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Monday, October 31, 2005
Women’s club for culture change
An advertising billboard in uptown Cebu City had a model in a disturbing stage of dishevelment.
You probably don’t know when it happened, but one morning another billboard had taken its place. This time, another model was used and had more clothes, albeit still eye-catching.
In another part of the city, the same thing happened.
You may have seen some female TV hosts who have become more covered-up lately and some TV game shows have become less derisive where jokes are concerned.
Speaking up
This is a result of the letters and text messages sent to TV stations, advertisers and companies by concerned groups.
One such group has a core of 20 women. It has other members and sympathizers who have similar concerns in how women are viewed.
The voice of one non-government organization (NGO), Women Transforming Culture Club (WTCC), was in that united cry. The advertisers and companies responded positively. Everybody won.
The WTCC recalls a more robust public movement, the one on July 13, 1848, which marked the Women’s rights movement in America. It started with tea among four friends.
This homegrown group, however, started with three friends. They first met at the Banilad Center for Professional Development (BCPD), which has values formation and short-term classes in cooking, hotel management and the like for women.
“We take part in their activities. We’ve been transformed ourselves,” said May Gonzales, WTCC vice president for external affairs.
WTCC has no street revolution in mind. Through seminars, they want the revolution inside every woman; they want her to see herself as the creation of God.
“When God created man, he took a rib from Adam to form his helpmate,” said WTCC internal affairs vice president Maria Joy Borromeo.
It was not from man’s foot, so that man may trample upon woman; or from his head, so woman can rule over man; but from his side, as his true helpmate.
Direction
In a way, the founders of WTCC are woman’s helpmates. They want to develop or clarify a philosophy of life that will give more meaning and direction to a woman’s life and work.
They want to increase a woman’s awareness of her role in society and help her acquire the necessary disposition to have a positive influence in changing culture.
WTCC’s aim is to promote holistic and multifaceted development of women in the 21st century, with activities that allow women to expand their interests and develop social consciousness in support of womanhood.
That consciousness started in 2003 when Borromeo, Gonzales and Marilou “Malou” Padilla, WTCC president, discussed how they could help reeducate society.
One thing that needs changing is the tendency to see women as commodities. “There are so many ideas on how a woman should be. There are good and there are erroneous ideas. We try to correct the erroneous ones and strengthen and reinforce the good ones,” said Gonzales.
By women, WTCC refers to housewives, teenagers, executives and even children. By culture, they mean what a woman is and her role to her family and society, how she sees herself. Their aim is to uplift a woman’s dignity.
“They know it but it’s like a light bulb. If you don’t switch it on, you don’t see the light,” Borromeo said.
They flicked on that switch with their first project on Dec. 3, 2004, a seminar called “Can Philippine Media Create a Culture of Excellence?” As a result of that seminar, the Media Watch was created by some of those who attended. WTCC started a program in Mom’s Radio, where they discuss women’s concerns.
Independence
With candor, WTCC admits it is just an infant and has not set in stone the details of what they want to do. However, hearing about the results of their first action, one believes that they can do more and sustain their results.
Last Oct. 29, they held their second seminar, this time on beauty and image, and a fashion show. Although at first that may sound flippant, it was really meant to remind women that private things need to be kept private.
WTCC used fashion as a vehicle to discuss modesty, self-esteem and independence of mind.
(October 31, 2005 issue)
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