The National Competitiveness Council is pleased to report that the Philippines remains to be the top country in the ASEAN region in terms of gender equality, retaining 7th place out of 144 countries in the 2016 Global Gender Gap Report published by the World Economic Forum.

The 2016 Global Gender Gap Report measures the magnitude of gender disparities and monitors progress over time, with a specific focus on the relative gaps between women and men across four key areas: health, education, economy and politics.

According to the report, the Philippines exhibited laudable performance in the areas of Educational Attainment, and Health and Survival, where it topped the list along with 25 countries such as Ireland, Iceland, France, Denmark, and Australia, among others. The indicators measured in this area are literacy rate (1^st), enrolment in primary (67^th), secondary (1^st), and tertiary education (1^st), sex ratio at birth (1^st), and healthy life expectancy (1^st).

On the area of Political Empowerment, Philippines maintained its last year’s ranking at 17^thspot. The indicators under this area include women in parliament (46^th), women in ministerial positions (62^nd), and years with female head of state (5^th).

Lastly, the country ranked 34^th in the area of Economic Participation and Opportunity, which  include the following indicators: Labor Force participation (107^th), Wage Equality for similar work (10^th), Estimated Earned Income (45^th), Number of legislators, senior officials and managers (1^st), and professional and technical workers (1^st).

In the past decade, the Philippines continued to be on the top 10 countries in the survey, which signifies its promotion of gender equality in different aspects of the society.