MANILA - A Philippine senator has urged voter to choose a woman
president in 2016, for gender equality, better governance and to battle
rampant corruption in the country.
“We should have a female president in 2016,” Senator Miriam Defensor
Santiago(photo) said, without revealing if she we would run for the post.
Santiago lost her a bid for the presidency in 1992.
Stressing the need for gender equality, Santiago said, “to achieve
equality between males and females [in top leadership positions], since
we have had 13 male [presidents and two women presidents]), the next 11
presidents should be female.”
Santiago said having a woman president will help the Philippines attain
the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for gender equality.
The Philippines has elected two women to the highest office. President
Corazon Aquino was in power from 1986 to 1992, while Gloria Arroyo
reigned from 2001 to 2010.
- Six female candidates should win Senate seats in 2016, Santiago said, adding that, of the incumbent 24 senators, “only six of us are women”.
- “The greater majority in both chambers of Congress has always been men. Possibly, this is one reason why there is so much corruption in Congress,” she said.
- “Numerically, half of our high-ranking government officials should be women, and half should be men. And yet the division between the sexes is highly disproportionate in favour of men,” said Santiago, adding that the Civil Service Commission has long called for a 50-50 representation of men and women in government’s elected and appointed posts.
Santiago said the Civil Service Commission has found that women occupy
less than a third of level 3 posts in government; a little more than
one-third in government-owned and -controlled corporations and in the
judiciary; and less than twenty per cent in local government units.
This means a ratio of 1:2 in favour of men in top posts in the government, Santiago assessed.
Why women? Santiago said: “Research shows that when women are empowered
as political leaders, countries often experience higher standards of
living with positive developments in education, infrastructure, and
health care.”
Source: Agencies
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