Caraga state university

Ampayon, Butuan City 8600, Philippines

URL: www.carsu.edu.ph

Lesson 27
Letter to the Young Women of Malolos
 Background of LETTERS TO THE YOUNG WOMEN OF
MALOLOS

✓A group of 20 women of Malolos petitioned Gov. Gen. Weyler to

open a night school so that they may study Spanish under
Teodoro Sandiko
✓Fr. Felipe Garcia objected resulting into the turning down of the
petition
✓The women courageously sustained their agitation for the
establishment of the said school
✓In the end, permission were granted to their project on the
condition that Señorita Guadalupe Reyes should be their teacher
✓Marcelo H. del Pilar requested Rizal to write a letter commending
them for their extraordinary courage
 Background of LETTERS TO THE YOUNG WOMEN OF
MALOLOS

✓Written in Tagalog while Rizal was in London

✓Addresses all kinds of women – mothers, wives, the
unmarried men and women.
 LETTER TO THE YOUNG WOMEN OF MALOLOS

Now that you have responded to our vehement clamor for

public welfare; now that you have shown a good example to fellow
young women, who, like you, desire to have their eyes opened and to be
lifted from their prostration, our hope is roused, now we are confident
of victory. The Filipino woman no longer bows her heads and bends her
knees; her hope in the future is revived; gone is the mother who helps t
keep her daughter in the dark, who educates her in self-contempt and
moral annihilation. It is no longer the highest wisdom to bow the head
to every unjust order, the highest goodness to smile at an insult, to seek
solace in humble tears, etc…etc…
 MESSAGE TO FILIPINO WOMEN

✓ultimate desire was to afford Filipino women with the same

opportunities enjoyed by men in education
✓education-that will liberate women
✓emphasizes on freedom of thought and the right to
education
✓emphasized the need of maintaining the independence of
mind and reason with the attendant strengthening the will
✓urged women to be vigilant over their rights and not to be
docile and passive in their attitude towards the many
injustices forced upon them
 RESPONSIBILITIES OF FILIPINO MOTHERS TO THEIR
CHILDREN

✓Whatever the mother shows to her children is what the

children will also become.
✓Raise children close to the image of God
✓Awaken and prepare the mind of the child for every good
and desirable idea
✓Teach children to prefer death with honor to life
✓Educate the children on the ff: love for honor, love for one’s
fellowmen and respect for God
✓Educate children on what is good, what is true and what is
noble
 QUALITIES MOTHERS HAVE TO POSSESS

Rizal enumerates the qualities Filipino mothers have to

possess:
✓Be a noble wife.
✓Rear her children in the service of the state – here Rizal gives
reference to the women of Sparta who embody this quality
✓Set standards of behavior for men around her
 ADVICE TO UNMARRIED MEN AND WOMEN

✓Young men should not consider physical beauty nor the

sweetness of disposition of a woman but rather give priority to
firmness of character and lofty ideas
✓Young women should not surrender their womanhood to a weak
and timid heart
3 Things young woman must look for a man she is going to marry
✓A noble and honored name
✓A manly heart
✓A high spirit incapable of being satisfied with engendering slaves.
 Rizal’s Reminders on Equality, Self-respect and True Spirit of
Religion (the last part of the letter)

1) The tyranny of some is possible only through cowardice and

negligence on the part of others.
2) What makes one contemptible is lack of dignity and abject fear
of one who holds one in contempt.
3) Ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks, so he is; a man
who does not think for himself and allows himself to be guided
by thought of another is like a beast led by a halter.
4) He who loves his independence must first aid his fellowman,
because he who refuses protection to others will find himself
without it.
 Rizal’s Reminders on Equality, Self-respect and True Spirit of
Religion (the last part of the letter)

5) If the Filipina will not change her mode of being, let her rear no
more children, let her merely giver birth to them. She must
cease to be the mistress of the home; otherwise, she will
unconsciously betray husband, child, native land and all.
6) All men are born equal, naked, without bonds. God did not
create man to be a slave; nor did he endow him with intelligence
to have him hoodwinked or adorn him with reason to have him
deceived by others.
7) Consider well what kind of religion they are teaching you. See
whether it is the will of God or according to the teachings of
Christ that the poor be succored and those who suffer
alleviated.
 To the Women of Malolos” centers around five salient points
(Zaide &Zaide, 1999)

1) should teach their children love of God, country and

fellowmen.
2) should be glad and honored, like Spartan mothers, to offer
their sons in defense of their country.
3) should know how to protect their dignity and honor.
4) should educate themselves aside from retaining their good
racial values.
5) Faith is not merely reciting prayers and wearing religious
pictures. It is living the real Christian way with good
morals and manners
 References

Garcia, Carlito & Cruz, Cynthia (2005) Rizal and the Development of
Filipino Nationalism: A Textbook on the Life, Works and Writings of Our
National Hero. Mandaluyong City: Books Atbp. Publishing Corp.
Zaide, G. & Zaide, S. (1984) Jose Rizal: Life, works, and writings of a
genuis, writer, scientist, and national hero. Quezon City: National Book
Store
http://thelifeandworksofrizal.blogspot.com/2011/08/to-young-women-of-
malolos-summary-and.html