See also special areas

At a glance

Structure of Parliament: Bicameral

Are there legislated quotas...

  • No for the Single/Lower House?
  • No for the Upper House?
  • Yes at the Sub-national level?

Are there voluntary quotas...

  • Yes adopted by political parties?

Philippines

(Republic of the Philippines)

Single/Lower house

Kapulungan Ng Mga Kinatawan / House of Representatives

Total seats:239
Total women:49
% women: 21%
Election year:2007
Electoral system:Parallel
Quota type: Voluntary Political Party Quotas
Election details: IDEA Voter Turnout
IPU Parline

Sources | Additional information | Contact us

Last updated 2009-09-14

Quota at the Sub-National Level

Quota type:Reserved Seats
Legal sourceDetails
Quota type:
Reserved Seats
 Constitution The 1991 Local Government Code requires that a woman be one of three sectoral representatives that sits in every municipal, city, and provincial legislative council.
Legal sanctions for non-compliance: No data available No data available
Rank order/placement rules: No data available No data available

Sources | Additional information | Contact us

Last updated 2009-09-25

Voluntary Political Party Quotas*

PartyAcronymOfficial NameDetails, Quota provisions
Gabriela Women's Party An all Women's party, representing 250 women's organisations. The paty got 3.7 percent of the votes in the 2004 national elections.
Philippines Democratic Socialist Party PDSP Partido Demokratiko-Sosyalista ng Pilipinas PDSP has a 25 percent for women.

* Only political parties represented in parliament are included. In case of legislated quotas, only political parties that have quotas beyond the national quota legislation are presented in this table.

Sources | Additional information | Contact us

Last updated 2009-11-30

Additional information

The Party List Law (RA 7941) passed in 1995 makes it compulsory to include women on political party lists. The law provides for the election of party list representatives from different sectors. The law allocates 20 percent of the 250 seats in the Philippine House of Representatives (Lower House) for marginalised sectors of society, including women. It aims to ensure that representatives of small parties and sectors of society have a voice in the policy making process that is dominated by traditional politicians.

The law mandates that voters elect not only a district representative to Congress, but also a party or sectoral group of their choice. To elect one candidate, each sector must get at least 2 percent of the total number of votes cast for the party list system.

There is a legal incitement to include women: through the Law for public financing to political parties every party is allotted a quota equal to at least 5 percent of electoral reimbursements received for initiatives to promote women.

There was previously a Constitutional quota, adopted in 1986: "For three consecutive terms after the ratification of this Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to party-list representatives shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or election from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector." (1986 Constitution, Article VI, section 5.)

Several women's sectoral groups have registered with the Election commission. These groups support the introduction of legislation to ensure a 30 percent quota for women in all decision-making bodies. (Some of the groups that are particularly active advocating for a 30 percent quota are: The Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP), the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), Center for Legislative Development (CLD), and Citizen's Action Party (Akbayan). 3. In 1992 two seats were reserved for women in the category 'women' in
Last updated 2009-10-16

Sources

No sources available

Additional reading

Philippines | Asia | Global

Know about useful additional reading for Philippines? Tell us!