Women managers and executives in the Philippine civil service

Abstract

This thesis explores the factors that impact on the advancement of women to managerial and executive positions in the Philippine civil service, particularly at the national level, from the standpoints of two groups of women. These are the 'women second level managers' who occupy middle management positions and are prospective candidates for executive positions, and the 'women executives' who are already incumbents of career executive service (CES) positions in the third level, the highest level in the bureaucracy. Four national government agencies (NGAs) are selected as case studies for this research. Two are female-dominated agencies traditionally associated with 'caring' and 'nurturing' roles of women - the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS). The other two agencies are stereotypically male-dominated departments concerned with major infrastructure development, transportation and communications - the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The research design and methodology centres on two levels of research. At the institutional level, a discussion and review is presented of theory and practice of the current Philippine civil service system, specifically on the policies, standards, rules and programs affecting the advancement of civil servants in general and women in particular. At the employee level, a case study approach is utilised to describe and examine the socio-demographic characteristics and career information of women managers and executives in four NGAs, and to highlight significant issues that affect women's advancement to higher positions based on their perceptions, attitudes and experiences. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches using a variety of data gathering techniques/instruments is adopted in this study. These are secondary data gathering, survey questionnaire and interviewing. The survey and the interview generated a total of 83 respondents from the target population of 137 women managers and executives purposely selected in the four case agencies. One of the major findings of this study is the importance given to education as a facilitator of career advancement by both women managers and executives. However, women managers and executives from the female-dominated departments seemed to have taken higher courses or completed graduate degrees more often than the women managers and executives from the male-dominated departments. A possible explanation for this could be the nature of work in DECS, one of the female-dominated agencies. Where the primary responsibility of DECS is to formulate, plan, implement and coordinate policies, plans, programs and projects in formal and non-formal education at all levels, it is only to be expected that most government workers in this Department, especially those in the second and third levels, would pursue higher graduate studies. The women managers and executives in this study were also likely to attribute career advancement to their outlook in life, how much they know themselves and to the force or inspiration that drives them to succeed. In addition, these women believed that their skills, abilities and their willingness to take on new responsibilities have had positive influences on their advancement on the organisational ladder of their respective agencies. Women had great access to mentors and networks, but contrary to expectations derived from literature, the women's perception was that these made minimal contribution to career mobility. Aside from personal attributes, continuous full-time employment in government for at least 20 years, and staying with the same department for at least 17 years, had also facilitated women's managerial advancement in the bureaucracy. The women themselves felt that getting established in the workplace gave them the opportunity to obtain a good working experience, build a professional reputation and gain seniority at work. All of these individual and organisational factors, the women believed, warranted them the trust and confidence of the Head of department through their immediate superiors. It was through this establishment of a strong working reputation that most felt they were offered their current positions. Coupled with those factors that facilitated women's career advancement were challenges and obstacles that seemed to hamper their upward mobility. Among these factors were women's role conflicts between career and family responsibility, especially child-related activities and supervisor/authority biases. Show more