The percentage of the population with access to safe drinking water increased between 1980 and 1990, from 65 to 93 percent of the urban population and from 43 to 72 percent of the rural population. The figures for sanitation services showed the same increase, climbing from 81 percent with access in 1980 to 98 per cent in 1990 among urban dwellers and from 67 to 85 percent among those in rural areas. Secondary school enrollment rates for boys and girls also showed gains. Girls and boys have traditionally reached similar educational levels in the Philippines, a trend that contributed to women's gains in the labor market during adjustment in the 1980s. While labor force participation rates for men rose only slightly, the rates for women increased dramatically, from 23 to 37 percent.

At the same time, women's wages as a percentage of men's grew from 71 to 80 percent between 1978 and 1988 (Tzannatos 1995). A recent study of a low-income community in Manila found that in some private sector jobs women earn more than men, reflecting in part the high educational level among women in the sector. Earnings in the informal sector are generally low for both women and men. although some women have been so successful in their informal sector businesses that their spouses have opted to leave low-paying jobs in the formal sector to participate in their wives enterprises (Moser 1994). benefits of growth by large segments of the population. The short-term costs can include increases in food prices as subsidies are removed temporary restrictions on credit to control monetary expansion, and cuts in public spending as governments attempt to control budget deficits and reorient spending toward the most important public services. Moreover, inequalities in access to and control over resources and in entry into markets hamper some groups in taking advantage of the opportunities created by economic reform For example, people who are unable to acquire new skills may remain for some thee. Gender inequalities in access to and control over land in rural areas can keep women farmers from taking advantage of changes in the relative prices of tradable and non tradable crops.

Improvements in living standards have been widespread, and the largest gains have been made in some of the country's poorest regions, such as the urban and rural sierra (mountain areas). In most parts of the country, increases in per capita expenditure among households headed by women have been above the national average. In the urban and rural sierra, for example. consumption expenditure by these households increased by 47.7 and 44.8 percent. respectively-figures that compare favorably with increases in per capita expenditure among households headed by men (35 and 28 percent for the same regions).

Although both women and men are expected to gain from economic reform in the long run. gender inequalities at the household and market levels can mean that the benefits of reform reach women, especially poor women. only slowly. Reforms must incorporate measures aimed at counter acting shot-term transitional costs. Among the most important are safety nets specifically targeted to vulnerable groups. For example, in fiscal 1994 seventeen of the twenty-three reform programs supported by the World Bank included components aimed specifically at reducing poverty: fourteen of them targeted programs or safety net measures such as labor-intensive public works projects. targeted and social assistance programs, and unemployment and social security schemes (see box 3.6).

However, safety nets are not a substitute for a mote integrated approach to economic and social policy that includes appropriate levels of harvest in social services and infrastructure. Recognizing this fact, governments and donors are increasingly incorporating into their reform packages antipoverty initiatives and measures to reduce gender inequality. In Pakistan, for example, the FIDA-financed Public Sector Adjustment. Program provides much needed the financial support for the balance of payments account and reinforces the emphasis on government investment in the social sectors. The program promotes increased access to and improvements in basic education. health. and water supply services that benefit girls and rural areas. It also supports a shift it government education and health spending toward the primary level.

In fiscal 1994 twelve of twenty-three World Bank economic reform pro emphasized the restructuring public expenditure, primarily to and increase spending on education. health care, and other areas important to poverty reduction such as water supply and sanitation. The Burkina Faso reform program is typical; it supports an increase in the total budgeted amounts for primary education and health services, which are particularly beneficial to the poor and to women. Uganda s program seeks to protect and enhance public expenditures for basic social services. including water supply primary health care and primary education. In the long term, the reform of public spending-especially in the social sectors, physical infrastructure and agricultural research and extension-promises significant benefits) trot women.