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Tuesday, March 08, 2005
Editorial: Women's Day
TODAY is supposed to be the commemoration of Women's Day and while there are several activities lined up to mark the occasion we give pause to examine how far the women of the world had advanced in terms of their struggle for rights and equality.
As far as the Philippines is concerned sadly much had yet to be done. We only have to see the conditions and welfare of the lumad women and their children as well as those Muslim women caught in the crossfire of the Mindanao conflict.
We also have to mention the persistent problem of prostitution and how the world's oldest profession had even claimed girls and even boys to cater to the craven desires and appetites of foreign adults.
Here in Cagayan de Oro as in other parts of the country the problem of "prosti-tuition" exists where female students sell themselves in order to pay for their tuition. Due to the miracle of technology they can hardly be detected by law enforcement authorities.
What other problems beset the country's women populace? Sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence--either in the workplace or at home these threats continue to hound them and threaten the stability of their lives and families.
However we also tend to forget that women face the same problems men face though it affects them differently.
The 12 percent increase in the Value-Added Tax (VAT) for instance, would mean lesser money from either their pay slips or their husband's income to spend for their families and the tuition of their children.
The drug problem that continues to lurk alongside the campuses of the schools in the city and elsewhere also concern the women here for it affects their children, their neighbors' children and other children as well.
In this regard women have their own concerns but they also are part of this world and thus share the problems facing men and children.
They can do their share by contributing solutions to these problems and due to their considerable advancements they can help make a difference. But still there are men who think lowly of them and thus relegate them to the background.
However simplistic it may be women now can't afford to stand in the sidelines; not when there's an all-out war against terror that can threaten the security of their homes nor plans to revive an anti-terror bill that would designate both men and women as mere statistics ripe for targeting by government officials bent on instilling their own brand of fear.
(March 8, 2005 issue)
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