MAKATI CITY – The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) joined the Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PH-EITI), which gathered various stakeholders in advancing gender mainstreaming in extractive governance in line with the 2025 National Women’s Month Celebration on March 18, at the Penthouse Ballroom, Lepanto Building.

The ILS, through Executive Director Jeanette T. Damo, delivered a presentation on women’s participation in extractive industries under the program component “Harnessing Gender-Sensitive Data to Drive Inclusive Extractive Governance,” where she underscored the importance of collecting and analyzing gender-disaggregated data as basis for policy formulation and program development.

The event, titled “Mining Her Own Business: Elevating Women’s Voices in Natural Resource Governance,” gathered women stakeholders, representatives from the national government agencies, mining companies, academe, and gender experts to discuss topics on women's labor force participation, gender-based concerns and rights in the workplace and the relevance of a sex-disaggregated data on extractive industries.

During the open forum, Executive Director Damo mentioned that gender and development are beyond collecting data. The stories behind those numbers are equally important which depicts the struggle and challenges that women have to overcome including their role in community and nation-building.

She also noted the importance of data storytelling in gender mainstreaming, and the need to maximize data on vulnerable sectors like women and girls and emphasized that data for policymaking and research need to be evidence-based.

“May kuwento sa bawat numero at kuwenta… at mahalaga ang evidence-based data pagdating sa policymaking at program development,” shared Executive Director Damo as one of her takeaways in the forum.

As the policy research and advocacy arm of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), she underlined that ILS always ensures the inclusion of gender components and relevance in its research projects.

Co-hosted by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), the discussions and collaborations that emerged from the event are expected to play a crucial role in shaping and pushing the future of women in extractive industries.

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