What could be deduced from all of these is that first, the barriers to women entry in barangay politics have been reduced to an extent. The usual complaints of inability to manage time, discrimination by male colleagues, costs, male environment and culture have been shown to have not so great effects when it comes to the barangay level. The perception on the relative easiness of work in the barangay actually makes people more lenient in putting women officials in office. Also, the little spatial distance between the home and the barangay allows women t juggle between family affairs and barangay affairs. The non-traditional perception, based on the survey, is another key factor why women have ease in entering barangay posts in Barangay VI.

Second, women officials in Barangay VI may be transformative in their approach but not in their agendas and goals. This could be attributed to the fact that people, based on the survey, do not actually perceive them as capable of being transformative. There was nothing that actually forces them to be transformative. The power to be transformative stems from experiences of oppression and progress (Cohen, Jones and Tronto, 1997, cited in Drage, 2001). The non-traditional perception on gender roles, I think, does not force women leaders in Barangay VI to prove themselves. There was no “oppression” in the very beginning (entry into politics) and there was nothing which could be translated into power to be transformative. Their will does not stem from something deep, metaphorically speaking.

Third, as the structure enables, it also constraints. The decentralized structure, the smallness of the barangay actually allows women to participate more, without encountering irresoluble problems when it comes to time management. As mentioned earlier, the very size of the barangay makes it manageable and easier for women, who have families to attend to, to handle. However, the smallness of the barangay also limits the capabilities of these women leaders. The interviewees could not implement projects which could be considered cause-oriented because the need to implement such does not arise. Also, the financial resources of the barangay are limited and focused only on improving roads and streets and for funding the barangay fiestas. The size of the barangay makes it manageable but the size too prevents women leaders from doing more. Thus they become limited to doing things male politicians also do, because those things (road improvements) are the visible ones and like male politicians their performance is gauged by those visible projects.

Fourth, the goals of these women leaders are limited to just the barangay. They still do not see themselves as fit and ready for higher political units. They still, I believe, see this world as a man’s world and that they could just penetrate the low and small political units.

And lastly, these women leaders do not exploit the enabling characteristics of the barangay structure. It is true, as said earlier, that the barangay also constrains with financial constraint and the small elbow room it imposes. However, compared to the constraints, the enabling mechanisms are actually greater, I argue. It is still possible to promote transformative leadership in the barangay unit even if there are constraints because of the lessened barriers to women’s political participation. They are already there why not make an imprint? What I think is lacking is the will to be transformative. No matter what the constraints are I think if there is the will to be transformative, in fact they are actually doing it when it comes to their approach, there is always a way.

This paper is not pessimist as to say that women should stop from entering politics, rather it is a celebration of the enabling characteristics of the barangay unit. What this paper argues forth is that women leaders should notice these enabling characteristics and take advantage of it and show that indeed they are capable of transforming politics. And that in fact even though people, based on the survey, do not think women as really capable of transformative leadership, they are still optimistic to say that women can change the political landscape.

Of course further research should be undertaken. I have limited my interviews to only two persons and to one case study. I believe it is better to have more case studies first before making a general description and general assessment on the subject matter. Also, the methods I employed are not perfect. In fact my survey was 9 respondents shy from achieving a normal distribution. Even if the quantitative methods that I employed may be distribution free methods it is still best to have a survey approximating a normal distribution.

So then again, further research should be undertaken.

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