The Political Participation of Women Legislators in Congress

Abstract

This paper aims to assess the political participation of women in the Philippine legislature. It focuses on the House of Representatives, specifically, the current Congress. It looks at the number of Congresswomen from the 8th to the 12th Congress. The study also reviews their profiles and lawmaking activities.
Since the Philippine Congress or Legislature is mandated with the function of lawmaking, the women representatives in Congress and the nature of the laws it passes are worth examining in terms of the importance it places on women's concerns in relation to the country's commitments to the Beijing Platform for Action (BPA) and the International Conference on Population and Development Program for Action (ICPDPA).
The study also reveals that the increase in the number of women legislators from the 8th to the 11th Congress did not necessarily translate into a greater number of bills on women's concerns that were filed and approved.