DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 04, 2008) - The Institute for Occupational Health and Safety Development (IOHSAD), an occupational health and safety non-governmental organization on Monday lauded Davao City Councilor Edgar Ibuyan for authoring an ordinance requiring mall owners to provide seats for their women workers.
“Kudos to Councilor Ibuyan for pushing for this ordinance and to the restof the Davao City Council for passing this ordinance. This can ease someof the burden women workers are facing, especially those in the servicesector, since standing for long hours is detrimental to the over-all healthof a person,” Noel Colina, Executive Director of IOHSAD, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
According to studies made by IOHSAD on workers in department stores, womenwho stand for long hours on end showed symptoms of disruption in theirregular menstrual cycle, including painful menstruation or Dysmenorrhea andAmenorrhea or absence of menstruation.
“We hope this becomes like a spark which starts a prairie fire, with therest of the country, including big department stores following suit. Thiswill help improve the reproductive health of our women workers,” Colina said.
