ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to describe contemporary patterns of female migration in the Philippines and to review policy-making and planning in the Philippines as they relate to women and particularly to female migrants. It examines contemporary and historical data on women's occupations in urban areas, which show that there has been concomitant transformation of women's economic roles. The chapter reviews Philippine policies and programs aimed directly or indirectly at women or migrants. The growth of education is probably the single most important social change in the Philippines in the present century, and its importance is especially pronounced for women. Employment programs for women are of two kinds: those that aim at increasing women's productivity by involving them directly in market activity and those that look after the welfare of working women. The chapter concludes that despite the demonstrated importance of women in the Philippine migration system there is little official recognition of demographic patterns in the government's programs.
