WOMEN AND THE LAW

Definition of Term:

 The 1987 Constitution- the fundamental law of the country upon which all the laws are anchored or based on.
 Magna Carta of Women- the main law enshrining all the rights of women and their roles in building the nation;
 Nation Building- collaborative efforts and means to establish and develop the country.

INTRODUCTION

The 1987 Constitution

The Philippines is known for its very liberal and progressive Constitution that was formulated during the euphoria of
People Power Revolution in 1986. Gender equality is a key element of this Charter and as enshrined in Article Il Section
14 of the 1987 Constitution "the State recognizes the role of women in nation-building and shall ensure the fundamental
equality before the law of women and men."

Considering the unequal gender relations in the country, the Constitution further provided for women representation
(as one of the nine marginalized sectors) in the legislature through the party-list system (which should cover 20% of the
lower house).

Finally, Article 13 Section 14 specifically mentioned that the "State shall protect working women by providing safe and
healthful working conditions, taking into account their maternal functions, and such facilities and opportunities that will
enhance their welfare and enable them to realize their full potential in the service of the nation".

These specific provisions served as bases to several legislations about women. As a result, laws of women became
aplenty, anchored from the constitutional provisions mentioned. The lack or sufficiency of these specific provisions
depends on the existing and current need of the country.

Various Laws Promoting Gender Equality

The legal framework provided for by the 1987 Constitution resulted to various legislations promoting gender equality.
These legislations include the following:

•Local Government Code of 1991. Provides for the election of sectoral representation, including women, in local
legislative councils.

•Party List Law. Provides for the creation of women-oriented or women-based parties to compete under the party-list
system. Women is one of the nine sectors identified in the law,

•Labor Code (1989). Covers issues, such as night work prohibition, specifies that employers must provide special
facilities for women, prohibition of discrimination against women in respect to terms and conditions of employment,
and prohibition of discrimination by reason of marriage of a woman worker.

•Women in Nation Building Law. Republic Act 7192 (1991) is an act promoting the integration of women as full and
equal partners of men in development and nation-building. The law provides that a substantial portion of government
resources be utilized to support programs and activities for women. The law also encourages the full participation and
involvement of women in the development process and to remove gender bias in all government regulations and
procedures.
In relation to gender budgeting, the law specifically mandated all agencies to allocate a minimum of 5%, increasing to
30%, of all official development funds in mainstreaming gender concerns.

•1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law. Gave Filipino women the right to own land that previously reverted to
sons and other male family members.

•Republic Act 7688 (1994). An act giving representation to women in social security commission.

•Anti-Sexual Harassment Law. RA 7877 (1995). An act declaring sexual harassment to be unlawful in the employment,
education, or training environment

•Republic Act 7822 (1995). An act providing assistance to women engaging in micro and cottage business enterprises.

•Republic Act 8353 (1997). An act expanding the definition of the crime of rape, reclassifying the same as a crime
against persons.

These laws not only promote gender equality, but also gives protection to women's rights and enhances women
empowerment.

The laws listed above should always be remembered since these are the very basic laws on women's rights and women
empowerment. Women's rights and women empowerment are very important to the Philippine society as this ensures
inclusive growth and development of our country.

National Programs

Based on the Philippine laws stated, a myriad of projects, initiatives, and processes on the gender challenge arose. This
includes the following:

• Philippine Plan for Gender Responsive Development (1995-2025). The National Plan for Women that consolidates the
action commitments of the Philippines during the Beijing World Conference on Women. This is the overall frame that is
also the point of reference for the discussions and monitoring of gender mainstreaming.

• Gender and Development Budget (GAD). Integral to the national plan, it is aimed at "institutionalizing gender
concerns in the mainstream development process and agenda and not just peripheral programs and projects of the
government"

Concretely; it prescribes for the allocation of 5% of the government agency’s/local government unit's budget on gender-
responsive activities and projects. As a result, implementation of the development program and policies of government
also means women partaking a role in governance. As primarily stakeholders in the development process, women have
the right to maximize their involvement in governance, be it at the local or national level.

•Framework Plan for Women (FPW). This is part of the Philippine Plan for Women developed to focus on three thrusts,
namely: promoting women's economic empowerment; advance and protect women human rights; and promote gender
responsive governance. This plan identifies the concrete gender issues that will be addressed, pinpoint targets and
indicators, name programs, formulates the implementation plan, and set-up tools for monitoring and evaluation.
Women's Right to Participate

Women's right to vote was granted in 1937. The Constitution of 1935 stipulated that the right of suffrage would be
extended to women, only if 300,000 women voted in its favor during a national plebiscite. This consolidated the
emerging women's movement and “….. brought to the fore the activism of such women as Concepcion Felix de Calderon
who formed the Asociacion Feminista Filipina in June 1905, Rosa Sevilla de Alvero and a young Trinidad Almeda, Miss
Constancia Poblete, founder of Liga Femenina de la Paz, Pura Villanueva Kalaw and Paz Mendoza Guazon, Pilar Hidalgo
Lim, President of the National Federation of Women's Clubs and Josefa Llanes Escoda, president of the Gitl Scouts of the
Philippines"

(Ugnayan ng Kababaihan sa Pulitika 1998).

The General Council of Women was then established in Manila to direct the plebiscite campaign. Its aim was to draw the
support of the broadest number of women. As it turned out, 447.725 women voted yes in the 1937 plebiscite.
Interestingly, 44,307 women voted against the provision. What followed was a colorful history of women's foray into the
various levels of electoral victories, but generally pushed by familial affiliation and elite association.

At present, women's right to vote and participate are maintained and further protected by existing laws at hand.

Women's Involvement in Civil Society

Women's expressions of involvement in civil society could be through organizing along gender-specific issues and
formation of all-women groups within broad coalitions as power-enhancing mechanisms. Groups such as the PILIPINA
feminist movement, the militant GABRIELA women's group, the Ugnayan ng Kababaihan sa Pulitika (UKP- Network of
Women in Politics), the KILOS KABARO (Act Sisters Coalition), and SIBOL Legislative Network have trail blazed women
advocacies both in policies and in legislations.

There also exist a so-called "Philippine NGO Beijing Score Board" which evolved from the National Steering Committee
(NSC) of NGOs for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, and this lead in the national monitoring of
the government's implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.

Along with other women groups and gender-oriented institutions, they have succeeded in raising gender-specific issues
such as domestic violence, prostitution, reproductive health, sexual harassment, and rape. Intense lobbying efforts by
the women's groups resulted in the passage of several landmark laws, among them is the anti-sexual harassment law in
1995 and the anti-rape act in 1997. The gains of the women's movement are basically achieved through various
partnerships with the rest of the civil society.

Women and Education

The Philippine educational system is a combination of public and private institutions with the State providing free
education for elementary and secondary levels. The Constitution provides that without “...limiting the natural rights of
parents to rear their children, elementary education is compulsory for all children of school age... (Article VIX, Section 2).

There is no general discrimination of girls in education, thus, there is no marked differences existing in the educational
status of Filipino women and men. One glaring issue is the gender stereotyping of fields of study and specialization and
its onward translation into the world of work where men generally occupy the highest occupational ranks and the
highest paying positions.
Women's larger responsibility for housework and for the family impedes their ability to use their educational training
and skills for remunerative work.

The topics previously discussed are always timely, relevant, and part and parcel of the daily lives of the Filipinos. These
only show the degree of importance that must be given to these topics.

Summary

Laws on Filipino women are aplenty, from the fundamental law of the land up to existing legislations. It can be projected
that more such legislations shall arise in the future. These laws are essential as they can be springboards of various
national programs, women involvement, participation, and inclusion-all towards the highest goal of empowering
women.

WOMEN’S ISSUES IN DEVELOPMENT

Definition of Term:

 Development the process in which someone or something grows of changes and becomes more advanced.
 Women in Development approach of development projects that emerged in the 1960’s calling for treatment of
women’s issues in development projects.
 Women and Development approach comes from the perspective that equality will be essential to improving
women’s positions but still frames changes in terms or providing women access to the productive sector.
 Gender and Development was developed in the 1980’s stepped away from both WID and WAD and founded in
socialist feminist ideology (Rathgeber 1990, 493). The GAD approach hold that the oppression of women sterns
largely from a neoliberal focus on improving women’s reproductive and productive capacities.

INTRODUCTION

Women in Development (WID)

By the 1970s, it became clear that women were being left out of development. They were not benefiting significantly
from it and in some instances, their existing status and position in society were actually worsened by development.

The Women in Development (WID) approached this issue-the exclusion of women from development program and
approaches. WID saw women as a group that lack opportunity to participate in development.

The main task, therefore, was to improve women's access to resources and their participation in development. The WID
approach emphasized the importance of the integration of women into development programs and planning.
Accordingly, this was the best way to improve women's position in society.

The WID approach, although it had limitations, increased the visibility of women in development issues. WID was
successful in helping secure a prominent place for women's issues at the United Nations (UN) and other international
development agencies. The UN declared that the decade of 1975 to 1985 to be the decade for women. One of the major
achievements of the decade was the establishment of women in development structures or machineries.
In Zambia, for instance, it was during this time that the Women's League of the then ruling political party, United
National Independence Party (UNIP), was formed as the national machinery to address women's development issues.

WID served as the starting point of making known to the international community that the sector of women has to be
part of programs for development. Likewise, several remarkable programs, activities, and initiatives must be noted as
these also began the strides for women empowerment.”

Women and Development (WAD)

As a result of criticisms of the WID approach, the Women and Development (WAD) approach arose in the latter part of
the 1970s. Adopting a Marxist feminist approach, the main argument of WAD was that women had always been part of
the development processes. WAD asserts that women have always been important economic actors.

The work they do both inside and outside the household is critical to the maintenance of society. However, this
integration has only served to sustain global inequalities. In other words, the WID approach that placed emphasis on
integrating women into development was not correct.

The main focus of WAD is on the interaction between women and development processes rather than purely on
strategies to integrate women into development.

WAD saw both women and men as not benefiting from the global economic structures because of disadvantages due to
class and the way wealth is distributed. WAD argued that the integration of women into development was to their
disadvantage and only made their inequality worse. WAD saw global inequalities as the main problem facing poor
countries and the citizens of those countries.

On the other hand, WAD has been criticized for assuming that the position of women will improve if and when
international structures become more equitable. It sees women's positions as primarily within the structure of
international and class inequalities.

WAD even underplays the role of patriarchy in undermining women's development and does not adequately address the
question of social relations between men and women and their impact on development.

Gender and Development (GAD)

In the 1980s, further reflections on the development experiences of women gave rise to Gender and Development
(GAD). It brought together both the lessons learned from, and the limitations of, the WID and WAD approaches.

GAD looks at the impact of development on both women and men. It seeks to ensure that both women and men
participate in and benefit equally from development and so, emphasizes equality of benefit and control. It recognizes
that women may be involved in development, but not necessarily benefit from it.

GAD is not concerned with women exclusively, but with the way in which gender relations allot specific roles,
responsibilities, and expectations between men and women, often to the detriment of women.

This approach also pays particular attention to the oppression of women in the family or the 'private sphere of women's
lives. As a result, we have seen projects develop addressing issues such as VAW. GAD focuses on the social or gender
relations (i.e. the division of labor) between men and women in society and seeks to address issues of access and control
over resources and power.
GAD goes further than the other approaches in emphasizing both the reproductive and productive role of women and
argues that it is the state's responsibility to support the social reproduction role mostly played by women of caring and
nurturing of children. As such, it treats development as a complex process that is influenced by political, social, and
economic factors rather than as a state or stage of development.

Practical Approaches to the Development of Women

The Welfare Approach

Until the early 1970s, development programs addressed the needs of women almost entirely within the context of their
reproductive roles. The focus was on mother and child health, child-care, and nutrition. Population control-or family
planning as it later came to be known-was a major focus as well due to the link made between population growth and
poverty. The focus was clearly on meeting practical needs.

The assumptions that women's position would improve together with general improvements in the economy, or with
the economic positions of their husbands, began to be challenged as it became clear that women were in fact losing out.

Women, as a result, were being increasingly associated with backwardness and the traditional while men were
increasingly identified with modern and progressiveness.

The Equity Approach

Feminist calls for gender equality were important in bringing about this approach, the main aim of which was to
eliminate discrimination emphasized the re-valuing of women's contribution and share of benefits from development.
The equity approach also dealt with both the productive and reproductive roles as a responsibility of government

The equity approach, in contrast to the welfare approach, saw women as active participants organizing to bring about
necessary changes

 The Anti-Poverty Approach

This approach focuses on both the productive and reproductive role of women with an emphasis on satisfaction of basic
need and the productivity of women. A key operational strategy required access to income generation and waged
employment. The tendency with this approach was to reinforce the basic needs and ignore the strategic needs of
women.

 The Efficiency Approach

Aims to have increased production and economic growth with an emphasis on full use of human resources. Advocate of
this approach argue that gender analysis makes good economic sense. This is because understanding men’s and
women’s role and responsibilities as part of the planning of development activities helps improve effectiveness and
ensures that women as well men can play their part in national development.

The efficiency approach succeeded in bringing the concerns about women and gender into the mainstream of
development. However, this was done with a focus on what women could do for development, rather than on what
development could do for women.

 The Empowerment Approach

The aim of the empowerment approach is to increase the self-reliance of women and to influence change at the policy,
legislative, societal, economic, and other levels to their advantage. Its main strategy is awareness-raising and situates
women firmly as active participants in ensuring change takes place.
The empowerment approach has been instrumental in ensuring that opportunities are opened for women to determine
their own needs. However, empowerment has often been misunderstood to be an end rather than a means. This has
resulted in poor women becoming very knowledgeable about issues while realizing little change to their material
situation, which is often dire.

Summary

WID, WAD, and GAD evolved towards achieving women empowerment since the mid-19th century and up to present.
Aside from that, several practical approaches had been utilized to underscore the role of women in nation-building and
vice versa. The evolution of these theories and approaches only state that women empowerment is a developing
principle, alongside development of the country.

GENDER INEQUALITY IN MARRIAGE AND CRIMINAL LAWS

Definition of Term

 Marriage a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in accordance with law
for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution.

INTRODUCTION

Marriage laws in the Philippines are only based on sex and not on gender. In the 1987 Philippine Constitution, marriage
is stated as "an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the State". (Art. XV,
Section 2, 1987 Constitution)

Under the Family Code, marriage is defined as "a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman
entered into in accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life (Article 1, The Family Code of the
Philippines).

The fact that the specific law provides marriage only for a man and a woman, causes exclusion of homosexual
relationships as it only accommodates heterosexual ones. This deprives members of the LGBTQ+ of this Constitutionally-
enshrined right, afforded supposedly to every Filipino. Flowing from that definition, succeeding provisions of marital
laws in the Philippines are anchored on the above inequality.

Apart from marital laws, various personal laws present this picture of inequality in its provisions. The crime of adultery
presents harsher requisites than the crime of concubinage (Articles 333 and 334 of the Revised Penal Code). Vagrants
and prostitutes pertain only to women (Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code). Gender equality issues on night work
prohibition (Article 130 of the Labor Code), disputable presumptions (Rule 131, Section 131 of the Rules of Court) and
removal of criminal liability for rapists under RA 8353 should also be visited.

Incorporating gender inequality in various laws are vital to be addressed as otherwise, this ill concept will further be
proliferated.
THE PRIMACY OF THE DECISION OF THE HUSBAND/FATHER

Under the Article 14 of the Family Code of the Philippines, it is provided that:

"Art. 14. In case either or both of the contracting parties, not having been emancipated by a previous marriage, are
between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, they shall, in addition to the requirements of the preceding articles,
exhibit to the local civil registrar, the consent to their marriage of their father, mother, surviving parent or guardian, or
persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned. Such consent shall be manifested in writing by the
interested party, who personally appears before the proper local civil registrar, or in the form of an affidavit made in the
presence of two witnesses and attested before any official authorized by law to administer oaths. The personal
manifestation shall be recorded in both applications for marriage license, and the affidavit, if one is executed instead,
shall be attached to said applications." (Emphasis supplied)

On the administration and enjoyment of community property or conjugal partnership, Articles 96 and 124 of the Family
Code provide that:

"Art. 96. The administration and enjoyment of the community property shall belong to both spouses jointly. In case of
disagreement, the husband's decision shall prevail, subject to recourse to the court by the wife for proper remedy,
which must be availed of within five years from the date of the contract implementing such decision × × x "

"Art, 124. The administration and enjoyment of the conjugal partnership shall belong to both spouses jointly. In case of
disagreement, the husband's decision shall prevail, subject to recourse to the court by the wife for proper remedy,
which must be availed of within five years from the date of the contract implementing such decision × × x”

On the exercise of parental authority over the person and legal guardianship over the property of common children,
Articles 211 and 225 of the Family Code state that.

Art. 211. The father and the mother shall jointly exercise parental authority over the persons of their common children.
In case of disagreement, the father's decision shall prevail, unless there is a judicial order to the contrary × × x "
(Emphasis supplied.)

Art. 225. The father and the mother shall jointly exercise legal guardianship over the property of the un-emancipated
common child without the necessity of a court appointment. In case of disagreement, the father's decision shall prevail,
unless there is a judicial order to the contrary, × × x" (Emphasis supplied)

HIGHER BURDEN ON WOMEN/WIVES THAN MEN/HUSBANDS

The crimes of adultery and concubinage include the concept of marital infidelity. Adultery Involves a wife who engages
into sexual intercourse with a man not her husband. On the other hand, concubinage involves a husband who has: (1)
sexual intercourse with a woman not his wife under scandalous circumstances; (2) kept another woman in the conjugal
home; or (3) cohabiting with another woman in another dwelling.

Here, for the crime of adultery to be proven-the mere sexual intercourse with a man not her husband-will suffice. In
contrast, for the crime of adultery-the sexual intercourse must be committed under scandalous circumstances- not a
mere sexual intercourse.

The wife in an adultery case incurs a higher penalty than that for the erring husband in concubinage. A penalty of
imprisonment is also imposable on paramour in adultery, out only the penalty of destierro or banishment falls on the
concubine in concubinage.
FORGIVENESS CLAUSE IN THE CRIME OF RAPE (RA 8353 OR THE ANTI-RAPE LAW)

The Anti-Rape Law (RA 8353) contains a clause that can easily exonerate the offender and can further endanger the
victim.

In the law, it was stated that: "subsequent valid marriage between the offender and the offended party shall extinguish
the criminal action or the penalty imposed."

This gives an easy way out for the offender, which in effect, does not bar him from committing the crime.

Further, it also recognizes that if the offender is the legal husband x x x the subsequent forgiveness by the wife who is
the offended party xxx shall extinguish the criminal action or the penalty."

This perpetuates violence under the shroud of marriage which can perpetuate these.

kinds of abuses for a long period of time.

EXCLUSIVE DEFINITION OF PROSTITUTION

Article 202 of the Revised Penal Code, amended by Republic Act No. 10158, retained the decades-old definition of
prostitutes as "women who, for money or profit, habitually engage in sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct xxx”.

Following this definition, a man who peddles sexual acts for profit, is in effect, invisible in the eyes of law, thus, making
the actor thereof immune to imprisonment.

Summary

The Family Code, which contains marital laws and provisions, include provisions which depict gender inequality.
Legislations on "Same Sex Marriage" are good initiatives to address this issue on gender inequality in marital laws.
Criminal laws are not that different as clearly, some provisions therein, favor the male sex over the female sex Worse,
this pertains to crimes, involving penalties for imprisonment.