Stephen Rhey M.

Booc
Xl-SGA HUMSS
REACTION PAPER: TO THE WOMEN OF MALOLOS, DR. JOSE RIZAL

The text that will be reviewed is written by Dr. Jose Rizal, a Filipino nationalist and polymath
during the tail end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. It was written when he as in London
on February 22, 1889 and was titled “To the Women of Malolos” and this text was a response to the
works of the women in Malolos which will be tackled in the next following paragraphs. It will also be
explained how did these people really fought for their rights in the Spanish era. Actually, the letter was in
a Tagalog form which was originally requested by Marcelo H. Del Pillar in order for Dr. Jose Rizal to
know the bravery of these women. What really happened in the story is that there are group of women
who had strongly pursue their rights to have an education even their plans were rejected by Fr. Felipe
Garcia and the govern-general. Yet these people have still continued their petition and successfully
achieved their goal to study and the educator should be only Senorita Guadalupe Reyes which is really
amazing. Thus, Dr. Jose Rizal appreciated the works of the women in Malolos and expressed his
gratification through the letter.
To take a deeper look, there are strong points that Dr. Jose Rizal have mentioned in his letter in
response to the rejection of the spiritual artwork of the friars. He really pinpointed that not everyone that
is part of the church is embodied by the spirit of Jesus Christ because some of them are corrupted and
protected also by corrupted govern-generals. Dr. Rizal pointed out that the reason for the rejection of the
women’s petition is by the others worldly desire and have used wrong methods to forcedly “discipline”
people. Another strong argument of the letter is that Dr. Jose Rizal argued what should be the qualities of
a Filipino women possess because he was really amazed, satisfied and even labeled these women as a
hope for the country that has believed his ideal concept about the Philippines. Then, he started mentioning
arguments about the things that should be done in order to really take care of the women like in the
Malolos, including the children, widowed, and mothers. This argument is really strong that it pointed out
what Dr. Jose Rizal wanted for every Filipino women and it is to have equal opportunities between men
in terms of education matter. Because as you can see, the era in the Philippines before was really crucial.
Men were the ones that are allowed to study and women should be only become a wife with their children
thus they cannot become something that they really want which really is a wrong thing to the concept of
feminism. Yet, with the letter of Dr. Rizal and the works of the women in Malolos, both have strongly
given a point that freedom if for everyone and it is a basic human right to have their own education no
matter what gender or socio-economic status you have. The letter’s general main point it to emphasize
that if there are still women who wanted to fight for their rights like in education then be brave and fight
for the freedom they have.
Women who are mothers and the unmarried ones should also possess a good quality of being a mother
who’s teaching their children to become that they want to be. Because what children’s see to their parents
can be repeated by their selves.
The social issues in the time of Dr. Jose Rizal in terms of education is really problematic that it
shows unequal treatment to women. Because it’s their will to live what they want to be and no one should
limit someone’s freedom by stereotyping them to what should be they are. Just like in my Philosophy
class, no one should label someone’s existence or the women’s existence to something or to someone,
because it can be considered as slowly taking away their freedom to what they might become in the
future. Yet thankfully, there were brave heroes specifically who used a pen to express Filipino pride
which is Dr. Jose Rizal and to the brave works of women in Malolos. Which also have positively affected
the other generations then resulted to the empowerment of women about making equal rights the same as
the other people has.
In today’s generation, there are still social issues like what the women of Malolos have
experienced and have been fighting for but the right to education for every women has already
guaranteed. Social issues that are also related to the issue of the women of Malolos is that there are still
things and moments where equal rights to women are not given by the society because of rational reasons
like concept of poverty, racial discrimination and racial gaps in education but there are still people who
has the same point of view to the women in Malolos and Dr. Jose Rizal that have still continuing to fight
for their own rights and their freedom.
Going back to the letter’s generalization, the totality of its arguments and supporting details are
strong specially the way Dr. Rizal highlighted his gratification and satisfaction feelings to the brave work
of the Women of Malolos. The authot which is Dr. Jose Rizal himself, have also generalized and
explained very well his thoughts, objective and purpose regarding of the issue. One thing that must be
remembered to Dr. Jose Rizal’s explanation in the letter is that education needs the boy and girls the same
as the women and men needs education, for them to learn what worldly desire from corrupted people can
affect our society and how to not become those kind of people.