THE Philippines has passed so many laws on gender-based violence and violence against women and children.
However, a review stated that gender-based violence (GBV) and violence against women and children (VAWC) remain an area of utmost concern, describing these problems as “shadow pandemic” as these mostly occur at homes and unreported to authorities.
Dr. Rhodora Bucoy, former chair of the Philippine Women Commission, said there is an urgent need for everyone to join the campaign against VAWC/GBV, not only in the country but throughout the world. Bucoy delivered the keynote message during the Zonta Club of Cebu 2 webinar on “Creating Safe Cities” on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020. The event was part of the 18 Days Campaign to End Violence Against Women and Children.
“Let’s Orange The World,” Bucoy said, referring to the “Orange The World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect Campaign against VAWC/GBV.”
She said there is a greater need for the convergence of initiatives, a multi-sectoral convergence that will address the roots of violence against women and children.
Bucoy went on to say that there must be a continuing effort to overturn the remaining discriminatory laws, and in their place enact new laws that ensure equality and empowerment of women as stipulated in the Social Development Goal No. 5 that VAW is a human rights violation.
“This means focusing our efforts on preventing violence by working with judges, police, and men as well as women’s organizations and youth groups to dismantle stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes,” Bucoy said.
She further said advocacy efforts must also support services for survivors of violence, including safe spaces and psychological counseling in humanitarian and fragile contexts. These VAWCs have devastating consequences on the victims/survivors, she said.
Bucoy said VAWC/GBV advocacy must start from combatting a culture of machismo. Data, she said, continues to show that the alarming picture of VAWC still persists.
“In our constant desire to create a VAW-free community every one of us, men and women alike need to fight the macho culture that tends to negate what we have gained so far,” she said.
Bucoy said there is now a worldwide outcry against feudal machismo culture manifested in sexual harassment cases in the entertainment, media and various spheres.
Based on the National Demographic and Health Survey of 2017, VAW statistics in the Philippines showed that one out of five women (20 percent) experienced emotional violence from their partners, while 14 percent experienced physical violence and five percent ever experienced sexual violence.
Based on the same survey, 24 percent of married women experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence from their most current partners. Global VAW statistics said that 71 percent of all human trafficking victims are women and girls, and three out of four of these women and girls are sexually exploited.
In the same webinar, women advocates against GBV/VAWC from medicine and print journalism, law and governance, beauty and entertainment, broadcast media and the LGBTQ+ took turns in sharing their experiences related to GBV/VAWC in a “Share My Story” format.
Dr. Stephanie Sitoy, a medical doctor, was one of the speakers who shared what she had seen or vicariously experienced in the medical workplaces.
The media sector, theatre arts, beauty and entertainment industry were also replete with cases of VAWCs and GBVs. These experiences were shared by Andi Matheu, Claire Delfin, former Ms. Earth Karla Henry-Amman and Charlene Virlouvet.
In the field of law and governance, lawyer Jennifer Atienza shared with the audience her knowledge and cases she handles that reflect VAW/GBV at the public-private workplaces.
The LGBTQ+ community was represented by Rain Villagonzalo, who shared her experiences and cases of gender-based violence and other discriminatory remarks against them.
The Dec. 4 webinar on “Creating Safe Cities” that focused on stories of women being subjected to gender-based sexual violence was one of the topics in a series of webinars mounted by the Zonta Club of Cebu 2 as part of its activities celebrating the 18 Days of Activism Against Violence Against Women from Nov. 25 to Dec. 12, 2020.