Women’s movement and alternatives in the Philippines

Women’s movement• a diverse social movement, seeking equal rights

and opportunities for women in their economic activities, their personal lives, and politics. It is recognized as the “second wave” of the larger feminist movement. While first-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on women’s legal rights, such as the right to vote, the second-wave feminism of the “women’s movement” peaked in the 1960s and ’70s and touched on every area of women’s experience—including family, sexuality, and work.

History:

1905 - June , the first women's

organization was established Asociacion Feminista Filipina

Objectives:- to oppose early marriage- propose prison reforms

especially on behalf of women and minors

- to work for the improvement of conditions of domestic service for women and children

- make visits to shops and factories employing men and women with a view to recommending labor reforms

- work for educational reforms through lectures and conferences for women

- encourage drives against prostitution, gambling and drinking; conduct religious and moral campaigns in schools, factories, etc.

- establish recreational facilities, persuade the government to appoint women to municipal and provincial boards of education and to create committees to inspect municipalities

1906

- Pura Villanueva Kalaw founded Asociacion Feminista Ilonga

1907

- Asociacion Feminista

Filipina joined the men

to form La Proteccion

de la Infancia first puericulture center

in the Philippines

1912

- the Society for the Advancement of Women was organized by two foreigners (Carrie Chapman Catt and Aleta Jacobs)

- This society was later renamed Women's Club of Manila and still much later, to Manila Women's Club

1921:

- National Federation

of Women’s Clubs

(NFWC) launched

the campaign for

suffrage

In the early 1970s:

- MAKIBAKA (Malayang Kilusan ng

Bagong Kababaihan or Free Movement

of New Women) was organized as an

offshoot of the Kabataan Makabayan

(Nationalist Youth)

Protested about:

- social injustices- the Vietnam War- the USA’s influence on

domestic affairs- oil process- Inflation- the Marcos government’s

fascist tendencies- the wife disparity between

the rich and the poor.

During Martial Law:

Women’s movement:

- protested against martial law

- protested gender-based segregation of work in export processing zones

- exposed issues of sexual harassment and sexual violence

- resisted the subordination of women's issues to national liberation

- formed a feminist political party and other feminist groups

- campaigned for women's reproductive rights, and advocating closure of US military bases in the country.

1983:

- KALAYAAN (Katipunan ng Kababaihan Para sa Kalayaan or Organization of Women for Freedom) was formed

This feminist organization tackled issues of:

- Rape

- domestic violence

- Pornography

- abortion

March 1984:

- GABRIELA (General Assembly Binding Women

for Reforms, Integrity, Equality, Leadership,

and Action) was formed

- At the beginning, it was interested in

harnessing women’s power for the anti-

Marcos dictatorship movement rather than in

advocating specific feminist or women’s issues

2005:

- the Centennial Year of the Feminist

Movement in the Philippines, as declared by

Proclamation No. 622 signed by President

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on April 29, 2004

Women’s Rights

Movement of the Philippines

History

Objectives:

Protecting women’s rights by:• Providing information regarding the status,

rights and obligations of women in our country and in other nations

• Encouraging women to exercise their rights and assert proper influence in public life

• Upholding and safeguarding the rights of women

• Eliminating discrimination, restrictions and limitations on women’s rights and prevent further imposition of the same

Promoting women’s rights by:

• Stimulating an intelligent and vigorous public opinion through community education

• Initiating support for women to be elected or appointed to responsible positions

• Pursuing projects to help improve the quality of family living

• Obtaining legislative and other measures to advance the Movement’s Objectives

Activities:

• Sponsors forums, seminars, lectures, and

workshops with the goal of developing civic

awareness and citizenship education

• Holds regular outreach seminars

• Holds health and ecology activities as part of

its concern for Mother Earth

General Assembly Binding Women

for Reforms, Integrity, Equality,

Leadership, and Action

(GABRIELA)

History

Objectives:

• to unite women from different classes

and standing in society

• to achieve a genuine national sovereignty

in which the Philippines will be free from

the influence of foreign countries

especially that of the United States

• to have a truly democratic government that also represent women and allows them to participate in it

• to achieve a fair, just, and independent legal and judicial that will not discriminate women and will advocate their rights and welfare

Principles:• a quality education system that is non-sexist• a socio-cultural system that does not demean

women• development of basic sciences and

technology that serves Filipinos and considers the particular needs of women

• the strengthening of unity with women's groups in other countries that are also against sexism, imperialism and militarism in the world

Activities:

• Holds educational activities that aim to initiate socio-cultural transformation.

• Creates programs and projects that aim to make the condition of women better.

• Promotes organized action that will eliminate the unjust and discriminatory practices as well as unequal and oppressive structures so that Filipinas can fully develop as persons.

• Forms alliances with both local and international women’s organizations so that there can be unity and better understanding of the need to resolve common problems of women.

National Federation of

Women's Clubs of the Philippines

(NFWCP)

History

Objectives: - To strengthen our organizational policies

specifically by:• Maintaining a regulatory system based on

agreed standards and practices• Establishing control system in accomplishing

results• Increasing financial resources, and• Applying modern methods and technology

and communication system

- To strengthen relationship and values among members and families specifically by:

• Sustaining harmony among members in a national level

• Maintaining international linkages

- To promote awareness, advocacy and development of women’s potentials and rights specifically by:

• Making women knowledgeable and well-informed

• Tapping women’s potentials for progress• Promoting women’s rights• Maintaining/developing women’s leadership

potentials

- To develop youth and children and protect their human rights.

- To support environmental conservation and

protection.

Women’s Movement in other countries:

Mujeres por la Vida (Women for Life) – Chile

• November 1983 - formed by sixteen women representing the full range of political parties within the opposition

• served as referents of various positions but did not represent their parties in an official capacity.

• to highlight exclusion from decision-making process

• women who find themselves participating in social, humanitarian, community, student, and professional organizations

•women who find themselves participating in social, humanitarian, community, student, and professional organizations

•brings together established women’s groups and individual

•exchange of ideas and mutual support among all these women’s groups.

•to build up a profound trust between women of different political positions and different social sectors.

•coordinates, such as mass meetings, fasts, public demonstrations, and public mobilizations in support of democracy and human rights

•supports campaigns for victims of repression

Women for Peace – East Germany

•1982 - after the passage of the law mandating military •service for women in case of war

•to raise public consciousness about militarization society, but, equally important, to raise the awareness of the groups’ own participant

Women’s Indian Association•established in 1918 by at Visakhapatnam (Vizag) , Andhra Pradesh

• helping distressed women and children

• work for the well being, advancement, promotion and training of women and children in social, economic, philanthropic and humanitarian activities

• Mid-day Meal program in a school and medical camps

•Legal awareness programs with the help of legal services authority

•Conducting workshops and seminars on issues related to women and children

•Pariwarak Lok Adalat (counseling the litigant for compromise)

•Leadership training programs for women

•Campaign against dowry prohibition, and domestic violence.

Women’s Movements Worldwide

EQUALITY NOW

• 1992 - organization that advocates for the human rights of women and girls around the world by raising international visibility of individual cases of abuse, mobilizing public support

•to ensure that governments enact or enforce laws and policies that uphold the rights of women and girls

Guiding Principles:

•Gender equality•Universality•Reciprocity in partnerships•Standing by principles

Methods:Social Change Model - based on “how what we do fits together and changes the world”

•International advocacy•Awareness-raising •Partnerships and coalition-building •Strengthening international •Conducting strategic litigation •Mobilizing financial and capacity-building support

Areas of Focus:•Discrimination in Law •Sexual Violence •Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)•Trafficking

The Adolescent Girls Legal Defense Fund (AGLDF) is a crosscutting project that supports impact litigation on issues that represent the most common human rights abuses of adolescent girls

MADRE•1983, a group of women activists, poets, teachers, artists and health professionals traveled to Nicaragua

•international women’s human rights organization that works in partnership with community-based women's organizations worldwide to address issues of health and reproductive rights, economic development, education and other human rights

•resources are shared equitably and sustainably

• enjoy the fullest range of individual and collective human rights

• participate effectively in all aspects of society

• vision of a unique women-led, women-run international human rights organization

• build real alternatives to war and violence by supporting the priorities of sister organizations and linking them to the needs of women and families