The Philippine has dropped one place in terms of gender equality but still maintains its position as the top performing Asian country, according to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Global Gender Report 2021.

The report showed that the country has closed 78.4 percent of its overall gender gap and ranked 17th out of 156 countries, one notch lower compared to its previous place.

But in Asia Pacific, the Philippines placed second next to New Zealand, ranking fourth globally.

Of the four indices, the Philippines ranked 18th in economic participation, 33rd in political empowerment, 34th in health and survival, and 39th in educational attainment.

The country is among the 18 countries in the world that have closed at least 79.6 percent of economic participation and opportunity gaps.

"This result is due in part to the fact that the Philippines is one of the few countries that has closed at the same time its gender gap in senior roles, and in professional and technical roles," the report read.

However, the Philippines is still lagging in terms of political empowerment, with only 36.2 percent of the gap being closed.

"Despite having a woman as head of state of over 15 of the past 50 years, there are still too few seats in the parliament held by women (28 percent) and even fewer women among ministers (13 percent)," the WEF noted.

WEF also highlighted the need for women to be incentivized to participate more in the broader labor force, because only 49.1 percent of women are in the job market, corresponding to a gap closure of just 65.3 percent.

The persisting disparity in income and wage is another cause of concern for the country, according to WEF. The country needs to close 22 percent of the wage gap and 31 percent of the income gap.

More work to be done

Philippine Commission on Women Executive Director Atty. Kristine Rosary Yuzon-Chaves recognized that while the Philippines has made a lot of strides and ranked number one in Asia, the report proves that there is still more work to be done.

"We shall continue to enable and empower women, in aim to achieve gender equality in this country. Given our score in political empowerment, we must strengthen our campaign to increase women's political participation and representation, which is included in our Women's Priority Legislative Agenda," Yuzon-Chaves said.

"As to economic and labor participation, we will further work with government agencies in engaging women, providing fair and equal wage, establishing viable working conditions, and promoting deserving women to leadership roles," she added.

The WEF said the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has pushed back gender parity, adding 36 years to close the gender gap globally.

"It means it will now take 135.6 years to close the global gender gap," it added.