99.5% of all Filipinos have biases vs. women —UNDP study

Nearly all Filipinos hold fundamental biases against women, a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study has revealed.

According to the 2023 Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI), 99.5% of the entire population in the Philippines have biases against women, of which 99.33% are men and 99.67% are women.

The study defines biased gender norms as the undervaluation of women’s rights and capabilities, which leads to constrained choices and opportunities for them. It also regulates women’s behavior and sets boundaries of what they are expected to do and be.

The 2023 GSNI quantified the biases against women and surveyed attitudes on women’s roles under four dimensions: political, educational, economic, and physical integrity.

The study, covering the years 2017 to 2022, found three out of four, or 75% of Filipinos have political biases against women based on responses to two indicators "women having the same rights as men is essential for democracy" and "men make better political leaders than women."

On the educational dimension, almost half or 43.61% held biases against women on the indicator "tertiary education is more important for men than for women."

Four out of five or 77.81% had economic biases based on responses to the indicators “men should have more right to a job than women,” and “men make better business executives than women do.”

On the physical integrity dimension, 92.83% were biased against women based on the indicators "proxy for intimate partner violence" and "proxy for reproductive rights."

Meanwhile, the UNDP study found nine out of ten, or 85% of the global population hold fundamental biases against women. Nearly half the global population believe that men make better political leaders while two of five people believe that men make better business executives.

“Gender biases are pronounced in both low and high Human Development Index countries. These biases hold across regions, income, level of development, and cultures—making them a global issue,” the study said.—LDF, GMA Integrated News