𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘁—𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸?

Government non-career jobs aren’t spread out “fairly” by gender—and the pattern is pretty clear. Using Civil Service Commission (CSC) data, UP Diliman professor and Inquirer data scientist Dr. Rogelio Alicor Panao found that women are the majority in contractual positions, while men are more common in casual roles and heavily dominant in politically linked appointments.

In contractual roles, women make up 62.6%. These are typically technical, professional, or project-based jobs that help keep offices functioning day to day—but they often come with a built-in insecurity: renewal dependence. You can be skilled and essential, but still feel replaceable every cycle. Meanwhile, in casual positions, men account for 56.7%, a category tied to short-term or support work that tends to be more precarious.

The biggest gender gap shows up where power is closest. In elective posts, 73.3% are held by men. In coterminous positions—trust-and-confidence appointments linked to elected officials—60.3% are men. The overall picture: women are clustered in the “technical middle” that keeps government moving, while men are overrepresented both at the top (political authority) and in the most insecure base (casual labor).

This isn’t just a “women’s issue” headline—it’s a systems issue. If public service is supposed to be about merit, stability, and fairness, then the question isn’t only how many jobs exist—it’s who gets security, who gets renewal anxiety, and who gets the pipeline to power.