Justice is achieved not only when human rights laws exist, but when States fully implement them—ensuring gender equality in leadership, guaranteeing the meaningful participation of women, including Indigenous women, in decision‑making, and embedding their priorities into policies.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme, Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls, reminds us that women’s rights are human rights. In the Philippines, the National Women’s Month 2026 carried the theme WE for Gender Equality and an Inclusive Society, emphasizing that WE—women and everyone—must work together to build a fair and inclusive future where equality flows into all aspects of life. In the same vein, the World Water Day’s theme, Where Water Flows, Equality Grows, highlights that safe drinking water and sanitation are not only survival needs but essential foundations for gender equality.
For Indigenous women and girls, this struggle is compounded by intersectional discrimination rooted in gender, Indigenous identity, ethnicity, disability, age, language, socioeconomic status, and HIV/AIDS status. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) affirms equal rights to health, education, and participation in public life—rights that cannot be achieved without secure access to water and sanitation. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) further recognizes collective rights to lands, territories, and resources, including water systems vital to Indigenous communities.
When water governance fails to respect these rights, scarcity and drought impact more Indigenous women, forcing them to walk long distances, exposing them to violence, and limiting opportunities for education and livelihood. Advocacy around International Women’s Day, Philippine Women’s Month, and World Water Day underscores the urgent need for Indigenous women’s leadership in shaping water policies that reflect their realities.
In the Philippines, efforts are underway to incorporate these global commitments into national frameworks, yet progress remains uneven and demands stronger accountability. The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (RA 8371) must move beyond promise to practice in upholding Indigenous Peoples’ rights and guaranteeing equal access to basic services, including safe water. The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has acknowledged CEDAW General Recommendation No. 39 (GR 39) as a guide for strengthening Indigenous women’s roles in governance and resource management, initiating consultations, leadership training, and inclusion in Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) processes—but implementation must be enhanced and accelerated.
The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) has aligned with CEDAW General Recommendation No. 30 by integrating concrete measures to ensure women’s human rights are protected before, during, and after conflict. These commitments are reflected in Gender and Development (GAD) planning and budgeting, capacity‑building for gender‑responsive governance, and campaigns that promote Indigenous women’s leadership through partnerships.
Importantly, the current Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Plan explicitly integrates Indigenous women by enhancing recognition of their ownership and access to land and resources as enabling factors in advancing and sustaining their roles and livelihoods—particularly in the context of pandemic recovery and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. It also emphasizes the need to highlight the plight of Indigenous women in government recovery programs and beyond.
Yet these efforts require consistent monitoring, adequate resourcing, and stronger accountability to ensure that national policy and practice genuinely include Indigenous women’s leadership, participation, and priorities. Moving forward, it is essential that the next update of the GEWE Plan integrates CEDAW General Recommendation No. 39 on the rights of Indigenous women and girls, thereby strengthening protections and advancing their rights across all sectors.
National development plans, particularly the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023–2028, integrate gender equality into the SDGs, especially Goals 5 (Gender Equality) and 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation—but Indigenous women’s participation must be treated as a cross‑cutting priority rather than an option. The 2025 Voluntary National Review of the Philippines notes progress in the social sector SDGs, which includes gender equality. In 2022, Goals 1 (No Poverty), 3 (Health), and 4 (Education) needed acceleration, while Goals 2 (Zero Hunger) and 5 (Gender Equality) required trend reversals. By 2024, most social SDGs improved to “needs acceleration,” though Goal 3 declined to “regressing.”
For Goal 5, the Current Status Index rose from ‑4.2 in 2022 to 2.7 in 2024, but data gaps persist. Target 5.2 (violence against women and girls) improved to “on track,” while 5.3 (eliminate harmful practices) still needs acceleration. Target 5.5 (women’s participation and leadership) regressed, reflecting declines in women’s managerial roles. Gender‑disaggregated data remains limited, especially at the local level, making it difficult to track Indigenous women’s participation. Without their leadership and decision‑making power, these commitments risk staying on paper rather than transforming lives.
In biodiversity advocacy, the updated Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP 2024–2040) integrates the Kunming‑Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) Targets, particularly Target 23 on ensuring a gender‑responsive approach in biodiversity action and decision‑making, and its Gender Action Plan, which explicitly calls for gender equality and Indigenous Peoples’ participation.
Complementing this, the Indigenous Peoples’ Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan (IPBSAP), crafted for and by Indigenous Peoples, enriches the national plan by embedding Indigenous rights—especially the leadership and knowledge of Indigenous women and girls—into community‑driven conservation strategies. The IPBSAP aims to ensure that biodiversity governance is ecological, social, cultural, and gender‑responsive. It is imperative that the government supports the integration of IPBSAP in its plans and programs, with Indigenous women’s leadership and priorities at the center of national biodiversity resilience strategies.
The Climate Change Commission (CCC) has integrated earlier UNFCCC Gender Action Plans into the National Climate Change Action Plan. Building on this, the Philippines’ National Adaptation Plan (NAP 2023–2050) embeds gender-responsive adaptation priorities. The updated Belém Gender Action Plan adopted during the 30th Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change last year, which explicitly recognizes Indigenous women, calls for stronger monitoring indicators to ensure their full participation in climate finance, adaptation, and resilience strategies.
Gender equality in leadership and Indigenous women’s priorities in policy are matters of justice and survival. Water, climate, and biodiversity governance cannot succeed without Indigenous women’s knowledge and participation. The Philippines must move from rhetoric to accountability—resourcing their leadership, safeguarding rights, and centering voices in every decision. Only then can equality flow as freely as water, sustaining both people and the planet.