National
Statistics Office conducted a survey in 2008 regarding the experience on
physical violence of women. This study by the National Demographic and Health
survey states that one in 5 Filipino women as early as age 15 has experienced
physical violence.
In lieu of the
violence against women we have the:
Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act
of 2004
According to this chart
from the Philippine Commission on Women, even after the law was passed the
number of women in the labor force failed to increase and it has even
decreased.
RA
9262 penalizes the commission of violence against women their children (VAWC)
in the context of domestic violence or violence in intimate relationships. It
defines VAWC as any act or a series of acts committed by any person against a
woman who is his wife, former wife, or with whom the person has or had a sexual
or dating relationship, or with whom he has a common child, or against her
child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode,
which results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm
or suffering, or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery,
assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
The
Law also provides for the security of the complainant and her family through
the availment of barangay, temporary, or permanent protection orders. The Law
clearly identifies the duties of barangay officials, law enforcers,
prosecutors, court personnel, healthcare providers and other government
agencies and LGUs to provide the necessary protection and support services to
VAWC victims. Furthermore, the Law recognizes "Battered Woman
Syndrome" which refers to a scientifically defined pattern of psychological
or behavioral symptoms found in women living in battering relationships as a
result of cumulative abuse, as an acceptable defense for actions committed by
the victim as a result of battering.
Data below are from the Philippine Commission on Women:
- · Reported incidence of physical injury has been decreasing in the latter years. Its peak was in 2001 at 5,668 reported cases.
- · The decrease can be partly attributed to the enactment into law of RA 9262 or Anti-VAWC Act of 2004 which penalizes abusive husbands and live-in partners. However, in 2009 and 2010 the reported cases show an increasing trend but it slides back in 2011.
- · Reported rape cases which ranked third accounted for about 10.3 percent of total reported VAW cases from 2004 to 2011.
- · Acts of lasciviousness ranked fourth at an average of 520 reported cases accounting for 6.2 percent of all reported VAW cases from 2004 to 2011. The comparative figures indicate an upward trend of the reported cases after a record low of 382 reported cases in 2006.
- · Among the different regions, Region 6 (Western Visayas) posted the highest reported VAW cases from January to December 2011 with 2,772 reported cases, accounting for 21.4 percent of the total reported VAW cases nationwide.
- · Region 11 (Davao) comes next at 2,490 (19.2%) reported VAW cases followed by Region 7 (Central Visayas) with 1,447 reported VAW cases or 11.2 percent of the total reported VAW cases nationwide.
- · The Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) posted the lowest reported VAW cases with 81 cases in 2011.
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Ever since the beginning of time women were
viewed to be inferior to men. Even the notion of where we women come from; rib
of a man; suggests that we women are nothing without man. According to
Beauvoir, as cited by Peracullo (2010), “Humanity is male and man defines woman
not in herself but as relative to him. Man can think of himself without a
woman. She cannot think of herself without a man”
Women? Who are those?
Weak? Home buddies? Object of sexual desire? Incompetent? -- Those were the notions towards women.
Aside
from those sterotypes we also have what we call the “paradox of domesticity”
according to Filipino feminist Delia Aguilar (1988) which states that women are
primarily viewed as caregivers of the family.
In
present era, women have started to gain more power and prove that they are not
what they are stereotyped to be. We see women in the political field, business
field, labor force and especially in the educational field. Women are not
limited anymore to what they are ought to
being caregivers but they are
exceeding expectations and battling it head to head with males.
In
lieu of this proliferation of Women’s rights we have the:
Magna Carta of Women
The Magna Carta of Women
is a comprehensive women's human rights law that seeks to eliminate
discrimination against women by recognizing, protecting, fulfilling and
promoting the rights of Filipino women, especially those in the marginalized
sectors.
* Although, lay-offs
in employment could possibly contribute to this data.
The awakening of feminist consciousness according
to MacKinnon makes the division of power between male and female more real. Throught
the consciousness raising of women we come to understand women as equals to men
and not just a sub.
This realization of equality begins with:
1.
Invitation
– This invitation is formed by wanting to know one’s body more. Searching and
exploring relationships, discovering new things which then paves way to
remembering.
2.
Remembering
– “Remembering the forgotten, the rejected past experiences”
-
Remerging
the past enables us to understand the present more
-
Understanding
what has happened and appreciating them
3.
Homecoming
– After one has already searched and understood all that has happened to her
she comes back home to her womanhood.
-
She
now understands and therefore is freer because she knows herself more and
quoting (Peracullo, 2010) “To be liberated is to have to know an identity of
self-hood.”
Given all these.. where exactly are women at today? can we say that we are free and equal with men? can we say that we have escaped the stereotypes?
Sources:
Peracullo, J. (2010). I am angry because you are unjust: A filipino woman's awakening to feminism. Dalumat Ejournal, 1(2), Retrieved from http://ejournals.ph/index.php?journal=DALUMAT&page=article&op=view&path[]=507
Statistics on filipino women and men's labor and employment. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://pcw.gov.ph/statistics/201210/statistics-filipino-women-and-mens-labor-and-employment
Statistics on violence against filipino women. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://pcw.gov.ph/statistics/201210/statistics-violence-against-filipino-women
