In early February 1994, the Italian Association for Women in Development (AIDoS) contracted the Institute of Philippine Culture (IPC) of the Ateneo de Manila University, to assess the situation of women in agriculture in the Philippines. In a separate contract, AIDoS hired a statistics consultant to provide IPC with the available statistics, particularly published and unpublished data from the National Statistics Office (NSO), needed for the preparation of the country report. Funds for the activity were provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The preparation of the country report served two needs. It formed part of FAO's Programme of Assistance in Support of Rural Women in Preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women and, from the Philippines standpoint, the report, by focusing on women in agriculture and in rural areas, complemented the national situation report on Filipino women (NCRFW 1994), which was consider "too urban-biased".
To prepare the country report, the IPC research team coordinated with the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, incorporated the data supplied by the statistics consultant, and consulted the documents submitted by the agriculture committee that was formed in connection with the preparation of the national situation report. As important as these activities were, the interviews conducted by IPC with groups of rural women in various parts of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in March 1994, as well as the provincial and the Manila consultative workshops, provided even deeper insights into the situation of rural women in the country. These consultations involved rural development agencies, rural women's organizations, academic institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with rural women. For instance, during the Manila meeting, the government agencies represented were the Departments of Agrarian Reform, Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources, and Labour (Bureau of Rural Workers); the NCRFW; and the NSO. The University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University, and the ASEAN Women in Cooperative Forum (AWCF), constituted the academic/NGO sector, while the International Rice Research Institute, United Nations Fund for Population Activities, and the FAO (through its Technical Support for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development - TSARRD program) composed the international/multilateral organizations. The peasant women's coalitions (KaBaPa and AMIHAN), and the women's organizations (PATAMABA and LAKAMBINI), were unable to come to the meeting, but the rural women's groups were amply represented in the two provincial consultations held in March 1994.
The group interviews and provincial consultations aimed at ensuring that the voice and concerns of rural women would be reflected in the report. The choice of the research sites was based on our desire to examine the situation of rural women in different agroecosystems. For Luzon, two systems were chosen: monocropping irrigated ricefarming (Camarines, Sur), and coconut-based rainfed farming (Laguna). In the Visayas, two systems were also selected: sugarcane plantation (Negros Occidental) and fishing-farming (Negros Oriental). In Mindanao, an upland, cassava-growing village and a rainfed rice-growing area were chosen. In all, eight groups, involving a total of 111 women, were interviewed in various parts of the country. The majority of women were married, aged 20 to 60 years of age, and had low educational attainment. Except in Negros Occidental, where the contact person invited women from different barangays to a meeting in the city hall, the IPC research team met with groups of rural women in their own community.
The group interviews covered the following broad topics: changes (in terms of politics, peace and order, technology, employment and wages, and government or NGO programs) in their community between the early 1980s and 1994; strategies used by women, including livelihood activities, resistance, and mobilization; and analyses of current problems and future plans of action. The research coordinator and an assistant posed the questions and facilitated the discussions that ensued. In most instances, a consensus was reached regarding changes, analysis, or proposed action. In rare cases when the women rendered different readings of events, the group generally agreed to leave the reply to a question in the form of an array of possible interpretations or range of experiences.
The IPC team secured the women's permission to tape the interviews. In addition to taping the interviews and to help focus the discussion, the research coordinator wrote the topic and the major points raised on a manila paper that was conspicuously posted for all participants to see. The interviews lasted from two to four hours.
Apart from the group interviews, the IPC research team also held provincial consultations in Visayas and Mindanao and a consultative workshop in Manila. The meeting in Mindanao was convened by a local partner NGO, the Technology Outreach and Community Help (TOUCH) Foundation in Cagayan de Oro; while that in the Visayas was organized by a local academic institution, the Silliman University in Dumaguete. The Manila consultative workshop, in turn, was jointly convened by IPC and NCRFW.
During the consultative meetings, the results of the group interviews were presented by the IPC team for comments and validation. The participants were also asked to provide a wider reading of the situation in the province, particularly in connection with developments in the agricultural sector; to enhance the analysis of women's situation in the province (or, in the case of the Manila meeting, the national situation of rural women) from the mid-1980s to 1994; and to expand the plan of action and strategies that had been elicited during the group interviews. Outside the consultative meetings, the IPC research team interviewed representatives of government agencies to clarify points or elicit data on certain programs or projects, and to address the data gaps that remained after the consultations as well as the information that was not covered by the set provided to IPC by the statistics consultant.
Because of the research methods and processes used, the preparation of the present report involved countless groups and individuals who contributed time, insights, data, and moral support. The statistics consultant (Nelia R. Marquez), the IPC research assistants (Yasmin Lee G. Arpon, Yasmin S. Gatal, and Joannah G. Perez) and support staff (Dhea S. Santos, Raymund C. Lazarito, and Lyzel S. Elias), the women who came to the interviews, our colleagues who facilitated the holding of the consultative meetings, and government agencies and NGOs which supplied the team with data - all played important roles in shaping this report. To them, as well as to NCRFW, AIDoS, and FAO, we say, maraming salamat.
Jeanne Frances I. Illo
23 June 1994
