Abstract

The integration of women’s concerns into the planning system had been addressed with the formulation of the Philippine Development Plan for Women (PDPW) 1989 - 1992, as a companion plan to the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan for the same period. Outputs of the project were: (1) a framework of indicators useful for formulating, assessing/monitoring and updating the PDPW; (2) assessment of data availability and gaps in the generation and utilization of gender-specific statistics; and (3) a feasible system of regular provision of data base and production of gender-specific statistics. Some 23 key indicators and 189 supportive indicators for economic/social sectors and special concerns were listed, defined and sourced. There was adequacy in terms of data availability for 17% of the required statistics; 66% would need improvement with regard to desired frequency, disaggregation, coverage or reliability; and 17% were problematic variables due to non-availability or the need for conceptualization. This effort marked a big step towards the establishment of a gender-responsive database system that policy makers and planners can use for their development efforts. One contribution of this study was to demonstrate that the statistical system can respond to new and emerging needs that affect women comprising one half of the population.