Women in STEM Workforce Readiness and Development Programme in the Philippines

Programme at a glance

• Development objective: Strengthen linkages between private sector firms, social partner institutions and vocational training centres to ensure greater opportunity through higher entry, retention and advancement of women workers in STEM-related positions.
• Partners: Sectoral business associations, private sector firms, TVET institutions and relevant public agencies.
• Industry focus: Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO)

Programme background

Over the next two decades, technological advances including cloud technology and robotic process automation, will significantly change jobs and enterprises in the Philippines. The ILO estimates that 49 per cent of employment (over 18 million jobs) face a risk of automation in the Philippines. Female are employed predominantly in jobs requiring low Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills, which are clearly at risk of automation. Women are 140 per cent more likely than men to losing their job as a consequence of automation.

To address these issues, and considering the national economic and social development priorities, the ILO identified the IT-BPO industry as high-growth in the Philippines, presenting significant projected STEM-related skills gaps and opportunities for growth for women over the next decades. Female employment in the industry is currently concentrated in low-skilled occupations. To change this, the ILO program aims to improve women acquisition and adoption of critical soft and technical STEM-related skills for the industry and, in this way, contribute to reduce the skills mismatches that are affecting workers’ productivity and enterprises’ competitiveness in this rapidly changing context.

Productivity is a key source of improved living standards for women and also a major contributor to economic growth. Therefore, to improve productivity and prevent women from losing their jobs as a consequence of automation, the ILO program will seek to strengthen linkages between private sector firms, social partner institutions and vocational training centres to ensure greater opportunity through higher entry, retention and advancement of women workers in STEM-related positions.

Objectives

Women in STEM-related industries face a variety of challenges that reduce entry, retention and career advancement in these industries. Therefore, the ILO programme seeks to:

• Successfully transition underprivileged female vocational school graduates into STEM-related employment with sustainable career and livelihood prospects;
• Successfully transition women in low-skilled jobs to quality STEM-related employment with sustainable career and livelihood prospects;
• Successfully transition mid-skilled women in STEM fields into leadership and management positions to ensure women not only enter, but also stay and get promoted in STEM fields.

Target beneficiaries

The Women in STEM Programme aims to empower, connect and support career development of the following groups of women:

1. Underprivileged female secondary or post-secondary TVET graduates;
2. Under-employed women working in entry level STEM-related jobs;
3. Mid-level skilled women working in STEM fields.

Main activities

1. Skills gap identification

Consultation with sectoral business associations and key private sector firms to identify and prioritize industry specific skills and occupational needs and develop an action plan for skills development in the electrical and electronics industry. The design of a training plan and subsequent curricula seeks to be demand-oriented and include industry-specific STEM-related skills development and employability plans for women.

2. Skills upgrading

Upskilling and broadening critical soft and technical STEM-related skills, targeting three categories of women, which each category being offered a different type of training:

a. Pre-employment technical and employability skills for TVET graduates to facilitate their entry into full-time jobs;
b. Skills upgrading for those who are already in employment but in low-skilled jobs with limited mobility to expand their career prospects;
c. High-end technical skills, or leadership and managerial training for those who are already in supervisory or mid-skilled positions.

3. Job placement

Maximize job placement through continuous collaboration with private sector firms throughout programme implementation.

4. In-company developing and mentoring

A programme of company-level peer support and mentorship organized by and within participating firms. The in-company development and mentoring seeks to strengthen retention and advancement of women workers through peer learning networks to boost critical soft skills.

Participating firms will benefit from an innovative learning approach designed by the ILO to deliver soft skills training, leveraging peer learning networks to support development, growth, and enhancement of enterprises. The In-Business training methodology offers a suite of training modules that apply activity-based, participant driven learning designed to empower female employees and connect them with role models and mentors. Topics for soft skills modules include: Vision setting, Creative thinking, Problem solving, Teamwork, Negotiation and persuasion, Interpersonal communication, Public speaking, Critical thinking and reasoning, Time management and self-organization, Starting to manage, Leadership, Personal or oral expression, Working in a cross-cultural environment and Managing upwards.

For further information please contact:

Ms Linartes Viloria
National Project Coordinator
Women in STEM Workforce Readiness
and Development Programme in the Philippines

International Labour Organization (ILO)
Country Office for the Philippines
19th Floor, Yuchengco Tower
6819 Ayala Avenue
Makati City 1200 Philippines