Women proving themselves

IN OBSERVANCE of International Women’s Day yesterday, the Bulong-Pulungan media forum invited women leaders in the House of Representatives to share the “Women’s Agenda in the House.”

Led by Rep. Gina de Venecia, president of the Association of Lady Legislators, the group was a mixed gathering of veteran legislators, newbies, party-list and district representatives, members of the minority and majority, singles, mothers and grandmothers (among them the youthful-looking Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla)—all of them articulate, opinionated and determined to make a difference in the field of politics.

Asked if they felt women had “proven themselves” in the macho lair that has been the legislature, De Venecia cited the accomplishments of the women in the past Congress, which passed three landmark bills on women’s concerns: the Magna Carta of Women, the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act, and the Anti-Trafficking of Women and Children Act. Right now, she said, the association’s priority is the passage of the Anti-Corporal Punishment Bill, which would lay down penalties against the abuse of physical punishment on children, especially by their parents.

Rep. Josie Joson, a returning congresswoman after choosing to go on hiatus at the end of her third term, acknowledged that “the men have been very supportive” in the passage of key legislation during her time as chair of the committee on women when the Anti-Trafficking and Anti-VAWC bills started down the road to passage.

Rep. Mitos Magsaysay, a third termer, clarified that women legislators don’t necessarily have to be confined to “pro-women bills,” saying women also had a say on matters that affected the general welfare of families. For instance, said Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy of the BH Party-list, she had just come from a hearing with Magsaysay where both of them led discussions on the need to regulate water rates, much to the consternation of the major water concessionaires. “Women are harder to corrupt,” said Herrera-Dy, mainly because lobbyists have fewer opportunities to compromise them. (“Walang ma-boteng usapan,” commented Magsaysay.)

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EVEN during the Bulong-Pulungan, the audience had lots of chances to witness how outspoken and firm the women could be, especially when talks turned to such hot-button issues like the reproductive health bill, the looming impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, the postponement of the ARMM elections, and the role that dynasties play in politics.

A revelation at the forum was Rep. Aliah Dimaporo, the US-educated granddaughter of Muhammad Ali Dimaporo, the “Lion of Lanao del Norte.” The only reason she decided to come home and jump into the political fray, she said, was the Ampatuan massacre, convinced that she had to do her share in ending violence and strife in Mindanao. “In fact, I arrived on the last day for filing of candidacies,” she remarked.

Queried on how they felt living “under the shadow” of their dynastic surnames, Revilla said she doesn’t view it as a burden but rather, as “continuing the legacy of the family.” Joson confided that “initially, among the Josons, women could not get involved in politics. But I think I changed their thinking.” The matter of being part of a political dynasty (which the Josons are in Nueva Ecija), she added, was not a negative, since it imbues the office-holder with the realization that “you have a name to protect.”

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PERHAPS as part of the coverage of International Women’s Day, Agence France-Presse had an item entitled “Women emerge as driving force in Mideast revolts.”

The report, authored by Natacha Yazbeck, mentioned how, in the popular revolts now throwing the Arab world into turmoil, “women are defying both taboo and stereotype and emerging as a driving force that is keeping the momentum of the protests going.”

Nadim Houry, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, was quoted as saying that a key factor in raising the profile of women in these protests was the women “are there, physically present in the streets, showing their numbers.”

This is heady news, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa where women by law and tradition have long been kept subservient and shackled by customary laws. Would the revolts herald a new age of emancipation for women in the Arab world, and for all women living under Muslim law?

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WELL, let’s look at the example of Egypt. It is one of the earliest examples of a victorious popular revolt, with former President Hosni Mubarak ousted, with a military-run coalition crafting together a new government under a new constitution now being crafted by a Constitutional Committee.

And yet a broad coalition of civil society groups have issued a statement expressing their “disapproval of the criteria and formation of the Constitutional Committee (which) does not include a single female expert.” The issue, said the signatories, “poses a critical question as regards the main aims of the revolution which were initially spelled out as equality, freedom, democracy and participation of all citizens.”

Said the group: “We believe that as Egyptian women largely and equally participated in the revolution with Egyptian men and some of them have been jailed and still lost while others have even (been) martyred, they have the right to participate in building the New Egyptian State on the simple basis of citizenship.”

International pressure is now being brought to bear on Egyptian authorities regarding the absence of women from the constitution-drafting body. But Egypt is not the first country or revolution where women fought alongside men only to find their gains and contributions ignored and men conspiring to put them back “where they belong.”