Maternity leave extension in PH cited in WB’s Women, Business and Law report

The Philippines barely improved in terms of advancing women’s emancipation, rating 81.3 out of a perfect 100 in the World Bank’s Women, Business and Law 2020 report.

In the 2019 edition of the report, the Philippines rated 81.25 points. The 2020 issue covered 190 economies worldwide using data as recent as Sept. 1, 2019. Of these, eight economies scored 100 points—mostly European, namely Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden. The exception was Canada.

The study assessed the economies with eight indicators that describe women’s interactions with the law as they begin, progress through and end their careers. These indicators—categorized as mobility, workplace, pay, marriage, parenthood, entrepreneurship, assets and pension—are used to build evidence of the relationship between legal gender equality and women’s entrepreneurship and employment.

The Philippines was among 40 economies that adopted a total of 72 reforms in the eight indicators. Of these, 16 economies implemented reforms related to parental leave.

In the 76-page report, the one-sentence update focusing on the Philippines mentioned the country’s attainment in the indicator on parenthood—the passage of a law that extended the duration of paid maternity leave from 60 days to 105 days.

Due to this, the Philippines’ score in parenthood jumped to 80 from 60 previously.

“Pakistan, Fiji, the Philippines and Zambia increased the duration of paid maternity leave to meet or exceed 14 weeks,” the report said.

The Philippines rated 100 in the indicators of workplace, pay, entrepreneurship. The indicators of mobility and pension got 75 each. The Philippines scored worst in marriage and assets—both with a score of 60.

In fact, the 20-point rise in the parenthood indicator was the only change in the Philippines’ performance compared to 2019 results.

“There’s reason for optimism in this year’s study,” said David Malpass, president of The World Bank Group.

“Social mores are improving, and many countries have improved the regulatory environment for women over the last two years.” “Much work remains,” Malpass said. “We shouldn’t be satisfied until every young girl can move through her life without facing legal barriers to her success.”