IT'S way past March but you can’t help talking about women’s rights at this point in time when a woman like Hillary Clinton is running for president of the United States and a woman leader in the Philippines could get elected as the country's president or vice president.
The condition of gender equality in as powerful a nation as the US and as conservative as the Philippines in Asia would be interesting to note. Are there changes in the recognition of gender equality in the world after the years when women went out to the streets in rallies?
I haven’t been updated on the condition of equality between sexes, so I take this chance.
It’s only in Nordic countries that women are in equal footing with men in minister-level and parliamentary positions for decision-making. The most equal is in Iceland, then Finland, Norway and Sweden.
A 2012 global Gender Gap Report says men are still in power position and only 20 percent of women in the world could be heard from elected and appointed posts.
Listen and watch the day’s local news in Philippine politics on presidential runner Mar Roxas’s decision who to take as LP candidate for vice president. But the decision doesn’t seem to be his alone, not entirely the majority party’s decision, either. The decision depends on the women, with the help of political situations.
At press time, we refer to this issue as “perhaps” issues. Sen. Grace Poe is taking careful time to decide to run or not to run, and for what position, keeping her ears open for signs. Rep. Leni Robredo is asking her family. Batangas Gov. Vilma Santos Recto will think about it, but perhaps not really, says husband Sen. Ralph Recto.
In between the interviews of the women politicians, you hear Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago adding in her thoughts, like on the view of Poe as the first female vice president of the country.
There’s also the possibility that a woman will run for president, if Poe finally decides to run for the position. And if she wins, she’ll be the third female national leader of the country with Pres. Cory Aquino as the first female president in Asia (although not the first female head of state). Some few years from there, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was also elected president.
But how does gender-equality fare in this country as of now?
Out of 24 senatorial seats for the term 2013-2016, only six are women. There are 289 seats for legislators in the Lower House but only 79 are women lawmakers.
But there 's a bit of power in the female leadership in the country, less of a gap between male and female power show. And women's groups wouldn't stop watching out to keep gender equality alive. Over media, people see and hear from senators Nancy Binay, Pia Cayetano, Miriam Santiago, Loren Legarda, Grace Poe-Llamanzares and Cynthia Villar, as much as the male counterpart.
Besides the female leadership felt in the elected and appointed offices, the number of women in key positions and in decision-making has increased. especially in the matter of female power in health and education. The country is the only one in Asia where the male and female developers in health and education are equal.
Of the gobernatorial seats in the country, 22 percent elected were women, 20 percent in the vice gubernatorial posts and 20 percent elected as municipal mayors.
With an update on the condition of gender equality in the country, a follow-up on the latest news about women leaders, and what they're up to, leads people (of whatever gender) to watch, listen and read news about the development of projects in the country in the hands of ripe and “unripe” leaders.
(ecuizon@gmail.com)