TWO congressmen have proposed a law calling for expanding the coverage of acts of discrimination against women.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Abante Mindanao party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez Jr. said Congress must address with dispatch the inequalities because of sexual discrimination.

The two filed House Bill No. 51 which seeks to expand the prohibited acts of discrimination against women on account of sex. It seeks to amend Presidential Decree 442 otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines.

Rufus said the Constitution recognizes the role of women in nation building and ensures the fundamental equality before the law of women and men.

“But despite the passage of laws that give women equal legal status with men, there is much to be done to promote women’s welfare and status,” said Rufus.

He said based on a study conducted by the Bureau of Women and Young Workers and the National Statistics Office, women employees generally earned less than their male counterparts.

“These women employees are predominantly in low-skilled jobs and only a few of them advance to the top of the organizational hierarchy,” said Rodriguez.

Under the bill, the payment of a lesser compensation, including wage, salary or other form of remuneration and fringe benefits, to a female employee as against a male employee, for work of equal value is considered an act of discrimination.

Likewise, under the bill the act of favoring a male employee over a female employee with respect to promotion, assignment, training opportunities, study and scholarship grants solely on account of their sexes is discrimination against women workers.

The act of favoring a male employee over a female employee with respect to dismissal of personnel or the application of any retrenchment policy of the employer solely on account of their sexes is also considered an act of discrimination against women and has a corresponding penalty under this Act.

The bill also finds the employer liable for acts of discrimination against women if he denies any woman employee the benefits provided for in this Charter or if he discharges any woman employed by him for the purpose of preventing her from enjoying any of the benefits provided under this Code.

The employer is also prohibited to fire a woman on account of her pregnancy, or while on leave or in confinement due to her pregnancy; to discharge or refuse the admission of a woman upon returning to her work for fear that she may again be pregnant; or to deny any woman the benefits of employment or other statutory benefits under the laws by reason of her sex.

Rodriguez said encouraging employers to recruit and hire more women in the workplace eliminates the big stumbling block to women’s employability, considering that there are more equally or even talented, skilled and qualified women in the country today.

Violators face a fine of P200,000 and a jail term of four years.