From Voters to Leaders: Let Women Lead

Filipino women turn out to vote in every election—often in numbers equal to or greater than men.

Yet despite this vibrant political participation, women remain vastly underrepresented in the very institutions they help legitimize.

A new study by University of the Philippines professors Jean Encinas-Franco and Elma Laguna shows that only 24 percent of elected officials in the Philippines are women. That figure, while an improvement from 20 percent in 2019, still falls far below the 30 percent global benchmark for meaningful political representation.

This isn’t about women lacking interest or ambition—it’s about a system that keeps shutting them out.

Women have shown up. They have organized. They have voted. The question now is: when will they be allowed to lead?

The answer cannot rely on individual ambition alone. It must come from reworking the structures that have long kept power out of women’s reach.

We must fix the system—not the women.

For too long, discussions around female underrepresentation have centered on women’s “willingness” to run, their “capability,” or whether they have “earned” a seat at the table. But such framing ignores the elephant in the room: the system itself has been designed to favor the powerful, the wealthy, and the well-connected—most of whom are men.

Our first-past-the-post electoral system rewards name recall, campaign machinery, and deep pockets. It is no surprise that dynasties dominate politics, and that even women who manage to enter politics often do so under the shadows of husbands, fathers, or brothers.

This does not mean that all women from dynasties are passive actors. Many have broken the mold and charted their own reformist paths. But the fact remains: entry into politics should not depend on one’s surname or a family patriarch’s blessing.

Reform must begin with institutional mechanisms that recognize and correct these imbalances. Gender quotas, for instance, are often mischaracterized as special treatment. In truth, they are equity measures—tools to level a playing field that has never been fair.

Countries like Rwanda and Mexico have shown how well-designed quotas, when paired with reforms in party structures and electoral rules, can quickly shift the landscape toward gender parity. There is no reason the Philippines cannot do the same.

Ours is a call to make democracy more just, inclusive, and representative—where women have a rightful place, not a symbolic one.

When half the population is systemically locked out of decision-making spaces, democracy itself is diminished. Representation is not merely symbolic—it is substantive. And the presence of more women in politics has been shown to improve policy outcomes in education, healthcare, gender-based violence, and social welfare.

The good news is that change is possible.

Already, local governments across the country are home to women leaders who govern with integrity, competence, and compassion. They are mayors who fought for climate resilience, councilors who passed inclusive budgets, and governors who built safer communities for women and children. These stories of leadership are not exceptions—they are blueprints.

We also see agency in civil society, where women lead grassroots movements, campaign for transparency, and hold power to account. These women do not wait for permission—they create space where there was none.

The next step is to institutionalize this energy, to ensure that the path from civic engagement to public office is no longer a narrow bridge reserved for the politically privileged, but a wide road open to every Filipino woman with the will and the vision to serve.

We must also confront cultural norms that tell our daughters that politics is not for them. It is time we stop measuring women’s worth by their husbands’ achievements, or their maternal image, and start judging their candidacies on merit, platform, and performance.

Our democracy has everything to gain from letting women lead—not just as voters, but as policymakers, agenda-setters, and public servants.

The momentum is building. Voters are engaged, and capable women leaders are ready to serve—what’s needed now is the political will to open the doors.

It is the system that must catch up.