The name of the game

AT the time I wrote this, Cebuanos waited for the result of the hearing in the Court of Appeals— whether the Court would issue a TRO against the order of the President to suspend the Cebu governor for “grave abuse of authority.”

As more days pass, the wait goes on. I’d look and look again at the Capitol whenever I pass by and realized that the “fight” (if fight it is) is between two women!

While we wait for word from the Court of Appeals, let’s talk about woman and politics which is an interesting topic.

In the deadlock between Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and acting Gov. Agnes Magpale, almost all of their moves are quiet but fightingest, like from and to politicians. And the fight is not over a room, a building, a physical city, a land called the province but the governing power of two political dynasties behind all these, as well as a fight of political parties.

And it’s not just two women in a tangle.

You look at the women on TV and look twice. They have strength and power to lead, or they dream of a better Cebu, they’re mothers of Cebuanos, as some people say. They move, or make wrong moves but insist they are right.

But who’s to say what’s right and wrong in the true sense, within and outside politics?

Or how can you “interpret the female soul”, especially in politics?

Right, we are a nation of strong women, taking sturdy roles in the matriarchal family, in businesses, in government. Filipino women earned the right to vote in 1937, which is early enough record than in the case of some other countries in the region.

One of the recent stories of females in politics is that of Americans. Women in politics is what is making points and about which American women in the last election are proud of. Through the years, the women fought for the right to vote and to stand for election, to become leaders in the country. Women guard this right and there will always be feminist groups to insist on it

The last American election is a standout for women leadership in the US, said some American women journalists. Women reelected Barack Obama who tried to win them over as a voting power, which his opponent, Republican Mitt Romney, perhaps took little notice of.

In last year’s election, voting women showed power. With five new female senators elected, four are Democrats. In total in the 113th Congress, there are a record 20 female senators.

The woman news also cites “female firsts” in the elections—first Asian-American woman senator and first disabled female veteran senator, among others. A State (New Hampshire) has in its congressional delegation to Washington all women!

One blog site writes about the news on women-power electoral results in the US this way: “The women welcomes a new generation of inspiration”.

American women fought for the right to vote in the 1800s, trying their best to be heard in Congress. They were noticed in 1919, and the law for women’s right to vote was finally passed in 1920, with the female eligible happily marching to the polls.

But the first independent country to give women the right to vote was New Zealand in 1893, which at that time was even just a colony of the United Kingdom. UK gave women the voting right in 1918. But earlier in 1902 Australia had given women their voting rights, with South Australia even doing it way back in 1894, or a year after New Zealand did.

Among Asean countries which gave to women the right to vote (and, or later, the right to stand for election) includes Thailand (1932), Myanmar (1935), Japan and Indonesia (1945), Vietnam (1946), South Korea (1948), Malaysia (1957).

But let’s go back to the Capitol standstill and pray for enlightenment for both our women leaders. You pass by the Capitol and look, then look away, telling yourself, “It’s election time all right!”

It’s a condition of women in an impasse, fighting for rights, but with the male politicians pushing….?

(ecuizon@gmail.com)