CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS: EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN

Recognizing that the economic, political, and socio cultural realities affect womens current condition, the State affirms the role of women in nation building and ensures the substantive equality of women and men. The Constitution clearly provides in Article II: Declaration of State Policies, Section 14; The state recognizes the role of WOMEN in nation building and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of men and women. It expressly recognizes the role of women in nation building and commands the State to ensure at all times, the fundamental equality before the law of men and women. Corollary thereto, Section 3, Article XIII (Social Justice and Human Rights), pointedly requires the State to afford full protection to labor and to promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all, including an assurance of entitlement to tenurial security of all workers. LABOR Section 3. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all. It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall also participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may be provided by law. The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility between workers and employers and the preferential use of voluntary modes in settling disputes, including conciliation, and shall enforce their mutual compliance therewith to foster industrial peace. The State shall regulate the relations between workers and employers, recognizing the right of labor to its just share in the fruits of production and the right of enterprises to reasonable returns to investments, and to expansion and growth. Similarly, Section 14 of Article XIII (Social Justice and Human Rights) mandates the Sate shall protect working women through provisions for opportunities that would enable them to reach their full potential.

WOMEN Section 14. The State shall protect working women by providing safe and healthful working conditions, taking into account their maternal functions, and such facilities and opportunities that will enhance their welfare and enable them to realize their full potential in the service of the nation.