GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT ACCORD

OF PHILIPPINE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

With
A DECLARATION OF COMMITMENT AND PARTNERSHIP

WHEREAS, the Philippines is a signatory to international conventions which all aim

to preserve, enhance and protect the human rights of women and marginalized
sectors of the global society, and under Article II of the Philippine Constitution on the
Declaration of State Principles, these treaties and covenants therefore form part of
the law of the land;
WHEREAS, REAFFIRMING the BEIJING DECLARATION AND PLATFORM FOR
ACTION, and the outcome document of the twenty-third special session of the
United Nations General Assembly as well as the declarations adopted by the UN
Commission on the Status of Women on the occasion of the tenth and fifteenth
anniversaries of the Fourth World Conference on Women;
WHEREAS, REITERATING the objectives of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child,
the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocols
thereto, as well as other conventions and treaties, such as the relevant conventions
of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the
International Labour Organization, which provide a legal framework and a
comprehensive set of measures for the promotion of gender equality in education
and employment;
WHEREAS, taking note of the Budapest Science Agenda Framework for Action,
adopted at the World Conference on Science in 1999, and of the Dakar Framework
for Action: Education for All, adopted at the World Education Forum in 2000.
AND FURTHER REAFFIRMING THE WORLD DECLARATION ON HIGHER
EDUCATION FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: VISION AND ACTION

Ensuring the grant of access to women and marginalized sectors to higher

education irrespective of race, gender, language or religion, or economic,
cultural or social distinctions, or physical disabilities;

Achieving and promoting access of women to higher education, despite the

fact that various socio-economic, cultural and political obstacles still continue
in many places of the world to impede their full access and effective
integration;

Considering gender aspects in different disciplines and to consolidate

womens participation at all levels and in all disciplines, in which they are
under-represented and, in particular, to enhance their active involvement in
decision-making;

Promoting Gender studies (womens studies) as a field of knowledge,

determined to be strategic for the transformation of higher education and
society; and

Exerting efforts to eliminate political and social barriers whereby women are
under-represented and in particular to enhance their active involvement at
policy and decision-making levels within higher education and society.

WHEREAS, pursuant to the commitments in the aforementioned treaty documents,

both Houses of the Philippine Congress have enacted pertinent legislation to
address the issues on gender such as the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 (RA
7877), the Anti-Rape Act of 1997 (RA 8505), the Anti-Trafficking of Women Act of
2003 (RA 9208), the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004
(RA 9262), and the Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710);
WHEREAS, as its commitment to the foregoing international treaties and pursuant to
its mandate under the Magna Carta of Women, the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) has spearheaded a Call for Partnership among all higher
education institutions in full and effective coordination with its co-convenors the
Philippine Commission on Women, the Civil Service Commission, the Center for
Womens Studies of the University of the Philippines, the Miriam College Women
and Gender Institute, and the Institute for Womens Studies of the St. Scholasticas
College, and convened the 1st Higher Education Summit on Gender Issues at the
U.P. Ang Bahay ng Alumni;
WHEREAS, this Call for Partnership is deemed as a timely call for Action on the part
of all stakeholders and concerned members of the Philippine Higher Education
Sector;
NOW, THEREFORE, the above considerations having been fully understood by all,
WE, THE PARTICIPANT PRESIDENTS OF STATE UNIVERSITIES AND
COLLEGES, OTHER PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS, AND
PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS, hereby covenant and commit
ourselves and our respective unit bureaucracies to the following:
.
1.
Ensure that gender stereotypes and images in existing educational
materials and curricula are adequately and appropriately revised., and that
Gender-sensitive language shall be used at all times;
2.

Pursue capacity-building on gender and development (GAD), peace

and human rights education for teachers, and all those involved in the
education sector;

3.

Encourage partnerships between and among players of the education

sector, including the private sector, churches, and faith groups;

4.

Promote sports and health education for women and girls;

5. Develop and promote gender-sensitive curriculum;

6. Develop gender-fair instructional materials;

7. Implement a capacity building program on gender, peace and human rights
education for officials, faculty and non-teaching staff;
8. Promote partnerships between and among players of the education sector,
including the private sector, churches, and faith-based groups in the pursuit of
the objectives of the Magna Carta of Women;
9. Encourage advertising industry and other similar institutions to provide free
use of space and installation of displays for schools, colleges and universities
for campaigns to end discrimination and violence against women;
10. Provide scholarship programs for marginalized women and girls and ensure
that conditions such as age, pregnancy, motherhood, disabilities, or lack of
consent of husband shall not be grounds for disqualification in the grant of
scholarships;
11. Develop programs aimed at increasing the enrolment of women in nontraditional skills training in vocational and tertiary levels, and mechanisms for
assessment and monitoring of compliance such as sex-disaggregated list of
students, tracers of graduates and the like;
12. Develop policies to ensure that all teachers and trainers, regardless of sex,
ethnicity, political, social, economic and religious status and affiliations have
equal access to scholarships;
13. Ensure that women faculty who become pregnant outside of marriage shall
not be discriminated by reason thereof, taking into account the schools
academic freedom as constitutionally guaranteed. They shall not be
dismissed, separated from work, forced to go on leave, re-assigned or
transferred without due process They shall have access to work already held
with no diminution in rank, pay or status and shall be entitled to all benefits
accorded by law and by the concerned learning institutions, subject to the
schools exercise of its institutional academic freedom;
14. Ensure that no female student shall be expelled, dismissed, suspended,
refused or denied of admission, or forced to take a leave of absence in any
educational institution solely on grounds of pregnancy outside marriage during
her school term. When needed, students who are pregnant shall be accorded
with a special leave of absence from school upon advice of the attending
physician, and be given an opportunity to make up for missed classes and
examinations. The same leave benefits shall likewise be accorded to pregnant
faculty members, and school personnel and staff;
15. Ensure that pregnant students shall be assisted through available support
services while in school, such as but not limited to counselling to ensure
completion of their studies;

16. Develop programs and policies to prevent VAW, including institutional

mechanisms for complaints in cases of rape, sexual harassment, and other
forms of violence and discrimination against women, and provide assistance
to students, faculty, or personnel who have been victims of VAW;
17. Coordinate with PNP, DOJ, CHR, DSWD, and the LGU so that appropriate
assistance are given to female faculty and students who are victims of rape,
sexual harassment and other forms of violence against women and
discrimination;
18. Conduct activities such as sports clinics and seminars for potential female
leaders, coaches, teachers at least once a year;
19. Provide equal incentives and awards for both men and women for any
competition;
20. Provide equal opportunities for scholarships and travel grants for women
leaders, coaches and athletes with adequate support mechanism;
21. Provide sufficient funds to support girls and women in sports;
22. Form more girls and women's teams in athletic leagues like the Palarong
Pambansa, University Athletic Association of the Philippines, National
Collegiate Athletic Association, Private Schools Athletic Association, and
University Games;
23. Promote partnerships with community-based sports organizations; and
24. Increase the participation of the elderly women, women with disabilities and
indigenous women through the promotion and development of programs for
them in coordination with other sport organizations.
25.

Ensure the integration in the curriculum health education that is

gender-responsive, rights-based and culture-sensitive; and

26.

Encourage institutions to conduct capacity building sessions, such

as gender-sensitivity and health and sexuality education for school personnel
(faculty and non-teaching staff) and students to promote womens health;

WE HEREBY AGREE AND COVENANT TO ALL THE FOREGOING

UNDERTAKINGS THIS 12TH DAY OF ACTOBER 2011 AT THE U.P. ANG BAHAY
NG ALUMNI ON THE OCCASION OF THE 1st HIGHER EDUCATION SUMMIT ON
GENDER ISSUES, THE SPECIFIC COMMITMENTS OF WHICH ARE ATTACHED
AND MADE AN INTEGRAL PART OF THIS DOCUMENT AS ANNEX A.