blab

Clearly it’s not possible to generalise behaviour across cultures, just as the concept of gender varies from place to place. While my recent post laments the difficulties American women face in the workplace, this piece on Filipina execs discusses an entirely different phenomenon:

Today’s story about a report from the Department of Labor and Employment that women in the Philippines far outnumber men in executive positions should pique the interest of feminists around the world. Seen from a global perspective, Filipinas are kicking some serious executive booty.

If you think development and women’s empowerment go hand in hand, it’s worth noting that the country with the lowest percentage of businesses with women executives was Japan at 25 percent along with four European nations: the Netherlands (27 percent), Luxembourg (37 percent), Germany (41 percent) and Italy (42 percent). The other countries topping the list with the highest percentage of women in managerial positions — Brazil (42 percent) and Thailand (39 percent) — also defy stereotypes.

But is the Philippines really a sanctuary of equality where women can shoot for the sky without smashing their heads on glass ceilings? That would be hard to argue.

The author goes on to discuss the dominance of Catholicism and its attendant emphasis on big families and aversion to contraception, abortion and divorce as hindrances to equating women’s workplace performance with empowerment. She also points to the reliance of these execs on hired help as a key reason that some Filipinas are able to succeed, while the majority are not.