Sagarika Senapaty, Manila: Women from the Philippines have long been known for working as maids or sales girls in many parts of the world, but, back home, they are taking huge strides in the work place.

The International Labour Organisation says the ratio of women to men in executive jobs in the Philippines is the highest in the world at about 58 percent. Barbados follows with 43.4 percent and then the United States with 42.3 percent.

The number of women in senior positions rose to 2.257 million in 2006 from 2.162 million in 2004, according to thePhilippines' Department of Labour.

The number of men in similar jobs increased to 1.629million from 1.613 million in the same period. "Women are better managers of people," says Danilo Antonio,the chief executive of Land-Excel Consulting, a Manila real estate firm, and a professor at the Asian Institute of Management.

"They are also more hard-working." He says the Philippines' colonial experiences may help explain the country's leading position in the number of women executives.

The Southeast Asian country was ruled by Spain from the early 16th century until the end of the 19th century.

It then became a U.S. colony for the first half of the 20th century.

"During the Spanish colonial time, women were not encouraged to seek a separate personality, their influence remained in the home", Antonio said.

"The heavy influence of U.S. culture on us explains this phenomenon a lot better", he added. "Equal opportunities for all became a battle cry".

In recent decades, the Philippines has had several women in strong leadership positions, including former President Corazon Aquino and current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Imelda Marcos, the wife of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was also an iconic figure who wielded a great deal of influence.

Their advent, Antonio says, led to a further change in the outlook towards the traditional role of women.

And a more accepting society provided women with equal opportunities,allowing them to enter the business world with confidence."

These opportunities are now provided to women, not on the basis of gender, which is now inconsequential, but on the basis of personal ability, guile, and other strong human leadership skills and mindsets".

Female Influence

Women make up about 40 percent of the Philippine work force of about 37 million people, but they dominate office jobs, according to the Department of Labour.

Women also dominate the millions of Filipinos who work overseas, employed as maids, sales ladies or clerks across the world, the department says.

About 10 percent of the country's 89 million people work overseas and slightly over 50 percent are women.

When the doors of suburban trains clang open in the morning at the Ayala station in the heart of Manila's business district, there are relatively few men around.

Women holding handbags and umbrellas and some clutchinglunch packets engulf the stairways, escalators and walkways that stretch into the city, leading to banks and offices.

"More women are going to the workplace, so more and more women are making it into the executive positions", says AgnesA. Gervacio, the country manager of telecommunications firm Asia Net com Philippines.

Women now go to university hoping to pursue a career, and not just to find a job before getting married and giving it all up, she said.

What helps, Gervacio says, is the relatively good support system women find from colleagues and family.

Women from all walks of life can rely on either relatives or hired help to take care of their children while they workout side the home.

"Even though culturally the woman takes care of the kids and manages the house, supportive colleagues can help overcome that obstacle if they understand that family comes first."