AFTER we succeeded in convincing the government to set up Policewomen’s Desks in each precinct in 1994, our organization, Kalakasan, has been involved in organizing community-support mechanisms for victims of violence and abuse.
We thought that, with the passage of the Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004, local government officials would take their own initiatives toward this. Unfortunately, years of negotiating with these authorities only proved that setting up women-friendly programs depended mainly on whether or not local chief executives recognized them.
With the passage of the Magna Carta of Women, such mechanisms and the training of local officials for their establishment have become mandatory.
Gender equality is now an official national policy. Programs must be created and resources have to be allocated at all levels of government for the empowerment and protection of women and girls.
Girls do not have to suffer lack of equal opportunities because of discriminatory religious beliefs, cultural traditions or unscientific superstitions. Women do not have to tolerate harassment and abuse in word or action, in any situation, just because of their gender.
Adolescent girls do not have to be deprived of education and reproductive health just because they were seduced, sexually molested and impregnated by family members, friends or strangers.
However, advocates of gender equality face the great divide between passage of the law and its implementation. Misogyny and patriarchy will not die easily. People in power will not deliver human rights on a silver platter to those they have oppressed for millennia.
The passage of the Magna Carta of Women signals the commencement of the next level of struggle for the realization of true equality among the genders in all aspects of our lives. We know it will not be an easy path, but we know it will be worth the fight. –Anna Leah Sarabia, Philippine Daily Inquirer
(Anna Leah Sarabia is the executive director of Kababaihan Laban sa Karahasan Foundation Inc. [Kalakasan].)
World Day for Safety and Health at Work
“Safety and health at work every day!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations against serious violations of Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government
(NUG) of Myanmar.
Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
March – Women’s Role in History Month
April – Month of Planet Earth
Weekly Observances:
Last Week of March: Protection and Gender Fair Treatment of the Girl Child Week
Last Week of April – World Immunization Week
Daily Observances:
Mar 25 – International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transallantic Slave Trade
Mar 27– Earth Hour
Apr 21 – Civil Service Day
Apr 22 – World Earth Day
Apr 28 – World Day for Safety and Health at Work
