NAME: Redgie Mark Ursal DATE: January 19, 2021

COURSE/YEAR: BSA2

THE WOMEN WHO HELPED SHAPED FEMINISM

IN THE PHILIPPINES

1. PATRICIA DENITIS LICUANAN

-While she was studying development programs, as a social psychologist, she saw
how women were not benefitting from the programs."They would develop programs for
farmers and programs for the farmer's wives. But women were the farmers themselves," They
are involved in all the aspects of agriculture. The government programs should realize that
women do so much important things in the agriculture. This pushed her to write "Some are
More Unequal than Others," one of the many scholarly works that she published as an early
advocate for women's rights and issues. Licuanan became the Chair of the National Commission
on the Role of Filipino Women and headed Asia Pacific Women's Watch, an non-government
institution network, from 1987 to 1992."Women should have choices. They are there because
they want to earn a decent living and that should happen". Patricia Licuanan was also one of
the early voices of Overseas Filipino Workers and the problems of their families. Strong voices,
according to Licuanan, would dismiss the issue and insist that these circumstances justify the
fact that women must stay at home. It even led to the establishment of women centers in some
universities. The Beijing Platform for Action, that was borne out of the Beijing World
Conference on Women, is an agenda for women's empowerment.

2. LETICIA RAMOS SHAHANI

-She served with distinction and commitment on the Board of the South Centre from
2008 to 2012. She was among the first women to join the Philippine foreign service, rose to the
rank of ambassador, and eventually appointed as vice-minister of the Philippine foreign
ministry in 1986. She served as the Secretary General of the UN World Conference on the UN
Decade of Women in 1985. In 1987, she was elected a Senator of the Republic of the
Philippines and served two six year-terms , chairing various Senate committees and eventually
rising to serve as Senate President Pro-Tempore. During her time in the Senate, she
championed women's rights, agricultural reform, and environmental protection, and was
among the twelve senators who voted in 1991 against the renewal of the Philippine-US military
bases treaty, leading to the closure of permanent US military bases in the Philippines in 1992.
After finishing her terms of office in the Philippine Senate, Dr. Ramos-Shahani continued to
remain in public service, serving at various times as the presidential adviser on culture and as
the chair of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, as well as serving as the
Dean of the College of International, Humanitarian and Development Studies of Miriam College
in the Philippines. Ramos-Shahani was a shining exemplar of the modern feminist leader and
mentor in the course of her life and career both nationally and internationally.

3. TERESITA QUINTOS DELES

-Teresita "Ging" Deles helped mother women's organizations such as FILIPINA,

Women's Action Network for Development and Legislative Advocates for Women working on
the first laws protecting women."Changing the status of women. Back then they were fighting
to overcome barriers for women's equal participation for the country."It was transforming
burdens and responsibilities both inside and outside the house [and addressing] multiple
burdens of women... It was the insight that poor women suffered not just being poor but as
women. Deles was also a peace advocate, she co-founded the Coalition for Peace, the first non-
government that aimed to end the ongoing conflicts in the Philippines. Having long
conversations that sometimes do not seem to get anywhere but are important to finally be
leveling off and understanding. As the famous dictum of women's movement goes, 'the
personal is political.'" Teresita Quintos Deles Known as a convener among women's
organizations, Deles has provided different platforms for women to come together and talk
across their different devices. She insists that organizing is important."I get the sense that
younger people may be a bit wary about being too organized, being co-opted into structures,"
she says."They will have to find out a way of organizing that works with them. Having long
conversations that sometimes do not seem to get anywhere but are important to finally be
leveling off and understanding. As the famous dictum of women's movement goes, 'the
personal is political.'" "As we can see, in the Philippines now, after so much gains and
advancement, misogyny can [still] rear its ugly head. She has been doing development work for
grassroots community and non-government work before working for the OPPAP and NAP-C.

4. SISTER MARY JOHN MANANZAN

-You have to tell the story of Judith, of Esther, of Mary and all the strong women
of the Bible. If you are a man, like the patriarchal priests, you would consider Mary as a model
of obedience, of being the handmaid of the Lord. Although Mananzan is a nun, she is also for
the reproductive health law."A feminist like me would say, no, you did not read the Gospel as a
whole! If you read it, you would see that Mary is a very strong woman. If you put feminism by
itself, hanging in the air, it's not going to do a lot of good. It would just be about the
relationship of men and women and has nothing to do in the transformation of society". It was
through a Women's Conference in Venice when she first realized that one cannot have social
transformation unless the gender question is resolved."I made up my mind, when I return to
the Philippines, I would see to it that the woman question would be included as an essential
part of national transformation". If you read it, you would see that Mary is a very strong
woman. Mary John Mananzan Mananzan believes that the Philippines has one of the best laws
protecting women."We even have the Magna Carta of Women, which is not present in all the
countries.

5. SISTER CHRISTINE TAN

-She was the fifth of seven children. Sister Christine was the first Filipino to head
the Philippine province of the Religious of the Good Shepherd, a congregation founded in
France more than 100 years ago. She also headed the Association of Major Religious Superiors
of Women in the Philippines for some time during the martial law years, a time when she
became known for her militancy and firm stand against totalitarian rule. Poverty as practised in
the convent was not enough for her, so she chose to live among the poor. In the late 1970s,
together with several Good Shepherd nuns, she opted to live and work among the poor of
Malate and stayed with them for more than 26 years. She founded the Alay Kapwa Christian
Community and helped set up cooperatives and livelihood projects for the poor in Manila and
in the provinces of Cavite, Quezon and Cebu, with whom she was humble but a disciplinarian.
She would say that the sisters' vow of poverty meant that they must give of their resources as
well as of their time to others."Every minute must be used well and deliberately". Her fellow
nuns in the RGS said she gave RGS relevance during the difficult years of the 1970s and the
1980s because she had a way of "bringing new wineskins for new wine". She was appointed
member of the Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution. Christine
accepted a government appointment as member of the board of directors of the Philippine
Charity Sweepstakes Office where later on, she again made newspaper headlines when she
questioned irregular fund disbursements at the agency.

6. JOI BARRIOS

-Joi Barrios-Leblanc has a Ph.D.in Filipino and Philippine Literature at the

University of the Philippines and has served as Associate Professor and Associate Dean of the
University of the Philippines College of Arts and Letters. She is the author/editor of more than a
dozen books, among them, her canonical work, To Be a Woman is To Live at a Time of War, and
Savage Stage: Plays by Ma-Yi Theater Company. For her contributions to literature, she was
among the 100 women chosen as Weavers of History for the Philippine Centennial Celebration.
In 2004, she received the TOWNS (Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation's Service) Award in
the Philippines. Joi received a 2012 Gintong Aklat [Golden Book] Award for Bulaklak sa Tubig:
Mga Tula ng Pag-ibig at Himagsik, [Flowers in Water: Poems of Love and Revolt] from the Book
Development Association in Manila. Joi has been invited to teach a course on Filipino theater,
stand-up comedy, music, spoken word and rap, and dance in the diaspora. Texts will be studied
in the context of Filipino American historical relations, identity discourse, globalization, and
diaspora nationalisms. Budget permitting, we hope to schedule this course for the next
academic year.

7. LORENA BARROS

-Maria Lorena Barros remains today one of the most well-known heroes of
the antidictatorship struggle: a charismatic leader, gifted writer, icon of modern Philippine
feminism, the "gentle warrior" who defiantly confronted death at the hands of government
soldiers, deep in the forests of the Sierra Madre. The latter, granddaughter of a Katipunero and
herself a member of the Hukbalahap guerrilla resistance, would become her daughter's closest
friend and confidant. Earning honors from grade school through college, Barros graduated from
the University of the Philippines in 1970 with a degree in anthropology. She was already making
a name for herself as a writer, publishing poetry and essays in various publications and
eventually being elected president of the UP Writers Club. By the end of the 1960s, Lorie Barros
was being drawn into political activism. She joined exposure trips to the rural areas and
immersed herself in the emerging political literature. Yet she was someone who refused to be
confined to the stereotypical image of a student activist, or a feminist activist. She went
underground, married and had a son, all the while keeping up a stream of correspondence with
family and friends. She continued to write poems, songs and essays from the underground. She
was shot in the nape.

8. ROSELLE AMBUBUYOG

-On March 24, 2001, Roselle Ambubuyog became the first visually-impaired
Filipina to emerge as summa cum laude graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University. Born on
January 12,1980, Ambubuyog, totally blind since age six, finished her bachelor of science
degree, major in mathematics with flying colors. She was also chosen as class valedictorian
chosen among all summa cum laude graduates. She earlier graduated valedictorian from her
elementary school and, four years later, was again valedictorian of her high school batch. As a
scholar of ADMU, the school bought Ambubuyog a Braille Translation Software that converts
encoded or scanned text to computer as well as a Braille printer that produces hard copy Braille
to make the exam questionnaires, lecture notes, and other classroom materials. Also bought for
her was the talking calculator so she can hear the numbers while she computes. Ambubuyog
also won all the other awards possible for a graduating Ateneo student: the president's award
for service and excellence as most outstanding individual; the St. Ignatius Award for
Outstanding Scholar, and the departmental award for mathematics. Outside the university she
has received the Jose Rizal Model Student award from the Knights of Rizal Supreme Council and
one of the science awards from Bank of the Philippine Islands.
9. RAISSA JAJURIE

-Raissa Jajurie is the Moro Program Coordinator of the Alternative Legal

Assistance Center. Jajurie was SALIGAN's Researcher, Publications Officer, Women's Unit
Coordinator, Mindanao Branch Coordinator and Executive Director. She has been with the
organization since 1989. As an alternative lawyer and advocate for Muslim women's rights, Ms.
Jajurie believes in justice for Muslim women in accordance with Islamic teachings, as well as
human rights standards. After more than a decade of working with other Muslim women, she
co-founded Nisa Ul-Haqq fi Bangsamoro (Women for Justice in the Bansamoro), which now
conducts grassroots trainings for women, community dialogues, researchers, and policy
advocacy. She is Vice-Chair of Nisa.Ms. Jajurie is a Tausug, one of the ethno-linguistic groups
that make up the "Bangsamoro" , which has been struggling for their right to self-
determination. The Moro peoples are largely of the Islamic faith, and have waged a war against
the Spanish colonizers for 300 years and against the Philippine government in contemporary
times.Ms. Jajurie's work has been in the area of human rights of the Moro peoples as well as
other marginalized sectors and identities, including Muslim Moro women.

10. ROSA HENSON

-Henson burst into the national consciousness in 1992, when she broke
half-a-century's silence to talk about her ordeal as a "comfort woman" in a World War II rape
camp. Lola Rosa was an outspoken, intelligent and courageous woman who overcame great
odds to become a champion of justice for the most secret and silent victims of World War II.
Her widely read autobiography, Comfort Woman: Slave of Destiny, published by the Philippine
Center for Investigative Journalism in 1996, is a touchingly honest account of her life and times
and is the only autobiography ever written by any of the over 200,000 sex slaves kept by the
Japanese in Asia. In Comfort Woman, Lola Rosa wrote of her own mother's rape by the wealthy
landlord who was to become her father. But the young Rosa managed to do well in a Catholic
school in Pasay City, and was in seventh grade when the war broke out. Fearful for her safety,
her mother brought her to a village in Pampanga, where Lola Rosa joined the Hukbalahap
guerrillas, gathering food and medicine for them, and acting as a courier for messages. While
transporting a cartload of guns, she was stopped by a Japanese sentry who forcibly took her to
a hospital in Angeles City which had been turned into a garrison. There, at the age of 14, her life
as a comfort woman began. She once said that for her, remembering was the best revenge.
Lola Rosa was buried in the saya with autumn-leaf design that she had made herself and wore
to her book-launching last year at the historic Fort Santiago."Autumn leaves, like me," she said
then, with the quiet, self-deprecating humor of a woman who had survived so much so bravely,
so triumphantly.
Types of Feminism or Waves of Feminism

Radical Feminism

- radical feminism is a movement that believes sexism is so deeply rooted in society

that the only cure is to eliminate the concept of gender completely.

- radical feminism believes in eliminating the concept of gender entirely.

Socialist Feminism

- is a movement that calls for an end to capitalism through a socialist reformation of

our economy. Basically, socialist feminism argues that capitalism strengthens and supports
the sexist status quo because men are the ones who currently have power and money. Those
men are more willingly to share their power and money with other men, which means that
women are continually given fewer opportunities and resources. This keeps women under
the control of men .

- Socialist feminism calls for an end to capitalism.

Cultural Feminism

- is a movement that points out how modern society is hurt by encouraging masculine
behavior, but society would benefit by encouraging feminine behavior instead.

Liberal Feminism

- a movement that believes all individuals should be free to explore equal opportunities
and rights.

- Liberal feminists argue that society holds the false belief that women are by nature ,
less intellectually and physically capable than men.

- Liberal feminism fights for complete gender equality through social , political and legal
means.

Islamic Feminism
 - is a form of feminism concerned with the role of women in Islam. It aims for the full
equality of all Muslims , regardless of gender , in public and private life. Islamic feminists
advocate women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded in an Islamic
framework.