Girl power: Miriam says next 11 presidents must be women

MANILA, Philippines - To achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal on gender equality, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago believes that the country should have more female presidents starting in 2016.

Santiago, who ran but lost in the 1992 presidential elections, pointed out that only two of the 15 Philippine presidents were female.

"To achieve equality between males and females, since we have had 13 males, the next 11 presidents should be female," Santiago said in a speech celebrating International Women's Month at the International Rice Research Institute in Los Baños, Laguna.

"We should have a female president in 2016. Research shows that when women are empowered as political leaders, countries often experience higher standards of living with positive developments in education, infrastructure, and health care," the senator added.

The feisty senator lamented that there is still a wide gender gap in public office in numerical terms alone.

"Numerically, half of our high government officials should be women, and half should be men. And yet the division between the sexes is highly disproportionate in favor of men," Santiago said.

Pointing out that there are only six women senators at present, Santiago urged voters to pick at least six female senatorial candidates in the 2016 polls to balance the male and female members of the upper chamber.

She also noted that Congress has never had a female Senate President or a female House Speaker.

"The greater majority in both chambers of Congress has always been men. Possibly, this is one reason why there is so much corruption in Congress," she said.

According to Santiago, a Civil Service Commission memorandum circular has targeted a 50-50 representation of women and men in executive positions in the government.

But in 2011, the same agency found that the overall proportionate share is 1:2 in favor of men holding top posts in the government.