March 8 — International Women’s Day IWD) — was celebrated worldwide with the usual marches, forums, and awards ceremonies, many of which were intended to remind everyone of the importance of recognizing the rights of womenfolk who make up half of the population of the world. Celebrations normally focus on "herstory” — gains that have been achieved in such areas as education, employment, status at home, and in public life, health and welfare, and the struggles and hurdles along the way.
In a review of the status of women’s rights in the country over the past 50 years, Assistant Secretary Lila Ramos Shahani of the Human Development and Poverty Reduction Cabinet Cluster noted that a disparity exists between the fulfillment of their needs and the services and protection afforded them by the state. This continues despite the establishment of mechanisms intended to upgrade the status of women during the past administrations.
Her review cited the establishment of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (now the Philippine Commission on Women) in 1975 during the Marcos administration. The Philippine Development Plan was implemented during the Cory Aquino presidency. It was during the administration of Fidel V. Ramos that the Gender and Development Budget and full representation of women in the Social Service Commission was introduced. The Philippine Agenda for Women Empowerment was the principal contribution of the Estrada administration. And the Framework Plan for Women and Magna Carta for Women, was the primary innovation in the area of promoting women’s status during the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
But with the envisioned integration into the APEC economies and with ASEAN integration, the challenges are expected to become even greater. A paper prepared by the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) notes that as the country makes this transition, it is important for the gender issue to "penetrate hard areas like finance, energy, infrastructure, and the like. Thus, to make these areas more gender-sensitive, gender must not stay enclosed in social development (like health and education) and recommends that women must be prepared to compete in the global marketplace through such means as empowering women enterprises, making women-owned enterprises competitive, and building resilience and sustainability.
While milestones insofar as the integration of women in the area of politics, law enforcement, and security is concerned, the vision of gender equity has been hampered by weak enforcement of the law. Thus, some of the policy issues focus on the need to use quotas to boost the number of woman legislators, support of women’s legal organizations, support of one-stop shops to reduce attrition in the justice chain, to put more women on the front line in law enforcement, implement gender-responsive reparations programs, and increase women’s access to courts during and after conflict.
Here is also a viewpoint from a feminist. This reflection by 68-year-old Jurgette Honculada, the better half of another human rights leader, Bong Malonzo, is one of the nicest ways of remembering IWD as it celebrates the role of being a "nanay” and a "lola.” She describes herself as a mellowed feminist, in fact, a "lola” feminist. Here, we can empathize and identify with her in this role, feel her "sense of wonder” at being a lola, and how this has brought her greater balance and equanimity.
Jurgette writes: "There still is a fire in the belly, but without the apocalyptic sense of young know-it-all feminists. Let me now greet you with some thought on what this interface of age and gender has brought me. First of all, a deepened sense of wonder. As I say it, it takes at least four miracles of produce an apo: first, you must meet and fall in love with someone; second, you must stay with that someone long enough to make/have a baby; third, the baby must grow up to adulthood and fall in love; and fourth, your son/daughter must stay with the partner long enough to make/ha ve a baby. Any break in that chain can spell disaster.” My email is florangel.braid@gmail.com//
