STEWARDSHIP OF WOMEN INTEGRATED INTO MPAS (SWIM) OF SAN JUAN, BATANGAS

Abstract

The study determines women’s level of involvement in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) Regulations of San Juan, Batangas in terms of their engagement in conservation, participation and compliance of MPAs laws. Analysis of gender dimensions of MPAs is valuable for implementing the municipal and national laws relative to MPAs’ management because women are often ignored in the involvement in making coastal resources management policies. In process of research, the validated questionnaire was examined and passed through reliability analysis – scale (alpha) or Cronbach’s alpha of .959 for overall involvement. The number of women respondents were determined through Raosoft sample size calculator with the result of 381 and equally distributed in 16 coastal barangays in San Juan, Batangas. Based on result, it revealed that most of the respondents were from 18-30 years, who are married, employed, whose primarily reason for involvement refers to livelihood and annually engaged into MPA related activities. They seldomly involve themselves into conservation, compliance and participation in the management of MPAs. For realizing inclusive and sustainable development, an action must take measure to integrate gender and development perspectives into marine protected areas and the implementation of women empowerment program in the coastal areas of Municipality of San Juan, Batangas.