Question & AnswerQ&A (EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 208)
The Chairperson of the Commission is appointed by the President of the Philippines.
The Commission is composed of twenty-one (21) members.
The ten government departments represented are Labor and Employment (DOLE), National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Agriculture (DA), Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), Health (DOH), Foreign Affairs (DFA), Interior and Local Government (DILG), Trade and Industry (DTI), and Budget and Management (DBM).
They represent the sectors of Labor; Business and Industry; Science and Health; Education or Academe; Urban Poor; Indigenous Peoples; Peasants and Fisherfolks; Elderly and Disabled; Media and Arts; Youth; and also include a representative of the National Council of Women in the Philippines.
The Commission has the same status as a government agency attached to the Office of the President.
The Commission serves as the primary policy-making and coordinating body of all women development programs and institutions in the Philippines.
First, to promote women's empowerment for effective participation and as full and equal partners of men in social, economic, political development and nation building; second, to enable government agencies to address gender concerns in all stages of development processes at national and local levels.
The key functions include instituting gender responsiveness in national development plans, coordinating the National Plan for Women, monitoring government agency performance in implementing the Plan, advocating women's economic, social, and political empowerment, providing technical assistance on gender mainstreaming, and preserving Filipino women's cultural and traditional gains during modernization.
The President exercises this power under Section 20, Book III of Executive Order No. 292 (Revised Administrative Code) and Section 60 of the General Provisions of Republic Act No. 7663.