WOMEN IN THE

PHILIPPINES
GENDER AND SOCIETY
 PRE-COLONIAL PHILIPPINES
■ Based on the practices of the indigenous peoples and testimonies of Spanish
chroniclers, there was a genuine measure of equality among men and
women during the Pre-Spanish period.
■ There was no discrimination between sons and daughters. (i.e. division of
inheritance, education, and role in the society as adults)
■ Sexual inhibitions regarding virginity in marriage was not universally valued.
Sex education was prescribed as the duty of the mother to her daughter.
■ Marriages were arranged and a dowry was paid by the groom to the wife’s
family. Each family member of each spouse was viewed as an equal partner
in marriage. The women ran the household and are equally, if not mainly,
responsible for all major decisions in the household. They are free to
exercise their decisions concerning reproduction. Under ancient laws,
divorce was available to both husband and wife and both had equal rights to
property and child custody.
 PRE-COLONIAL PHILIPPINES
■ Women played an important role in the economic life of the people.
■ They are able to rise and lead their clans, fight alongside men in battles, and
take care of young datu.
■ “The local pre-Hispanic economics were geared for social use and to
fulfil certain kinship obligations. Production was not predicated on
exchange. The family as a unit had to take charge of its own needs,
fulfilling only those that its members actually consumed. Thus, there
was no need to create relations of dependence nor of exploitation. In
this context of social and productive relations, women had as much
roles and rights as men.” – Santos-Maranan, 1989
■ Estelle Freedman (2008) wrote that when women are involved in the
production of food, there is some measure of equality.
■ Sociologist Fe Mangahas noted that women in the Philippines participate in
production without extractive nor slave labor.
PRE-COLONIAL PHILIPPINES

■ In today’s Filipino community, women can become

mainly responsible for the family’s income.
■ It is only when a society is structured on the
production of surplus and accumulation of wealth
that class and hierarchy emerge as necessary,
and that women’s oppression and inequality
become an issue.
■ Before colonialism, women were leaders in the
community.
PRE-COLONIAL PHILIPPINES
■ Babaylan – commonly refers to individuals who hold special knowledge
or can converse with spirits; a woman or a man who took on the
persona of a woman, chosen supposedly by the spirits and given special
powers to engage the unseen beings of nature.
- She was a culture bearer, priest, and myth keeper, healing not only
one’s body and soul but also one’s relationship with the spirits and
nature. The babaylan was depended on to maintain the community’s
well-being.
- During the Spanish occupation, the babaylans led the resistance of the
colonization as the Spaniard-imposed religion was forced to people.
They fought so the old culture will be alive.
- They were attacked in the mountains. Their power, eventually, waned.
- The babaylan culture can still be seen, today, in the various cultures of
the country. (i.e. indigenous peoples)
PHILIPPINE WOMEN IN THE
HISPANIC PERIOD
■ The Spanish clergy saw Filipinas as too sensuous and free with their
behavior. But they were appreciated for being intelligent, strong-willed
and practical.
■ Spanish friars admonished women to remain pure and obedient, and
exploited the latter’s influential position in traditional communities to
spread the new religion.
■ The colonizers created a woman who was only active at home and
withdrawn from public sphere. Chastity, purity and forebearance were
thus promoted simply to subdue early Filipinas to their new role and
constrict their creative participation in the society.
■ Maria Clara, in Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere, characterized the Filipina women
who were “sweet, docile, obedient, self-sacrificing” and who “never had
the courage to share the fate of their beloved.
 PHILIPPINE WOMEN IN THE
HISPANIC PERIOD
■ Filipinas were victims of the Spanish patriarchal system and its
version of Catholicism. Women no longer gained active roles in
the public sphere, and lost power in the wider spectrum of the
society. This confined them to supporting roles as status display
and maintenance, reproduction and child rearing. Outside the
home, they devoted their time in church activities.
■ One of the Propaganda Movement’s dismay was the role played
by women in the society. It sought to raise the status of women.
■ Women participation in uprisings by the Katipunan suggests that
Filipinas played major roles in times of conflict as leaders,
soldiers, healers and heads of logistic operations. (Gabriela
Silang, Gregoria de Jesus)
 PHILIPPINE WOMEN IN THE
HISPANIC PERIOD
■ Despite 300 years of misogynistic
orientation, women could still find their
place in the fight for Philippine
independence.
■ Agueda Iniquinto Cahabagan
became Heneral Brigada in 1899 and
led an army unit under Emilio
Aguinaldo.
■ Women during the Spanish era were
key actors in the Philippine revolution,
yet their exploits during this time have
yet to be widely recognized.
PHILIPPINE WOMEN IN THE
AMERICAN ERA
■From the 1900’s to 1920’s most
women’s group furthered the
presence of women in the public
sphere by focusing on charity
work and social services.
 Development of Women Groups in the
Philippines (Aida Maranan)
Year Notable Event
1899 Associacion de Damas dela Cruz Roja (Women’s Red Cross Association) was
formed to help in the Philippine war effort.
1902 Liga Femenina dela Paz or Philippine Women’s League of Peace was set up to
assist in the US pacification of the Philippine Island.
1905 Associacion Femenista Filipina – an organization that gathered volunteers to
reform the Philippine society- was created to promote social change through
prison reforms,education reforms, improvement of women’s condition in
factories, and the inclusion of women in certain local governing bodies.
1906 Associacion Femenista Ilongga was created. It fough for women’s suffrage.
1907 La Gota de Leche was formed to assist women in maternal and infant care.
1912 The first women’s club, called the Society for the Advancement of Women was
founded.
1921- The Philippines saw its own suffrage movement.
1937
1922 Liga Nacional de Damas Filipinas (National League of Filipina Women) was
Development of Women Groups
in the Philippines (Aida Maranan)
Year Notable Event
1928 The suffragette movement was enhanced by the creation of the
Women’s Citizen League.
1929 The first women’s convention was organized by the Philippine Women’s
Suffragette Movement, wherein the suffrage rights of women was
agreed for. The fight for maternity leave with pay was also brought to
the table.
1935 Act. No. 2711 granted women the right to vote, thus the creation of the
General Council of Women to make sure that this right would be
exercised by 1937.
1937 Filipina women realized their right to vote.
1939 The League of Women’s Voters was organized for voter’s education.
1950 Women organized the Civic Assembly of the Philippines to engage in
policymaking, but “reinforced the belief that the primary concern of
PHILIPPINE WOMEN IN THE
AMERICAN ERA
■Women groups at this time are bearers and
implementers of social reforms within institutions
initially established by men. Decision-making
have been largely done by men.
■While some women’s groups campaigned for
their voice to be heard, the attempts had not
made a substantial impact against the
exploitation of women through class and gender.
 INSIGHTS ABOUT WOMEN’S
MOVEMENTS FROM AMERICAN
PERIOD UNTIL MARTIAL LAW
1. The movements were started and dominated by men.
2. Women’s involvement in these movements gave them
liberties and roles that were traditionally denied from them.
3. Goals and objectives of these movements were valid for and
important to a smaller or greater section of Filipino women.
4. Most of the movements involved led by a group of upper-
class women that only address the latter’s issue.
PHILIPPINE WOMEN IN THE AMERICAN
ERA
■ Women’s clubs brought women to the public sphere but dealt with the
issues like the training of the house help, child-rearing and charity works.
These are extensions of their domestic roles. But the charity works did
some service to the society, especially in areas where social services
failed.
■ Women groups furthered the interests of the ruling classes and Western
countries. Immersing with marginalized people kept women groups busy
that they felt involve in the society and had no time to question their
subordinate role to men.
■ Workers’ wages were kept low by an oppressive government preventing
workers for providing for their families’ needs.
PHILIPPINE WOMEN IN THE
AMERICAN ERA
■ Displacement in the countryside was triggered by land
takeovers or social military unrests due to exploitation of natural
resources by the elite and foreign nationals.
■ Women victims of displacement suffered the double burden of
surviving their conditions while providing for their family.
■ Women were also victims of violence and harassment.
■ Despite all the exploitations, the Philippine industry did not
actually advance and extractive economic activities degraded
the environment.
■ The feminists groups that emerge from the communist and the
socialists movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s would
react against this reality.
THE BIRTH OF MILITANT
GROUPS WITH A FEMINIST
AGENDA
■ Women who worked with the underground and aboveground
components of the Communist Party, and the other socialist groups
that rivalled it, realized that the agenda for liberation can also serve
women’s quest for equality.
■ Many of the problems women face were a result of abusive structures
that kept them poor and exposed to various kinds of exploitations.
■ The nationalist and militant women’s movement believed that
the only way to achieve equality in the society was to liberate the
nation from the exploitation of the elite and the U.S.
■ Women issues on equality were considered secondary within the
communist and socialist movement.
 THE BIRTH OF MILITANT
GROUPS WITH A FEMINIST
AGENDA
■ MAKIBAKA (Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan) – a radical
women’s group led by student activists showed that the root of women’s
problems lay in “feudalism, capitalism and colonialism”.
■ They took part in organizing and educating women peasants and
laborers and in establishing day care centers.
■ It became inactive because its leaders were imprisoned or driven into
hiding during the Martial Law.
■ It is an important part of history as it was the first group to emphasize
the issues of women as integral and yet distinct from the general
national liberation objectives of the party.
THE BIRTH OF MILITANT
GROUPS WITH A FEMINIST
AGENDA
■ PILIPINA (Kilusan ng Kababaihang Pilipina) and KALAYAAN
(Katipunan ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan) – formed in the
1980’s that challenged the potentially anti-women ways of the
Communist Party’s leadership.
■ PILIPINA – mainstreaming women’s concerns in the
transformation of society; promoted social development work
(establishing cooperatives and trainings in women’s concerns)
■ KALAYAAN – worked with national liberation agenda to ensure
that the women’s liberation issues were not made secondary in
the movement.
THE BIRTH OF MILITANT
GROUPS WITH A FEMINIST
AGENDA
■ Several women’s groups came out after the assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr. These
were led by middle and upper class “politically inclined matrons who sought for justice,
freedom, and democracy through peaceful means”.
■ NOW (National Organization of Women) – oriented toward the socio-political
formation of women and the campaign for clean elections.
■ Other organizations which came out for the intensification of conscientization and honest
governance are AWARE (Alliance of Women for Action towards Reconciliation) and
WOMB (Women for the Ouster of Marcos and Boycott).
■ AWIT (Association of Women in Theology), Kapisanan ng mga Madre sa Maynila, and
Church Women United are groups composed of pastors, Church nuns and deacons.
■ Student groups like UP SAMAKA-Kababaihan (Samahang Makabayan ng Kabataang
Kababaihan), Atenista Women and Katipuneros were established.
THE BIRTH OF MILITANT
GROUPS WITH A FEMINIST
AGENDA
■ Women’s Protest Day
- October 28, 1983
- About 9,000 women
- Largest women’s march that protested human rights abuses and the
abuses of the military
- GABRIELA (General Assembly Binding Women for Reforms, Integrity,
Equality, Leadership and Action)
■ Since 1986, women’s movements in the country shifted “from a broad
coalition to small tactical and issue-or project-based alliances.”
WOMEN’S GROUPS IN THE
PARTY-LIST SYSTEM
■ GABRIELA – transformed into a political party having people’s organizations, NGOs
and other women affiliated with the National Democratic Groups as members.
- pushed for the laws in women and continued to bring out particular problems of
women.
■ Abanse! Pinay – more centrist and middle-center groups
- Was able to push for the passage of Solo Parents Welfare Act of 2000, Anti-
Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, Anti-violence against Women and their Children
Act of 2004
■ Akbayan – adopted women’s agenda alongside its other issues.
- supported the Reproductive Health Law, the Magna Carta of Women, and the
Gender Balance Bill.
WOMEN’S GROUPS IN THE
PARTY-LIST SYSTEM

■Women’s party-list groups made valuable

contributions to women’s liberation,
including the agenda of the poor and
marginalized women as a national interest.
■This allowed for effective government
projects can be implemented with proper
consultation and participatory processes.
 WOMEN IN THE PHILIPPINES
■ They have been active in all aspects of society.
■ They were leaders and influential individuals in building the nation.
■ Women were not completely suppressed by the Spanish because of the pre-colonial
era.
■ They took up multiple roles in the armed forces during the Revolution and war against
the US.
■ They have been active partners in establishing the well-being of the family, creating
enterprise, preserving and enriching culture, creating arts, producing food, ruling and
war.
■ Still, women have somehow played an auxiliary role in development work, always
providing support for men.
■How can we create a social order
that is not only accommodating to
women but is shaped by them as
equal partners of men?