Majority of the population in Northern Mindanao are men, comprising 50.69% of the total regional population based on the 2000 census of population and housing. Moreover, men in the age groups 0-4 up to 55-59 outnumber women at an average (weighted) sex ratio of 103.35. Similarly, and as expected, majority of the enrollees in the first grade of primary education are males, comprising 54.14% of the total 1st graders for both government and private schools for the School Year 2005 – 2006. However, statistics show that as the levels in education progress, the female percentage of the population increases while that of males decline.

For the School Year 2005 – 2006, the percentage of the population that are female increased at an average of 1.14 percentage points per year level, as the grade progressed from the 1st to the 6th. Furthermore, it can be noted that females outnumbered the males starting on the 5th grade onwards.

The trend in which the female percentage of the population increases while males decline also applies on the secondary level of education, for both government and private schools. On the same school year, 50.26 percent of the freshmen enrollees are female compared to 49.74 percent male. On the sophomore year, the female percentage in the population increased to 52.22 percent, and further increased to 53.45 percent on the junior year, and furthermore, to 54.63 percent in the senior year. Moreover, majority or 56 percent of the enrollees in the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are women.

Among the reasons why it tends to have more females than males as the level of education progresses is because majority of the flunkers are male. Majority of repeaters for both primary and secondary education are males, comprising 63.17% and 73.57%, respectively, and consequently, women have higher participation rate, survival rate and graduation rate in public primary schools compared to men. On average, women have higher simple literacy rate up to the 40-49 years age group, and higher functional literacy rate up to the 50-59 years age group.

With women faring better in education than men, it is but expected that 60.33 percent of the faculty in Higher Education Institutions are women. Moreover, with regards to labor and employment, though majority, or 58.44% (of which 55.52% are employed and 3.08% are unemployed) of the labor force are men, there are more employed women who have attained a college degree or higher (123,000) compared to men (97,000). Furthermore, With regards to the major occupational classifications, women comprise 63.13 % and 68.66 % of the (a) Officials in Government and Special Interest-organizations, corporate executives, Managers, Managing Proprietors and Supervisors, and (b) professionals, respectively.

Data Sources:
Women and Men (WAM) in Northern Mindanao Statistical Handbook, NSCB
National Statistics Office (NSO)
Department of Education (DepEd)
Commission on Higher Education (CHEd)