Meanwhile, Natividad admitted that there is no magic solution to gender equality, saying that there is a limited sense in every country of what a woman is capable of.

The summit never promises to solve anything. It promises to be a forum of solutions that have been provided by some women through legislation, policy, actual business practices, cooperate initiative, she said.

"What we can do is to accelerate some of those solutions by sharing with each other," she added.

"It's amazing to me that women have been able to achieve despite the problems that they face. I'm very proud of women and what they can do," she noted.

"Even there are no facilities or benefits to help them balance work and family, they figured it out," she said.

For example, she said, in the Philippines, the majority of overseas workforce that brings money home are women. They are supporting children, the whole family.

"This is why improving a woman's economic opportunity is so key, because she brings back money to her family more than man do," Natividad said.

There is a consensus that improving women's educational and economic status is an integral part of sustainable development, according to the summit president.

"No economy in the world can flourish if women are not given economic opportunities," she stressed.

She noted that women have entered the workforce in ever larger numbers and the number of entrepreneurships grows. Unfortunately, she said there has not been a significant increase in the percentage of women holding political leadership roles.