PROBLEMATIZING GENDER IN FSSIs ECONOMIC ENTERPRISES1

A Discussion Paper:
- By: Teresita Villamor Barrameda2 -

I.

Introduction
In lieu of the FSSIs vision of a sustainable economic development for marginalized
communities in the country, it has adopted the eco-enterprise development framework
integrating the triple-bottom-line agenda of economic viability, social equity/community
participation and ecological soundness as applied to sub-sector programs.
In a recent review of its three year plan accomplishments, the challenge on how to
strike a balance among the triple bottom-lines remains a challenge for FSSI. Aside from
the varying levels of implementation of the triple bottom-line in sub-sector programs,
there is also difficulty in integrating ecological soundness and social equity in achieving
viability of enterprises. Alongside this concern, several issues were identified as critical
for FSSI to confront and address in view of identifying clear basis for FSSIs support and
strategic intervention.
One of these concerns is about gender issues in economic enterprises. Womens
participation in economic enterprise has both positive and negative impacts. On the
positive side, womens involvement in economic activities results to increased income for
poorer households, improved self-esteem, increased involvement in community
management activities, and increased decision-making capacities. On the downside,
womens involvement in economic activities has led to womens multiple burden and
other gender-related issues. As such, it is imperative to determine the extent of the
negative impacts of such condition parallel to the value of income generated from
economic activities of women or to determine whether womens economic activities
create impact at the household level.
Given FSSIs thrust on enterprise development, the abovementioned gender-related
issues may probably be an inevitable outcome among poor households. And if these
issues would happen, what positions should FSSI take in relation to these issues? What
interventions must be installed at the household and enterprise levels to mitigate these
issues? On whose perspective does FSSI take to measure impact on women? How
should FSSI measure benefits and impact?
In line with the abovementioned concerns and issues, this discussion paper provides an
overview of the current state of knowledge on the gender issues in economic enterprise
in the Philippines and other contexts. This paper will serve as a starting point to initiate

1
This discussion paper is commissioned by the Foundation for a Sustainable Society, Inc. (FSSI) in the context of deepening the
understanding and analysis on the impact of gender on womens participation in economic enterprises.
2

Teresita Barrameda is a professor at UP Diliman Department of Women and Development Studies, College of Social Work and
Community Development. With more than 20 years of experience in development work, she is also involved in various consultancy
engagement with various CSOs and government agencies in mainstreaming gender and development.

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an active discourse among FSSI Board and members for them to define FSSIs positions
and resolutions on these issues.
This discussion paper provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on gender
issues in economic enterprise that would inform FSSI in developing its policy on
economic enterprises and to identify areas for future policy research and advocacy
agenda around the issue of gender in economic enterprises. This discussion paper is
largely based on existing literature and secondary data.
Objectives
1.
To provide an overview of key gender issues in economic enterprise practices in
the Philippines and other contexts;

II.

2.

To pose issues and challenges for FSSI to consider in developing policies and
positions related to gender concerns in economic enterprises;

3.

To recommend strategies and interventions in the areas of research, policy and

advocacy regarding these gender-related issues in economic enterprises.

Locating Women in Economic Enterprises

There are different categories of micro-enterprises where women are involved in: one
category falls under those that are relatively freestanding forms which do not depend
on other entities for capital or markets; there are those enterprises located at the
bottom of the sub-contracting chain which supply larger industries with raw materials,
components, or finished products at very low cost and made use of unprotected labor
(i.e. women homeworkers, child labor, indigenous craftspeoples, etc.); then, there are
those so-called cooperatives which are community-based formations founded on
solidarity, mutual help and social service rather than profit (Ofreneo, 2005a).
Economic restructuring that result to rising prices, falling real wages and increased rates
of male unemployment, has given rise to womens increased participation in microenterprises and other income-generating activities. Moreover, womens limited access to
formal employment has forced them to device various strategies to generate cash
through home-based micro-enterprises (Chant, 1996).
Because of womens eagerness to augment household income and the day-to day
pressures of survival, women in poor households populate the informal economy
through a broad range of livelihood activities and micro-enterprises. Illo (1998) notes
that women comprised about 70 percent of micro-entrepreneurs: working with very
little capital, they run retail stores from their homes or stall in public markets; hawk
fresh food produce or operate sidewalk carinderias; buy and sell agricultural produce;
accept laundry and cleaning jobs; trim, curl or dye hair; offer facials, manicure and
pedicure services; and sew and repair clothes. Also included are those who run smallscale pig-raising or poultry businesses, and those who accept sub-contracted jobs as
home-based workers.

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Through engagement in these micro-enterprises, women generate not only additional

income but also employment for other family members. Through these enterprises,
women provide the much-needed goods and services to other low-income households
as well as to other industries.

Tracking poor women in the local economy

The local economy is characterized by three economic systems: one is the private or the
market system; another one is the public or that which provides certain capital goods
(e.g. infrastructures) and social services (e.g. health, education, social welfare, etc.) and
financed by public funds; and a third system which consists of the household, the
informal and the social economy or the formal third system (Illo, 2005). Of these three
components, the household economy and the informal third system are the most
familiar the household which is often the locus of unpaid reproductive work and the
informal economy as the site of informal, unprotected work that provides income to
households affected by unemployment. The third component is the social economy or
formal third system consisting of formalized, and legally recognized social enterprises
with clear social missions. These enterprises provide its members with goods and
services and the common example of these are the cooperatives that are key players in
the social economy (see Figure 1).
Women and mens engagement in the local economy and its various systems, as well as
with the global system, depends on their economic status or class. Locating the poor
women and men in the local economy, they are often found in the unrecognized and
unregistered component of the third system (the informal economy), providing a broad
range of cheap goods and services. During crisis situations, the informal economy
played a significant role as it absorbed unemployed and retrenched workers from the
formal sector. As poor women and men abound in the informal economy, they are also
active in community enterprises like cooperatives. The poor women and men are drawn
into these cooperatives and similar institutions because of access to credit and
commodities, social protection and most importantly community participation (Illo,
2005).
Using the schema in Figure 1, a minimum estimate of 30% women provide goods and
services; 20% of working-age women work for their family in care (unpaid) economy1
activities; 10 % as unpaid workers in family-owned enterprises; another 14% are in
micro-enterprises, particularly the self-help type (see Table 1). On the other hand, a
high percentage of self-employed men are accounted in agriculture, though a large
portion is active in micro enterprises (Illo, 2005).

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Table 1:Distribution of working-age population, by type of economy, October 20012

Type of Economy
Female
Male
Number
Number
(in
%
(in
%
millions)
millions)
Total working-age
population
24.83
24.60
Informal economy
Not in the labor force
Family/household
3.49
20.7
(housekeeping)
In the labor force
Family/household
2.20
1.87
(unpaid family
8.9
7.6
worker)
Own-account worker
Self-help
3.54
14.3
5.93
24.1
(self-employed)
Subtotal (informal
9.23
43.9
7.80
31.7
economy)
Own-account worker
Private
0.38
1.5
1.41
5.7
(employer)
Wage worker (private)
Private
4.42
17.8
7.96
32.4
Sub-total (private
economy)
4.80
19.3
9.37
38.1
Wage worker
Public
1.21
4.9
1.16
4.7
(government)
All people engaged in
15.24
61.4
18.33
74.5
different economies
Unemployed
1.36
5.5
1.91
7.8
Not in the labor force
8.23
33.1
4.36
17.7
Source: Labor force survey (NSO, 2003) as cited by Illo, 2005

Women and informal work

The International Labor Organization (ILO) provides a definition of informal
employment, that is,
The informal economy comprises informal employment (without
secure contracts, worker benefits, or social protection) of two
kinds: (1) self employment in informal enterprises (small
unregistered or unincorporated enterprises) including: employers,
own account operators, and unpaid contributing family workers;
and (2) wage employment in informal jobs (for informal
enterprises, formal enterprises, households, or no fixed employer),
including: casual or day laborers, industrial outworkers,
unregistered or undeclared workers, and unprotected contract,
temporary and part-time workers.
In the Philippines, more than half of the women in the labor force are involved in the
informal economy: in home-based work, vending and retailing, laundry work, personal
services, vegetable and animal raising, etc. (Illo, 2005). The work in this sector is
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usually invisible, unrecognized, unprotected, lower paid, and unregulated. Particularly in

urban areas, the economic activities of poor women are predominantly characterized by
informal, home or community-based due to discrimination in formal employment, lack of
human skills and capabilities, social restrictions on mobility, and the problem of
balancing reproductive responsibilities with income generating activities (Beneria and
Roldan, 1987; Chant, 1996).
Many poor women are drawn into the informal economy for various reasons: inability to
find work elsewhere due to low level of education, the pressure and need for additional
income and compatibility with family responsibilities and housework (Yu, 2001 as cited
by Illo, 2005). As such, many women prefer enterprises that enable them to stay closer
at home or simultaneously conduct business (e.g. tending sari-sari store; doing
handicraft) with reproductive work (cooking or taking care of small children). Very small
enterprises like vending foodstuffs and operating small store are preferred by women as
these provide constant streams of income to offset daily household consumption
demands as well as compatible with household duties.
Womens earnings from these small-scale livelihoods and economic activities are small,
yet are very critical sources of income to poor households. Illo (2005) notes that in the
early 1990s, womens earnings in the informal economy are crucial to the survival of
urban poor households - womens earnings accounted for 25% to 35% of total
household income. Likewise, Ofreneo (2000) and Lim and Gula (2000) as cited by Illo
(2005a) note that the income of women home-workers accounted for 67% of the total
household income, despite declining orders and other market-related problems.
However, despite the incomes gained from engaging in the informal economy, both
women and men are beset with problems that include: stiff competition in an
overcrowded market, low capital and low profitability of enterprises, lack of social
protection, and economic marginalization (Illo, 2005). But unlike men, women in the
informal economy experienced additional problems brought about by micro-finance
schemes and mainstream training programs that confined them to traditional feminine
skills or enterprises or in most cases, exclude poor women in credit programs. Likewise,
women producers in agriculture are seldom considered in training programs together
with women operators, homeworkers and wage laborers in very small enterprises who
are never covered by government social protection scheme.

Women and home-based work

With the onslaught of globalization, labor flexibilization is seen as a key strategy for cost
reduction.
Such strategy resulted to labor subcontracting where manufacturers
compartmentalize the production process, so that the most labor-intensive phases are
assigned to different work sites in case of local manufacturers, or countries, if products
are exports, which pay the lower wagesthe products sub-contracted are those
manufactured in a series of stages as well as those which are light and easily
transportable, such as semi-conductors or cut-up pieces of garments with specified
designs , (Aldana (1989) as cited by Dungo (2005). Consequently, such work scheme
has given rise to home work a kind of paid work brought home to meet work quota.

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Studies have proven that womens involvement in reproductive work, that gets much of
their time, is the main reason for womens intermittent involvement in paid work. Given
this nature of womens work, it complements the fluctuating lean and robust production
demands inherent in sub-contracting work and home-based work. In addition, the
nature of production pace in sub-contracting work and home work requires women to
continue the work even during lean season to build up stock for the oncoming robust
demand. According to Peterson and Runyan (1993), in highly sex-segregated societies,
despite the arduous, isolating and poor pay in homework or home-based piecework, it is
an attractive option for poor women because it offers income-generating opportunities
for them while at home. In another study, Ofreneo (2005a) also notes that through
home-based work, women are able to combine reproductive and productive work
because of the flexible time and intermittent involvement.
Moreover, in sub-contracting and home-based work, women are being employed not as
workers but as housewives, as paid work assumes the characteristic of reproductive
work which is irregular and unrecognized. In like manner, women viewed themselves
not as workers but such paid work is an integral part of their domestic responsibilities in
the form of provisioning for the family as well as supplementing the husbands income.
Even in the countrys statistics, home-based paid work subsumed in domestic work is
not counted, thus, reinforcing the invisibility of womens work and contribution to the
economy.
On the other hand, for some women homework has liberalized their work schedules
and opened opportunities for them to engage in regular factory work by expanding the
worksite into the privacy of the home and which also involves women neighbors who
would also like to earn but would not like to leave their homes. These types of workers
are considered second or third level sub-contractors sharing in the work quota that
primary or regular sub-contractors bring home (Dungo, 2005). Such work set- up when
viewed from a feminist perspective has a positive dimension - by working together,
these women collectively challenged the patriarchal value of womens domesticity.
Although womens incomes from sub-contracting work and home-base work filled in the
gaps in household incomes, in most cases, men have not totally welcomed working
wives and have even questioned womens absence at home. Dungo (2005), in her
study of women in the sugar industry of Negros who went into sub-contracting work in
cottage industries, notes that men appear to resist helping out in household chores left
unfinished by wives due to regular work in the cottage industries. Wives often complain
that the help they expect from their husbands in terms of domestic work is very
irregular, instead it were the children who take over the chores when they arrive home
from school.
Another problem faced by women who are into sub-contracting work is the declining
orders as a result of rapid globalization and the shift to high technology (e.g. computeraided machines for embroidery replaced home-based women embroiderers). On the
other hand, women micro-entrepreneurs are beset by lack of capital, declining demand
and competition from cheaper imports. But common to them, they suffer from lack of
access to social protection as well as marginalization in terms of representation and
participation in governance, both at the national and local levels (Ofreneo, 2005a).
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Again, Ofreneo (2005a) notes other gender issues articulated

based workers and micro-entrepreneurs that include multiple
reproductive work; domestic violence; unequal remuneration
conditions, occupational health and safety; and lack of maternal

by both women homeroles in productive and

of work; poor working
and child care.

Women and micro-finance

In current practice of micro-finance in Asia, two dominant models are being pursued.
One position espouses the neo-liberal model that emphasizes financial sustainability and
claims that the provision of credit alone would empower women. This model works on
the assumption that access to credit can initiate a series of virtuous spirals of economic
empowerment, increased well-being for women and their families and wider social and
political empowerment (Mayoux, 1999). Such model puts high premium on profitability
and market competitiveness. Another position espouses the credit plus or integrated
model. This approach posits that womens empowerment is the result of many
mutually reinforcing interventions that go beyond credit, and aims to transform social
relations towards poverty reduction and gender equality. The integrated approach
includes interventions such as organizing, consciousness-raising, capability building and
participation (Ofreneo, 2005b).
The micro-finance experience in the Philippines started in the early 1990s as a social
development effort aimed at poverty alleviation (Pineda-Ofreneo, 2005b). In the course
of practice, much had been said about its positive effects on cash-strapped women
wanting to engage in micro-enterprise activities. But a decade after, micro-finance shifts
from its initial thrust of poverty alleviation towards commercialization and microbanking, focusing primarily on the delivery of credit to the poor. This has led to the
contradictory phenomenon of alleviating poverty yet giving strong focus on institutional
financial viability and the pronouncement of MFIs that their operations do not, as of yet,
cannot serve the ultra-poor (Miranda and Chua, 2003).
In microfinance practice in the Philippines, women can access loans and they were
found to have a higher repayment rate as compared to men. However, these
microfinance programs do not include womens empowerment in their agendas. Mayoux
(1997) observes that attempts to mobilize women around feminist concerns are
frequently explicitly dismissed as both unnecessary and maternalistic. Further, Mayoux
(1999) adds:
microfinance would not be able to empower women if it would not
address gender inequality: Micro-finance itself can only make a
marginal contribution to women's empowerment and poverty
alleviation without support for women's grassroots movements
explicitly addressing gender inequality and mainstreaming the
concerns of poor women in all macro-level economic and social
policy.
Although access to microfinance programs is open to women, there are other factors
that posed barriers to their entry into these programs. For instance, when women
would want to avail of loans from microfinance, women would encounter problems like
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having to prove themselves creditworthy before they are able to receive amounts large
enough to ensure sustainability of their livelihood initiatives. Likewise, the transaction
and other costs in terms of time and effort are very high for women (Ofreneo, 2005b).
In like manner, the Woman and the Economy part of the Philippine NGO Beijing + 10
report states that if the loans needed collateral, one could expect the men to have
greater access to these. Another observation in microfinance practice is that women
who ventured into micro-entrepreneurship are often given choices of businesses
considered to be female dominated. As Illo (2005a) states, microfinance schemes
and training programs that continue to encourage women to persist in the usual
feminine skills areas or enterprises contribute to the problems. Among women, a
small number (9%) claimed that they joined the informal economy because they could
not find a job elsewhere Illo (2005a) further adds.
On the other hand, the positive effects of micro-finance on women as reported in the
Philippines as well as in other countries include the following: increased confidence and
sense of self-worth, higher consciousness of their rights, greater awareness of and
exposure to the outside world, increased decision-making in the household, and
improved health and nutrition of household members (Ofreneo, 2005b). Similarly,
Kabeer (1995) notes that employment in micro enterprises has both positive and
negative impact on women. On the positive side, employment benefits women with
some degree of financial autonomy, improved status and decision within their
households, the choice to enter or leave marriages, and the capability of supporting
children in the event of separation or husbands death.
Other studies (MCDI, 1988 and Stearns, 1988 as cited by Ofreneo, 2005a) further affirm
that women in micro-enterprises are confronted with multiple problems such as
multiple burden, and therefore, overwork; lack of capital and victimization by usurers;
lack of management skills; limited supply of raw materials and other needs due to
inability to purchase in bulk; no formal recognition and support, which leaves them open
to harassment; competition for and limited access to profitable markets. These studies
further note that womens micro-enterprises can also be exploited by larger firms
through orders from them at low prices or sub-contract certain stages of the production
process to save on labor costs or to weaken the bargaining leverage of regular and/or
unionized workers.
Another problem for women surfaces in the form of social security and protection; As
women who participate in microfinance programs are part of the informal sector; this
causes them to be indirectly excluded from the governments social security programs.
Ofreneo (2005c) elaborates:
Social security is limited mostly to a minority-government and formal
sector workers who are entitled to death, sickness, disability, old age,
maternity and other benefits, but not to allowances during periods of
unemployment.
This is why women (and men) in the informal sector seek social protection as what
PATAMABA and its members are doing (Ofreneo, 2005d).

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As mentioned above, women who engage in micro-finance programs encounter

increased burdens. Aside from the reproductive work that they already do, they have
additional productive work to ensure repayment and to maintain (not improve) their
status of living. Ofreneo (2005b) elaborates the last statement as husbands withdrawal
of household support on the assumption that their wives now have money. Ofreneo
(2005c) sums up that:
Men and women have different roles and responsibilities that tend to
place a higher burden on working women since they are in charge of
unpaid and unvalued reproductive work to maintain and sustain their
families. At the same time, they are engaged in productive work to earn
an income that is usually considered just supplemental to that of the
male breadwinner.
Despite the fact that women micro-entrepreneurs role in the family is not given full
credit, Ofreneo (2005d) states that there are some who assert that the economic crisis
could be a golden opportunity for women working in informal jobs, since they would
now have a greater role in supporting the family and thus more control over the family
budget.

III.

Gender Issues in Economic Enterprises

As gleaned from the above discussion, women comprise a large proportion of workers
engaged in the informal economy as own-account, home-based workers, piece-raters,
and micro- entrepreneurs. As workers and micro-entrepreneurs, they continue to face
the following issues and challenges:
1.

Multiple burdens of women. Society has seemingly assigned certain types of

work to women and other types of work to men. These types of work relegated
to women and to men that differ in some respects or complement each other is
known as the gender division of labor. Based on this gender division of labor,
work is generally categorized as productive and reproductive. Productive labor
or production includes work done for wages in the so-called public sphere of the
formal economy to produce surplus (non-subsistence) goods and services that
can be sold in the open market. Reproductive labor or reproduction refers to
activities undertaken in the so-called private sphere or home that are necessary
to meet the daily survival needs of household members and sustain human life
that include child bearing and rearing, elderly care, housework, subsistence food
production and food preparation and this type of work is rarely considered work
in national statistics. Typically, productive labor is relegated to men and
reproductive labor to women.
As women engage in productive work and still bear reproductive responsibilities,
they experienced the so-called double workday. Peterson and Runyan (1993)
further note that many women in Third World countries experience a triple day
as they do reproductive work, work for wages in the formal and informal
economy and still grow subsistence crops to feed their families when their wages
are not sufficient to buy food.

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Though womens involvement in informal employment and micro enterprises

significantly contributes to the household income and survival, it has given rise to
gender issues, one of which is the multiple burden that working wives
experienced. Several literatures show that though men recognized the significant
contribution of their wives in balancing the unstable financial needs of
households, they have been ambivalent in their reactions toward working wives.
Whenever they help out in house chores, it is on an irregular basis as house
chores are still considered the responsibility of women. As more and more
women are involved in various types of work in the informal economy, they have
experience the triple layers of burden as they try to balance reproductive work
with productive work and community management -related activities.
Due to the pressure of balancing sub-contracting factory work with house
chores, in most cases, women have to negotiate with men. At home, they
negotiate with their spouses that they will do more chores that can be done
when they return home. In the same manner, at the factory, they negotiate
with work supervisors to adjust their time for factory work to accommodate their
morning reproductive work such as cooking and preparing the children for
school, then they have to hurry to the factory while leaving other unfinished
household chores to be done upon their return, and interspersed with home
work into the late evening hours. Similarly, the study of Paunlaqui (1992) shows
that women have long carried multiple burdens - before going to work and
upon coming home, they have to cook, wash and iron clothes, clean the house,
and take care of children. While the husband and children share in these
activities, the bulk of responsibility lies with the women. Aggravated by
deteriorating diets, womens multiple burdens have contributed to their
vulnerability to illness (Paunlaqui, 2005).
The multiple burdens experienced by women are confirmed by other studies
(Ofreneo, 2005a; Chant, 1996; Beneria and Roldan, 1987; Mayoux, 1999)
affirming that women engaged in paid work in sub-contracting industries as well
as in other types of micro-enterprises have experienced multiple burdens.
Similarly, studies of Filipino women homeworkers in garment production (Del
Rosario and Veneracion, 1987; Del Rosario, 1996) demonstrate that women
experienced multiple burdens during peak season by working 24 hours and
involving female members of the households. As rush work is ushered into the
household, the wife, daughters, grandmother, and even smaller children
(females and males) get involved to meet work quota. But despite the extended
working hours of paid work, it is still the women who shoulder the domestic
work. Although men occasionally help out in housework, still the bulk of
domestic work falls upon women. These findings demonstrate that the gender
division of labor is not significantly altered by sub contracting and home-based
production.
2.

Violence against women. As globalization forces penetrate the traditional

organization of both agricultural and local urban industries, such conditions

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increase the demand for women in sub-contracting work and home-based work.
The demands of work in micro-industries have triggered conflicts between
husbands and wives.
Dungo (2005) avers that such kind of work set-up has over-burdened most
wives, leaving them with chores that are never finished, and with critical
husbands already primed to feel disgust over their wives absence creating a
highly-charged situation of tension between husband and wife. Likewise,
Paunlaqui (2005) notes that constraint in household income is a common cause
of marital conflicts that end up with the wife being battered. As confirmed by a
World Bank article on Mindanao and Naga City (1998), an increase in domestic
violence was reported due to the worsening economic crisis that resulted to
some women and children to leave home and live on the streets. Likewise,
Mayoux (1999) asserts that the provision of credit alone could lead to what she
calls vicious constraints and could also bring negative impact on women such as
increased domestic violence, overwork and mens appropriation of lucrative
projects and benefits.
3.

Accessibility vis--vis commercialization of micro-finance institutions.

Studies in various parts of the world show that given the MFIs concern for their
own sustainability, the ultra poor are never reached by their services (Ofreneo,
2005b). Since poor women cannot afford to borrow large amount and confine
themselves to very small loans, which consume a lot of service time and very
marginal profit, some MFIs tend to recoup costs by imposing very high interest
rates. As cited by Ofreneo (2005b), the Asian Development Bank Institute has
claimed that several studies have doubts whether MFIs are really reaching the
core poor.
In the Philippines, it is hard to gauge the number of poor women reached by
these MFIs as there are no substantial studies to support this. Thus, it is hard to
determine how many of the poor does MFIs reached and what kind of poor is
being reached. How many of these borrowers are poor women?
The 2002 NAPC report by then Secretary Teresita Deles acknowledged that MFIs
primarily serve non-agricultural entrepreneurial poor in urban or urbanized
centers, implying that there is exclusion of informal sector workers, disabled,
elderly, disaster victims, farmers and fisherfolks. The geographical unevenness
is also a factor as services to the poorest regions as well as to remote and
conflict areas are limited.
Likewise, there is a need to review policies in order to address equity issues as
well as the supply of credit to the ultra poor for them to become enterprising and
bankable clients of MFIs. In addition, peoples organizations and basic sector
organizations are excluded as MF conduits due to the stringent accreditation
requirements that favor banks and established players in the sector.

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4.

Sustainability in situation of poverty. As discussed in the next section of

this paper, it can be gleaned that the country has created a supportive policy
environment for economic enterprises, particularly for micro-finance. However,
the existing laws, policies and standards developed are strong in terms of
ensuring the sustainability of MFIs but often overlooked the sustainability of the
livelihood activities of clients of these MFIs (Ofreneo (2005b). In practice, only a
small portion of MFIs keep track of the effects and impact on the client side to
determine how many women drop out, become worse off, how many borrow
from two or more MFIs and eventually suffer from multiple indebtedness, how
many were able to upscale and thereby, graduated from the debt cycle.
In theory, to ensure continued womens economic improvement and total
independence from MF programs, certain elements must be present. Aside from
access to larger loans and maximization of breakthrough credit in order to
upscale their economic initiatives, the women need training (i.e. business and
financial management), product development, market access, access to new
technologies, and social insurance (Ofreneo, 2005b). Further, Ofreneo notes
(2005b), the last ingredient (social insurance) is of great importance since
economic security and protection go hand in hand. For without any support
mechanism, clients who experienced life-changing events like sudden illness or
death in the family would likely default on payments and halt the enterprise
ventures.
Ofreneo (2005b) further elaborates that in many surveys,
microfinance clients claimed that they need more than just credit services but
also savings, health or medical insurance, emergency loans, educational loans,
pension plans, death and disability insurance and housing loans.
However, in current practice, only a small number of MFIs expand their services
to cover various risks and vulnerabilities experienced by their clients. The 2003
survey conducted by PUNLA/NCEFW (2004) as cited by Ofreneo (2005b), shows
that among the 66 MFIs respondents (14 banks, 16 cooperatives, 22 NGOs, 11
POs and three others), less than 50 percent provide emergency assistance and
micro-insurance. This study reveals that many MFIs are primarily concerned with
their own survival as they concentrate their efforts more on social preparation to
ensure credit discipline in their clients as well as on improving the efficiency of
their credit program.
On another note, even the amount of loans provided is not sufficient enough to
improve the lives of poor women. As in current practice the initial size of loans
commonly range from P3,000 to P6,000 an amount considered useful in
augmenting existing micro-enterprises, yet too small to start a new enterprise,
considering the interest rates and transaction costs imposed by MFIs (Ofreneo,
2005b). Given the small amount of initial loans provided to clients and factoring
in the high transaction cost, how can scaling up take place? With this amount, it
is hard even for the entrepreneurial poor to become self-sustaining and no
longer dependent on loan infusion.

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5.

Invisibility of womens work. Since our concept of work is tied to paid

employment, womens reproductive work is not recognized as work despite its

social and economic contribution, thus, it is invisible and unvalued. But this
notion of invisibility is not limited to unpaid reproductive work but also applies to
womens economic activities, particularly in the informal economy. As Andersen
(1993) observes:
Womens role in economic life has been obscured by social
myths about the work that women do. These myths include
the idea that women who work at home as full-time
housewives are not working; that women who work for
wages work for extra money, not because they must; and
that womens work is not as valuable as mens. As a result
womens work has been undervalued both in its objective
rewards and in subjective evaluations of its value.

The informal economy where a large number of women are engaged in has
several labels underground, submerged economy, neglected sector, etc. Such
labels have connotations that those in the sector are marginalized and excluded
from the mainstream economy, despite their significant contributions to the
national economy. Particularly, they are not accounted for in the countrys
statistics, thus, they are invisible in national plans and policies. As a result,
budgets for programs and services for the sector are limited. Likewise,
assistance for the sector during times of crises in terms of safety nets for poor
women is sorely lacking.

6.

The missing element in empowering women in economic enterprise

In practice, the success of micro-enterprises is often gauged in terms of
economic results such as income, value added, turnover, and employment
(Schutjens and Wever, 2000 as cited by Kantor, 2005). These mainstream
evaluation criteria that primarily focus on economic indicators overlook the
relevance of power and control outcomes as goal in micro-enterprises, especially
when gender inequalities in access to and operation within the market are
common.
Kantor (2005) stresses that although increased income is an important factor to
invest in micro-enterprise development, it should not be used as the sole
criterion in measuring success in micro-enterprise initiatives. Instead, income
must be translated into other goals for the development process to occur
(Kabeer, 1994). And one way to achieve this is to increase womens control over
their earnings. Ensuring womens control over their incomes is an important
strategy since their incomes are often used for the provision of the family
(Beneria and Roldan, 1987). Like economic outcomes, empowerment outcomes
should also be a central focus of micro-enterprises for women.

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According to Cheston and Kuhn (2002) as cited by Ofreneo (2005), key

programmatic factors that can contribute to empowerment of poor women in
Africa, Asia and Latin America (principally in Ghana) are the following: business
training, womens education and literacy, balancing family and work
responsibilities dialogue on social and political issues leading to greater
awareness of rights and entitlements vis--vis cultural and legal barriers,
opportunities for leadership and decision making within a group context and
pride of ownership and autonomy, control over programs and resources, and
participatory governance. Likewise, Ofreneo (2005b) notes that success in
micro-enterprise cannot be achieved unless there is clear recognition of the
subordinate position of women relative to men in society: at the household,
community, and national levels.
The discourse on womens empowerment became popular in the end years of
the UNs Third Development Decade. Womens empowerment then becomes a
byword among several institutions and groups. The World Bank and aid
agencies have adopted the term empowerment as a goal. NGOs and civil
society have also articulated their concern for womens empowerment. Feminist
groups saw the need for womens empowerment. Development and economic
enterprise programs have focus on womens empowerment. But to what are
they referring? Are they talking about the same thing?
According to Young (1997), empowerment was originally a demand by activist
feminist groups that involves the radical transformation of the processes and
structures that subordinate women. As women experience common oppression,
empowerment implies collective empowerment that includes individual change
and collective action. Similarly, Sen and Grown (1987) and Elson (n.d.) as cited
by Visvanathan (1997) consider empowerment as the agency of organized
women, in which political consciousness-raising and popular education are
regarded as important elements as much as income-earning opportunities. All
the above meanings imply changing power relations.
However, as the concept of empowerment is popularized in mainstream
development discourse, its original concept, that is, changing power relations,
has also changed. Visvanathan (1997) notes that the concept of empowerment
has given rise to different meanings in various contexts: Northern population
agencies have appropriated the term to mean education and employment as
empowering tool towards womens fertility reduction; for Latin American
scholars, empowerment is about gender equality in the areas of productive
activities while in the Indian context, it gives emphasis to the changing power
relations either by challenging patriarchal relations by individuals or collective
resistance to oppression.
One difficulty in the empowerment discourse is that, in most cases,
empowerment remains at the conceptual frame. Sara Longwe (1991) has
developed a framework and mechanism in measuring empowerment called the
Gender Equality and Womens Empowerment Framework (GEWEF). This
framework can be used to track womens empowerment in programs. According
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Discussion Paper: June 2007

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to this framework, there are five levels to womens empowerment: (a) welfare,
when the womens material needs for survival or practical needs (food, income)
are addressed; access, when women are able to avail of opportunities,
resources
and
benefits,
particularly,
the
factors
of
production;
conscientization, when they are able to be aware of their subordination and
the realization to change such situation; participation, when they engage in
collective analysis and organized action; and control, when women are able to
decide for themselves and enjoy equal power with men.
The above framework can be used as guide in monitoring and keeping track of
how development interventions contribute in empowering poor women. To do
this, indicators have to be set at each level of the empowerment framework.
In a particular case, the PUNLA/NCRFW research team (2004) as cited by
Ofreneo (2005b) has evolved a conceptual framework integrating Longwes
empowerment framework in micro-finance (see Fig. 2). In this framework, the
inputs and enabling mechanisms can be imagined as steps in a ladder in relation
to specific results, outcomes and impacts that comprise the various stages
towards the end goal of empowerment (Ofreneo, 2005b). At the lowest level,
MFIs could focus on social preparation for credit discipline and efficient lending
and saving programs to ensure that clients are prepared to borrow and their
financial needs are met at the welfare stage (the first stage of the GEWEF). As
the MFIs focus on micro-insurance, social services (e.g. health, nutrition, etc.)
and capability building (e.g. entrepreneurship development), they are enabling
clients to meet their practical needs3 at the access stage. It is assumed that at
this stage clients have already the capacity to address their poverty situation as
they have now greater access to opportunities, resources and benefits, and
eventually get out of the poverty cycle. When MFIs integrate a gender
awareness component into their activities, clients are ushered into the
conscientization stage. As MFIs focus on organizing, developing womens
leadership and promoting genuine engagement in decision-making, they are
enabling women to reach the participation stage. And lastly, when MFIs
provide adequate resources to enable women to generate savings towards loan
independence and help them graduate from the program as empowered partner
entrepreneurs, the clients are said to have reached the final stage of control, as
economically, socially and politically empowered women.

IV.

Enabling Mechanisms for Poor Womens Participation in Economic

Enterprises
According to Illo (2005), the prospects for poor womens participation in microenterprises would involve redirecting their resources to economic activities with stable
demand or to sectors that are not yet crowded, scaling up financial and technical
assistance to them, and linking them with economic units that can provide them with
production contracts and/or access to credit or markets. Further, Illo (2005) avers that
the opportunity for poor women to participate in micro-enterprises is possible provided
that the following elements should be present: a supportive public and policy

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environment, a socially responsible private economy, and an effective & efficient social
economy.

1.

The current policy environment for economic enterprises

In support of the anti-poverty agenda in which micro-finance is a core component,
the government has put in the following laws, policies and mechanisms that would
provide economic assistance to poor and small and medium enterprises:

PD 717 (1975) provides for an agrarian reform credit and financing system
for agrarian reform beneficiaries through banking institutions.
RA 7872 (1995) provides assistance to women engaging in micro and cottage
business enterprises.
This law has mandated the Technical Skills
development Authority (TESDA) to provide free training programs to all
women who would avail of the benefits of the law.
RA 8425 (Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act of 1997) establishes
micro-finance as a strategy for poverty alleviation and creates the Philippine
Credit and Financing Corporation (PCFC) as the medium for the delivery of
micro-finance services to the poor.
RA 6977 as amended by RA 8289(or the Magna Carta for Small Enterprises of
1997) mandates the government to create a business environment conducive
for micro, small and medium enterprises and to provide these MSMEs with a
range of services and facilities and to create the SME Development Council
(SMEDC) and the Small Business Guarantee and Finance Corporation
(SBGFC). Likewise, this law provides for the mandatory allocation of credit
resources for SME lending.
RA 9178 (or the Barangay Micro Business Enterprises Act of 2002)
encourages the formation and growth of BMBE through the extension of
incentives (e.g. income tax exemption for income arising from the operations
of the enterprise, exemption from the coverage of the minimum law, credit
delivery, and technology transfer, production and management training, and
marketing assistance.
EO 110 (2002) directs the PCFC to manage the Peoples Development Trust
Fund.
EO 138 (2002) prohibits government agencies from giving loans and directs
them to lend at prevailing market rates.

Gauging from the aims of these laws, the government has created a policy
environment supportive of micro-enterprise initiatives. However, putting poor
women into the equation, such policy environment does not cover the poorest of the
poor, in which a large population of women are found. Pineda et al. (2003 as cited
by Illo (2005a) notes that although RA 8425 (SRPAA) targets the poor as the microfinance clientele, however in practice, the PCFC preferred the entrepreneurial poor
or those with existing small businesses, thus, excluding poorer women who have no
business yet. This constraint on access to start-up capital is coupled by stringent
requirements as well as high interest rates charged for very small loans (Illo, 2005).

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Moreover, a National SME Development Agenda was drafted in support of SMEs

which contains the following five elements, namely: financing, human resource
development, market development, product development, and for an enabling
environment. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) website describes the
aim of the agenda as to provide a strong domestic supply base for globally
competitive industries. This aim could be achieve by elevating micro and small
enterprises to higher levels of business as well as by upgrading their productivity
and value-added capabilities. In addition, its immediate concern is the
strengthening of twenty strategic SME centers throughout the country by 2006,
targeting an increase in gross value added of SMEs from 32 percent to 40 percent
and comparative with the Asian coverage.
In terms of policies and programs on micro-enterprises, there is the tendency of
government programs and policies to mix the informal micro-enterprises of the poor
with the formal micro-enterprises of the non-poor, treating all of them as one form
of enterprise that has no distinction. With the exception of the micro-finance
programs, such policies have disadvantaged the poor and have not fully addressed
the problems of the SME sector (Illo, 2005).
In summary, while there is an initiative from the government to create a policy
environment conducive to the participation of the poor, including women in the
community economy, the stringent requirements and the practice and
implementation of these programs and policies have posed as barriers to entry and
participation of the poorest of the poor, especially women.

2.

A socially responsible private system

The government has classified private establishment into two categories (see Table
2): by asset and by employment sizes where the asset-based classification is used in
credit and investment programs while the employment size criterion is for the
purpose of labor inspection.
Criteria
Micro
Small
Medium
Large
Source: Illo, 2005

By Asset Size
Below P3 million
P 3 million - P15 million
P 15 million P100 million
More than P100 million

By Employment Size
1-9 workers
10-99 workers
100-199 workers
200 or more workers

Since there are quite a number of established SMEs in the country, what are the
prospects for enterprises of poor women in linking up with SMEs? How can players
from the social economy take part in the SMEs growth curve? Below are some
possibilities:

Subcontracting.
Supplying raw materials or services to SMEs
Linkaging with SMEs for skills training and marketing (Illo, 2005)

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3. The role of the social economy

Cooperatives and cooperative enterprises comprised the so-called social economy.
These entities are considered organizations and social enterprises of poor women
and men. Among the distinct features of these social enterprises are:

Non-profit
Engage in economic activities to achieve social aims
With legal status to ensure that assets and accumulated wealth are owned
by the group
With organizational structures that encourage the active participation of
members on a collective basis, with equal rights granted to all members
(Illo, 2005).

As social enterprises, cooperatives and similar organizations can facilitate womens

participation in economic enterprises through various mechanisms. Based on a study
conducted by the Institute of Philippine Culture of the Ateneo de Manila University
and the National Confederation of Cooperatives (2004 as cited by Illo, 2005) on
several practices of cooperatives to encourage poor womens participations include:

Provision of health care system to members and other social protection

mechanisms that are subsidized by earnings of the cooperatives
Opportunity for scaling up loans and micro enterprise linkages
Creating new enterprises to raise revenues for social services
Complementation of services and enterprises

V. Challenges for re-visioning and action: Some Recommendations

Based on the issues raised in this paper, the following points are posed for FSSI to consider
and ponder upon:

There is no doubt that the government laws, programs, and mechanisms have
created an environment conducive to the growth of SMEs as well as targets the
entrepreneurial poor as clientele while silent on the constraints and barriers to
participation of ultra poor women. As such, how can civil society like FSSI and its
partner institutions facilitate poor womens participation in economic enterprise? Are
they willing to bank on the ultra poor women? If so, how should the issue of
sustainability be considered? What mechanisms should be in place to ensure the
sustainability of both the institution and poor women?

In current practice of MFIs, the size of loans available to poor women is so small
that it cannot even start a new business, although such amount can be useful in
augmenting existing enterprises. Likewise, as saving mobilization is seen as an
important element in getting out of credit dependency, what mechanisms could be
included to ensure that poor women generate savings to beef up their business
capital? What processes and mechanisms are to be installed to assist women to
upscale their businesses and eventually graduate from loan dependency? What

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Discussion Paper: June 2007

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indicators are to be established to facilitate MFIs in monitoring and assessing poor

womens economic development toward getting out of poverty situation?

Success in micro-enterprise needs to consider not only increased economic outcomes

but also womens empowerment as a goal. What is FSSIs framework, strategies and
indicators for womens empowerment? Since gender-related issues like multiple
burden and VAW are unintended effects of micro-enterprises, what is FSSIs stand
on these issues? Is gender awareness training programs be considered and
promoted at the partners and beneficiaries levels? Who would be responsible for
these?

In terms of micro-finance, three are two models that are widely practice in the
country the minimalist model which provides credit and financial sustainability as
main thrust, and the other, the credit plus or integrated approach. What model will
be adopted and promoted by FSSI to its clients and partners? Since social programs
like health, education, childcare, social protection are important to poor women as
step to their empowerment but would entail added costs, who will provide these
services?

Since social enterprises take on the welfare and social protection functions of the
government in relation to the poor, what advocacy agenda should be pursued at the
national level to enhance social protection for poor women in the informal economy?
Will FSSI take social protection as an advocacy agenda? Whom would FSSI link up to
pursue this? Will it consider the provision of social protection for its partner
organizations a mandatory requirement for funding?

Given the above issues and challenges, the following recommendations are put forth:

In the area of Research

o Impact of micro-enterprises on women in the different sub-sectors
o Sub-sector studies on impact of micro-enterprise on women; needs of
women in various sub-sectors to identify particular interventions
o Disaggregation of data complemented with gender-responsive indicators in M
& E system
o Efforts in mainstreaming gender among partners and beneficiaries
o Value chain analysis research to determine impact of industries on
subcontract/home-workers
Advocacy Agenda
o Mainstreaming poverty reduction and womens empowerment in the VMGS of
partners and beneficiaries
o Social protection for women in micro-enterprises
Policy
o Develop a framework for womens empowerment
o Develop an institutional and program level policies on gender
o Develop a strategy paper on mainstreaming gender in FSSI

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Figure 1 Components of the Local Economy

1.
PRIVATE
SYSTEM
(PROFITORIENTED
MARKET)

H
H

LOCAL
ECONOMY

ECON
3.
THIRD
SYSTEM
INFORMAL
SOCIAL
THIRD
ECONOMY
SYSTEM
(FORMAL)

2.
PUBLIC
SYSTEM
(INFRASTRUCTURE, SOCIAL
SERVICES)

GLOBAL

Source: CBS, 20044

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Figure 2. Conceptual Framework

Microfinance for Financial Sustainability,
Poverty Reduction and Women;s Empowerment
Inputs and Enabling
Mechanisms

Results/Output

Exit or graduation
mechanism

Graduates produced

Participatory mechanism

Women clients in
decision-making

Organizing and
leadership mechanisms

Active organizations and

Women leaders

Awareness-raising
activities: gender etc.

Gender concerns
discussed, addressed

Capacity building such

as entrepreneurship
development

Clients trained to make

project succeed

Health, nutrition and

other social services

Clients practical needs

met

Micro-insurance

Clients enrolled for

social protection

Lending/saving

Clients financial needs

met

Social preparation (for

credit discipline)

Outcomes and
Impact

Empowerment

Poverty reduction

Sustainability

Clients prepared to
borrow
Source: Developed by
PUNLA/NCRFW research
team as cited by Ofreneo

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End Notes
1

the concept of a care economy draws from the feminist economics critique of neo-liberal economics
that does not give value to reproductive work as it does not generate income or cash/exchange value.
Feminist economics gives fundamental importance to unpaid social reproduction and its care aspect the
provisioning of goods and services to families for survival and maintenance. It posits that the care work
performed by women enabled men to engage in productive work as well as ensure the survival of
generations. As such, it asserts that reproductive work or the care economy should be factored in and be
recognized since it has an important relationship with and interdependency on the market economy in the
shaping of any economic system. In this equation, women serve as mediators between the caring and
the market economy.
2

figures would not add up to 100 % as there are multiple entries in Table 1.

practical gender needs refer to womens welfare needs like food, water, shelter, etc. to ensure survival.

the concept of the components of the local economy was taken from CBS and the visual presentation
was developed for the FSSI Round Table Discussion, May 16, 2007.

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