By Benjamin Cuaresma
MINDANAO — Stakeholders from across Mindanao are pushing for bigger changes in policies, institutions and social systems as the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) shapes the country’s gender-transformative development agenda through 2040.
The call emerged from the Mindanao Regional Consultation for the Philippine Plan for Gender-Transformative Development (PPGD) 2026–2040, held September 8–9 and attended by representatives from Regions IX, X, XI, XII and Caraga.
The consultation brought together government agencies, local governments, constitutional bodies, state universities and colleges, civil society and people’s organizations, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, youth, migrant workers and other sectors.
Their participation placed the realities of women and girls in urban and rural communities, geographically isolated areas, coastal and island communities, Indigenous communities and conflict-affected areas directly into the national planning process.
Participants identified persistent and emerging gender concerns, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence, unequal digital access, women’s economic insecurity, migration, unpaid care work and continuing barriers to protection and justice.
They also highlighted the compounded effects of climate change, disasters, conflict and geographic isolation on women and marginalized groups.
A key recommendation was to move Gender and Development implementation beyond compliance and toward measurable improvements in people’s lives.
Among the proposed priorities were stronger GAD institutions and local capacities, better sex-disaggregated and intersectional data, uninterrupted health and social protection services during crises, stronger care infrastructure and sustainable livelihoods, and safer, more inclusive digital technologies.
The consultation reinforced the direction set by PCW Chairperson Ermelita V. Valdeavilla for a gender-transformative successor to the current PPGD.
The approach seeks to go beyond identifying gender gaps or expanding services by examining what must change in policies, institutions, investments, systems, power relations and social norms to prevent inequalities from being continually reproduced.
The Mindanao consultation forms part of the PCW’s nationwide participatory process, conducted with the University of the Philippines Center for Women’s and Gender Studies.
Inputs from Mindanao, alongside those gathered from Luzon, the Visayas and succeeding consultations, will help shape the country’s gender-equality priorities and transformative actions toward 2040.
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