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Breaking the chains of women from poverty and oppression

The Philippine government signed the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in July 15, 1980 and ratified it in August 15, 1981. CEDAW is also known as the international bill of human rights of women to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and to build equality between men and women.

Being a signatory to this international convention, the Philippine government recognizes that discrimination and inequality against women women exist and therefore state action has to be done. Again as a signatory, the Phil. Government is obligated to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women, realize substantive equality between men and women and protect, promote and fulfill women’s human rights.

Is the Phil. Government Fulfilling its Obligations with Respect to CEDAW?

The recognition that women are getting now is a result of struggles of women themselves through their movements and organizations.

Progressive laws for women like the Day Care Law, Paternity Leave, Anti-Rape Law, Anti-Sexual Harassment Law, Anti-trafficking of Persons Law, Anti-Violence Against Women and Children are a result of  women’s struggles for their right’s protection and advancement. Legislators were pushed to come up with legislative measures to address issues of women.

Being a signatory, the Phil. government is compelled to take executive and legislative measures as a show of goodwill. Among them, the creation of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, The Role of Women in Nation-building and allocating 5% of funds of local government units and agencies for Gender and Development.

Every four years, it has to report to the CEDAW Committee on how it fulfilled its obligations.

An improvement in the situation of women and in their enjoyment of their rights as women should be seen in a qualitative sense. The alarming reality is that women’s situation is worsening instead of improving, noting that this is the 25th year since the Phil. Government  signed CEDAW. Cases of violence against women increased by 7th-fold from 1996 to 2004, female labor participation rate consistently lags behind, access to social services particularly health, education and housing is deteriorating.

The situation of women has even deteriorated now with a woman president. What have we achieved since we had this woman president: (1) our country is second most corrupt in Asia; (2) has achieved the highest unemployment rate in the country’s history; (3) peso reached its weakest (P56 plus to a US$); (4) increasing violence against women

In the economic field, massive poverty has intensified. The biggest number of poor can be found among women and children. Women continue to lose their jobs and livelihood. At the national level, around 350 Filipinos lose their jobs daily. From 2002 to 2004, around 8,673 companies closed shops affecting 184,231 workers. 3 out of 10 women workers are contractual workers. Here in the Baguio, available work is with the service sector (hotel, restaurant, sales/department stores)

Women are still hired in jobs that are extention of their gender roles in the so-called “feminine” work. Of the 35.7 million workers nationwide, almost 38% or 13.4 million are women. 1.2 million of these are unemployed.

Minimum daily wage range from P180-325. In the Cordillera, minimum wage is pegged at P200. According to NWPC, P690 is needed for a family of 6 for food and non-food requirements. So if the family earns only P200, then their budget is short by 71%. With the level of poverty, women are forced to purchase in lesser quantity (tingi-tingi) and will purchase from wagwag stores for clothes. They resort to limit their spending on basic needs like food and utilities. They resort to borrowing/loans even conferring to those who lend for an interest of  20% or more. Women usually take extra jobs in order to cope.

Women continue to resort to overseas employment. They compose 74.3% of newly-hired overseas labor. Majority of the 300,000 which left for Japan last year are women who worked as entertainers. Desperate to survive, women take the risk, becoming victims of modern slavery. Around 77,000 left for Japan illegally, last year.

While the Arroyo government is failing to create decent and secured jobs, it is coming up with economic measures that further poverty. The imposition of the expanded-value added tax meant inflation and high prices. With e-VAT, inflation rate is expected to hit 7.5-8.1% or even higher for 2006. With the high cost of LPG, more and more families are shifting to the basics of charcoal, firewood and kerosene.

Budget priority still goes to debt servicing (each Filipino owes P64,554.00) while social services still get the smallest. Last year, P1.5 billion was being paid daily for debt servicing. For this year, the government will only be spending P1,285 for every student in the public school, P120 per Filipino for health services and P24.15 for housing.

A clear impact of poverty on women is the increasing cases of violence:  one woman is raped every 8 hours, 1 woman or child is battered every 3 hours, 1 woman is sexually harassed every 12 hours. One celebrated case of violence against women is the rape of a 22 year old young woman by 6 US servicemen which participated in a Balikatan exercise. More of this will be expected with PGMA persevering on its commitment to the Visiting Forces Agreement amid calls to junk this agreement which tramples on national sovereignty and enables violence against Filipino.

Human rights violations due to heightened political repression is becoming more rampant. Presidential Proclamation 1017, was GMA’s show of insecurity as she holds on to power.  Staunch women rights defenders and leaders like Representative Liza Maza of the Gabriela Women’s Party was not spared from the fang of  GMA’s political repression. So with other women leaders who are only expressing legitimate women’s issues. They are obnoxiously charged with rebellion.

Desperately holding on to power, GMA is now pushing for charter change. Again this move of GMA will only mean increasing difficulty, discrimination and inequality for women. The clear reasons for charter change is for GMA to stay in power even beyond 2010, lifting of protectionist provisions in the constitution, open up the country to foreign ownership specially natural resources, media and communication, remove the provisions on rights and civil liberties and accommodate the demands of liberalization imposed by the World Trade Organization.

These conditions under the regime of a desperate woman holding on to power are clear manifestations of non-compliance to the CEDAW. It is then our task as women rights defenders and leaders to pursue with the national government its obligations in fulfilling the CEDAW as a sincere act of realizing women’s rights and welfare. Let us also maximize other venues in addressing our issues—the streets and plazas, our communities, local government officials, various institutions in reaching to the wider women and public.

Let us always be reminded of the beginnings of March 8. International Women’s Day came to being because of the struggles of women workers for humane working conditions, shorter working hours, higher pay, end to child labor and right to suffrage. #

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