A PHILIPPINE Youth Representative stressed the importance of investment in quality education as a way to accelerate the eradication of poverty among girls.

During the dialogue with youth representatives at the United Nations headquarters in New York, Philippine representative Mandy Romero of 1Pacman Partylist lamented that at least one in five Filipino women live in poverty, further limiting their access to education.

“Investing in quality education is one of the most transformative zero poverty strategies — to give a platform for diverse female voices,” she said.

“While the Philippines has proudly achieved gender parity and free access for primary and secondary education, barriers like family responsibilities, malnutrition, hazardous journeys prone to gender-based violence, and disabilities keep one in 10 girls out of basic education,” she added.

She said in the Philippines, only 49 percent of Filipino women are part of the labor force compared to the 73 percent of men but college-educated Filipino women are 73 percent more likely to participate in the labor force.

Through the country’s Free Tertiary Education law, Romero noted majority of the 2.4 million annual scholars are women.

To further close the labor force gap, the government also strives to empower girls and women to be innovators with demand-led skills in male-dominated fields like STEM or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and agri-fisheries.