Indices of Women&#039;s Welfare and Their Relation to the Macroeconomic Environment in the Philippines

Cristela  Goce-dakila,

Indices of Women's Welfare and Their Relation to the Macroeconomic Environment in the Philippines

Abstract:

This paper quantifies the different dimensions of women's welfare in the Philippines into a composite index known as the gender development index (GDI). It adopts the United Nations Development Program (UNOP) methodology with slight variations to make the index suitable to Philippine conditions and data availability.

The study relates the Philippine GOI to traditional measures of economic activity and well-being such as the gross national product (GNP), gross domestic product (GOP) and human development index (HOI) and establishes whether the Philippine pattern of economic growth engenders more equality between men and women.

The paper also presents empirical findings on the relationship between the macroeconomic environment in the Philippines and its impact on women's welfare. Regression results are presented, using time-series and cross-section data to determine the impact of macroeconomic policy on the GOI and other variables which represent specific aspects of women's welfare. These include the female literacy rate, the maternal mortality rate, total fertility rate and the median number of years spent by women in school. The graph and correlation results between women's welfare indices and macroeconomic variables are presented.