Module 4 Topic 2 1

Filipina Feminisms
Like what Adichie said, there is no single story. The feminist scholars/writers from the Global South
knew it a long time ago and they started to have the voices of the South heard through their writings and
theorizing using their own perspectives and lived experiences including those of the marginalized sectors. For the
first material, the researcher-author traced the roots of Filipina feminism by doing a literature review and
interviews of informants. After presenting and analyzing her findings within her chosen framework, she concluded
that “Filipina feminism is not truly distinct; rather it bifurcates between Third World and Western feminist views.”
How she arrived at this conclusion and what framework she used in gathering and analyzing her data is for you to
find out when you read this material.
For the second material, using the published works of three Filipina feminists, the author distilled their
philosophical leanings, their similar concerns, and their major contributions to Filipina feminism. Therefore, as you
read this material, you try to identify the aspects of their theorizing that they are similar and different with. Also,
after reading the material, reflect on whose analysis and interpretation of the Filipino women’s situation is similar
to your experience and understanding of gender issues in the Philippines.
After reading the material, you should be able to:
a. describe the process by which Filipina activists gain feminist consciousness;
b. explore your feminist visions of society, including your ideas on sources of women's oppression and
strategies for social change;
c. understand how the researcher organized the entire paper, chose the respondents, presented and
analyzed the data, supported or proved the findings, and balanced the presentation of the findings
and analysis;
d. point at the similar and different ideas of the three Filipino feminist thinkers; and,
e. explain what makes the three Filipino feminists qualified as theorists.

Key Concepts to Understand

equitable society glass ceiling historical amnesia imperialism intersection paradigm
Third World feminism Western feminism

Theorizing Filipina feminism: A survey of the theoretical and political streams of feminism in the Philippines
Excerpt: Arnado, M.J., in de la Cruz, N.L. & Peracullo, J. (2011). Feminista: Gender, race, and class in the Philippines.
Manila: Anvil Publishing, Inc. pp. 3-16.

Introduction
In the late 1990s, I registered for a course on Third World Feminisms in a U.S. university. As I engaged in
the perspective of the "Other" in the feminist discourse, I anticipated a reflection of my own experience as a Third
World woman in our readings, which included a mixture of feminist ideas and stories from women of color in the U.S.
as well as from Third World women outside the country ... Although the course allowed for a deeper understanding
of the various Third World feminist standpoints, I failed to come across a theory of Filipina feminism, one that
collectively encapsulates the Filipina feminists' definitions of reality and their imagined societies. The readings we
took up in class tended to lump Third World feminisms together by region or by race: Africana, Black, Asian, or
Latina. This often resulted in an oversimplification of, and a blurring of difference within racial groups or regions.
While I deeply appreciated the variety of feminist readings that we covered in class, I was partly disappointed
because the absence of Filipina feminist theory in Western feminist journals may be misinterpreted by the First World
as tantamount to an absence of feminist activism in the Philippines. In line with the proliferation of localized feminist
theorizing, I am taking on the task of putting together the elements that shape Filipina feminism, which refers to a
feminist consciousness espoused by Filipina nationals residing in the Philippines.
In reality women's activism is so vibrant in the Philippines, yet little scholarly work on it has been done so
far. The paucity of theoretical work on Filipina feminism, or on Philippine women's studies in general, has been
justified by Medel-Anonuevo …, as she argues:
The realities in the Third World countries like ours is such that the urgency of our needs has always preceded
the 'luxury' of pausing for a moment and analyzing where we are going. This condition results in the seeming
absence of Third World contribution in the realm of women's studies theory ...
Several locally published articles and books offer significant insights on Filipina feminist thought ... The task
at hand is to use these existing materials and to collect feminist narratives from the field, to provide an empirical
base for the theorizing project. A review of Filipina feminist literature indicates that whereas the term feminist
perspective often appears in the literature, no distinction has been established between a general feminist perspective
and the Filipina feminist perspective. The phrases, Philippine feminism and Filipina/o feminism have been used …,
yet there has not been an elaborate characterization of what this perspective is all about. Oftentimes, Filipina feminism
is used to refer to feminism in the Philippines or feminism of Filipino women. Aquino … described what Philippine
feminism is not, but fell short in elaborating what it means. Quintos-Deles … laid out different streams of feminism,
yet she was limited by Western typology: liberal, socialist, and radical. She was right to layout these different streams
of feminisms in the country, but she has not examined the peculiarity of these perspectives within the Philippine
 Module 4 Topic 2 2

context. The question remains unanswered: Is a Filipina feminist perspective subsumed within this Western typology;
or is there a distinct Filipina feminist perspective?
In reviewing theorizing efforts on Filipina feminism by Filipino scholars, nationalist feminism stands out as
a dominant theme, as reflected in the works of Aguilar ... In addition, Mananzan … has made an important
contribution in amplifying the woman question in the Philippines. Various other Filipino feminists have written on
the nature of feminism from their own political standpoints …, but there has not been any empirical attention given
to examining Filipina feminist perspectives existing in the Philippines. Such is the goal of this paper. It seeks to
characterize Filipina Feminism as distinct from Western and Third World feminisms…
This paper however is limited in the following ways. First, while Filipino men can be feminists, their views
are excluded, and therefore not considered part of Filipina feminism. Second, although this paper occasionally
addresses feminism at the organizational level, for the most part it examines the processes women as individuals
undergo in achieving a feminist consciousness. Third, due to the very limited number of informants, this paper makes
no claim of being exhaustive of all types of existing feminist activisms in the country; it is rather limited to the views
presented by the informants, as well as those reviewed in the literature.

Profile of feminists/activists
As shown in Table 1, the feminist-informants come from various age groups. Most of them belong to the
middle class, with only four coming from impoverished households. Half of them are married, while the other half are
single. Their status is also varied: lesbian, nun, single mother, separated, and just single.
The informants' educational attainments likewise vary: one did not even complete elementary school, one
finished high school, and the rest obtained undergraduate and post-graduate degrees. The degrees include those in
sociology, microbiology, international studies, education, international relations, law, theology, English literature,
and history. They now work in various fields such as corporate law, human rights law, education, theater arts,
community organizing, research, and health care. Their combined projects involve legal services, women's shelter,
bantay bahay (community watch) projects, primary and reproductive health care, peace advocacy, women's
empowerment in theater arts and prostitution, and consciousness- raising. In addition, these feminists/activists
lobby for laws that are beneficial to women, including lesbians and comfort women. They cater to groups such as the
urban poor and rural communities; lesbians; prostituted, abused, and comfort women; women in conflict zones;
students; and government and non-government workers.

Table 1. Profile of the Informants

Variables Categories F
Age group 20-29 1
30-39 9
40-49 4
50-59 3
60 and above 3
Total 20

Education Grade School 1

School 1
College and postgraduate 18
Total 20

Occupational Academe 6
Work Counseling 1
Creative Arts 2
Legal services 3
Organizing 8
Total 20

Social Class Lower 4

Middle 16
Total 20

Marital Status Married 10

Single 10
Total 20

Feminist Perspectives
To draw out their feminist perspectives, I asked the feminist-informants about their visions of society, their
perceptions of the sources of women's oppression, and the strategies by which social change can take place. Their
responses fall under two broad categories: the gender-primacy perspective and the intersections perspective (see Table
2). The gender-primacy approach focuses on a vision of society where the gender component is of primary, if not sole
concern. Among the key words that the informants used to articulate the gender-primacy visions are as follows:
 Module 4 Topic 2 3

a safe society for women and children; a society where women are healthy and empowered; and a society where men
and women are equal. Patriarchy is viewed as the cause of women's subjugation and oppression. In addition, some
informants identified specific sources of women's oppression, such as lack of opportunities and the glass ceiling,
biological differences, sexism, and heterosexism. Therefore, to liberate women, the feminists under this category
espouse a gender-based strategy for change: elimination of patriarchy. This can be done through the following
strategies: direct confrontation with men, promotion of egalitarianism, economic empowerment of women, and
provision of social protection for women through laws and strict implementation of these laws. I now cite an example
wherein the feminists in this study expressed or actualized their gender-based visions of society.
Jijay imagines a society where women are empowered. An artist, she is working towards women's
empowerment in the field of theater arts. In 2000, Jijay and her companions organized an all-women theater group
they called, "Mebuyan Peace Project." This project emerged due to a number of reasons. First, their existing theater
group, though gender sensitive and women- friendly, did not focus on women's issues. Second, women in their theater
group did not assume greater artistic responsibilities; their director, choreographer, lighting and production designers
were all males. Jijay justifies their action thus: "it is not because they are male that we are asserting (sic); it is because
we know we are capable but we are not given the opportunity." Third, they wanted to produce artists out of
development workers and their beneficiaries. As Jijay puts it, many of these workers do not realize the power of art
in bringing about their development agenda. Through the Mebuyan Peace Project, art was utilized as development
work, with focus on women and children's issues.
The other category, on the other hand, mixes gender oppression with other forms of oppression, such as
those rooted in class, ethnicity, nationality, and sexuality, to come up with a comprehensive vision of society. This is
referred to as the intersections paradigm, as it views other forms of oppression equally important as gender
oppression. From this viewpoint, women's liberation does not only come with elimination of patriarchy but also that
of other systems of oppression such as classism, sexism, racism, etc. These systems of oppression will have to be
addressed simultaneously. This is clearly observed in feminist conversations, as the feminists raise such issues as:
liberating Filipino men and women from poverty, freeing the country from foreign control, caring for the environment,
and promoting the peaceful coexistence of peoples.
GABRIELA members tend to adhere to this all-embracing feminist vision.' To achieve comprehensive social
transformation, according to Sister Mary John, the women's movement needs to be contextualized in the whole effort
of class struggle for social transformation. Bituon, another GABRIELA member, echoes Sister Mary John's perspective
in different words. A better society is what Bituon dreams of, specifically an equitable society where everyone enjoys
the fruits of her labor, and where the government does its "job in delivering the basic services to the people." This can
be achieved "through constant and tireless struggle." Bituon contributes towards social transformation through
critical writing, participating in mass actions, consciousness raising and other legitimate processes. While she
believes in arms struggle as an effective means to change an oppressive system, she is not yet ready for it. From the
comprehensive vision, men and women are viewed as complementary partners in development. This is illustrated in
Janet's imagined society:
... there should be a complementation of men and women. What we have here in the Philippines is [feminism
that is] too pro-female and to the point of anti-male, which I don't like. The concept behind this is we were
created by God to complement each other, so we need both men and women to accomplish whatever it is
that we want in this world. We need to help each other.
These results indicate that the feminists' visions of society and their perceived sources of women's oppression
vary, depending on how they have experienced differentiation, oppression, or exploitation. Indeed, experience
relativizes perspective. For example, women whose field of experience has been largely organized by gender, adhere
to a gender-primacy vision of society. In contrast, women who have simultaneously experienced the impact of gender,
ethnicity, class, sexuality, and imperialism adhere to the intersections perspective, and therefore to a comprehensive
vision of society.

Filipina feminist perspective: A bifurcated view

The main goal of this paper is to characterize Filipina feminist perspective. With a history rooted in centuries
of colonialism, the feminist struggle in this country shares a lot with feminist movements in other Third World
societies. Thus, one might immediately conclude that Filipina feminism is a Third World feminism. A closer inspection
of my interview data and my observation of the society to which I belong, however, reveal a dual pattern of Filipina
feminism. I would like to argue that Filipina Feminism is a bifurcated view of Western (or First World) and Third World
perspectives. As shown in Table 2, the "gender primacy" vision may represent the traditional Western concept of a
feminist vision; while the intersections paradigm embodies the Third World perspective that integrates issues of
colonialism and poverty to women's subjugation. Indeed, a distinguishing character of Third World feminism
from the traditional Western feminist view is its incorporation of colonial and gender discourses. While
Third World women across the globe express their feminisms differently, a central theme and a unifying factor is the
experience of colonialism; therefore, in examining women's oppression, patriarchy is viewed as just one of the factors
that cause women's oppression.
Feminism in the Philippines emerged from nationalist movements, yet it was largely shaped by Western
feminism. To separate its activism from the West, it aligns itself with other Third World nations, and adopts the label,
Third World feminism. At the outset, one can see that Filipina feminism clearly adheres to the Third World perspective
and seems to be defensive against intimate association with the colonial West; but a closer analysis demonstrates
that the stereotypical identification of feminism with the West has a real basis…
 Module 4 Topic 2 4

Table 2. A Model of Filipina Feminist Perspective

Western Third World
Vision Gender -primacy perspective Intersections perspective

Explanation of Patriarchy, biological differences, Rooted in colonial history,

women's unequal opportunities, glass imperialism and poverty, in
subjugation ceiling, heterosexism addition to gender-based
explanation

Strategies for A gender-based strategy such as A holistic strategy such as

change direct confrontation with men,
promotion of egalitarianism and
women's economic empowerment,
and provision of social protection
for women
integrating women's struggle in
class and nationalist struggles,
organizing women into a more
visible political group, and waging
peace in Mindanao.

Since most Western societies have not been subjected to colonial rule and they currently enjoy hegemony
over many nations, traditional Western feminism's agenda is focused primarily on women's empowerment and
disregards the centrality of colonialism and/or imperialism in most of the world's women's struggles. The notion of
women's empowerment is what I find common in Western feminist views, whether liberal, socialist or radical. The
degree of emancipation may differ, with liberal feminism aspiring for equal opportunities, socialist feminism for
gender equality, and radical feminism for female supremacy or separatism.
In the Third World however where poverty is the norm, the feminist agenda is not wholly focused on women's
emancipation or gender equality but includes the fulfillment of basic needs and national autonomy. With Third World
feminism, women's emancipation is situated within a bigger framework of authentic national liberation and total
development of both men and women. Third World feminism's complex mission can be justified by what a Filipina
peasant woman has to say, ''What will I gain if I am equal to my husband when he is put down by society because
we're peasants? And what would I gain if peasants' issues are solved and I remain inferior in my personal
relationships?" ... Similarly, what would empowered women gain if their country remained poor and politically
powerless? Suffice it to say at this point that, from a Third World feminist perspective, it is impossible to have an
elevated consciousness in matters of gender inequality but to continue to be blind to class and national oppression.
It is within this context that I examine Western and Third World views of Filipina feminism.

Third World feminist view

Situated in a Third World nation, many Filipina feminists I have conversed with embrace Third World
feminism and distance themselves from any Western connection. In fact, a number of them adopt other labels to
identify their activism, such as activists, women's advocates, liberal women, and babaeng kusgan (strong women). A
common factor in all these labels is the knowledge that women are subordinate to men in many aspects of social
life, and a motivation to work to improve women's status in society.
Feminism's association with colonizing countries and those "who share in the power and prestige of being
part of the technologically developed and affluent West" … makes it unpopular to Third World societies that were
victims of such colonial powers. What is problematic about feminism, therefore, is not its essence but its implication,
which is its association with the West. On top of that, the Third World and the First World represent an irreconcilable
dichotomy of poverty and wealth, of colonized and colonizer, of East and West, respectively.
Feminist literatures describe feminism in the Philippines as essentially nationalistic and Third World in
nature ... Quindoza-Santiago … expresses such an opinion when she labels those who hold the opinion that feminism
is a Western concept as usually having "no sympathy for women." In addition to the literature, the key informants in
this study distinguish between Filipina feminism, which is Third World, and Western feminism. Davao-based feminist
and former city council or, Luz Ilagan, differentiates the Third World nature of Filipina feminism from Western
feminism. For Luz, Filipina feminism addresses three tiers of oppression: national oppression, which includes
men and women; particular oppressions of women belonging to specific sectors of society, such as labor,
agriculture, etc.; and oppression of women as women. The difference, she argues, is that feminists in Western
societies do not experience the first oppression brought about by imperialist intervention. Filipina feminists, on the
other hand, incorporate these different levels of oppression, including the third kind of oppression that is a
contribution of Western feminism, as they dream of a better society for all.
Additionally, the concept that feminism is anti-men is linked to Western feminism; therefore, Filipina
feminists dissociate themselves from such an identification." Sister Mary John Mananzan one of the organizers of the
women's movement in the late 1970s, highlights the Third World nature of the women's movement in the Philippines:
We do not like our women to be anti-men ... so right there and then, in that weekend, we established the
organizing principles on what a women's movement in the Third World should be.
It seems that the organizers of the women's movement wanted to layout their principles as soon as possible
to distinguish their feminism from the dominant Western view. Similarly, Luz differentiates her feminism from the
West:
I am a feminist in the sense that I help advance women's advocacy. My bias is that I am in favor of women,
but unlike Western feminism, I don't see men as the enemy. I don't see them as the source of our problem.
 Module 4 Topic 2 5

A related notion of Western feminism is its middle-class association. Feminists are perceived to be members
of the middle class who are not grounded on poor women's issues. Sister Mary John, however, disputes this claim,
pointing to GABRIELA, the largest network of women's organizations, 90 percent of whose members are impoverished.
This middle-class feminist stereotype is perhaps based on leadership positions in the women's movement that are
generally occupied by middle-class women. They have the capacity to initiate the women's movement precisely
because they are freed from the basic preoccupation of poor women, which is to address survival needs first. In
addition, a review of published life stories of popular, feminist and strong women indicate that many of them belong
to the middle class … Middle-class women may have a different agenda from their working class counterparts, but
GABRIELA ensures a constant dialogue between these two classes, to enhance solidarity and to learn from each
other, according to Vida Arcamo, secretary general of GABRIELA Cebu. Middle-class women usually provide
assistance to their working-class counterparts in the form of financial and logistical support. On the other hand,
working class women pave the way for their middle-class feminists to immerse in their poverty- stricken living
conditions. Exposure to the lives of poor women, according to one middle-class informant, has changed her lifestyle
from vanity to simplicity.
Third World feminism is a perspective embraced by nationalist and anti-globalization activists. The Third
World feminist character of Filipina feminism fights against poverty, foreign intervention, trade liberalization, and
globalization, in addition to gender-based exploitation and violence. It is based on the notion that "all issues are
women's issues" in that all issues have either a direct or an indirect impact on women. Allied with a Third World
feminist perspective is nationalist feminism, one of the earliest feminist perspectives that emerged at the height of
the Marcos dictatorial regime. Nationalist feminism is closely aligned with the national liberation movement.
Proponents of this perspective, such as Sister Mary John Mananzan, deemed that since their male compatriots were
unwilling to put women's emancipation agenda side by side with the national liberation agenda, they had to initiate
an independent women's movement that envisions a comprehensive social transformation. This nationalist theme of
feminism is a unifying element of Third World feminisms whose nations have been subjected to unjust social
structures and foreign intervention.
A look at the goals of the feminist movement in the Philippines points us again to the Third World feminist
perspective of many informants. Comprehensive social transformation is what GABRIELA's co-founder and
national chairperson, Sister Mary John and her companions wanted to attain when they organized the women's
movement. It can only be achieved when they also address the concerns of the other half of the population: women
and girls. One of their guiding principles is to create a women's movement within the context of the whole effort of
struggle for social transformation. This springs from their being political activists. Again, she differentiates the
women's movement in the Philippines from that of the West.
It's a good thing because we are not floating in the air, unlike some women's movements in the West wherein
the goal is limited to men- women relationship, without extension to societal relationship.
Informant Sally Ujano, executive director of the Women's Crisis Center in Metro Manila, also began as a
political activist in the late 1970s when she organized peasants. Despite being arrested and tortured in the early
eighties, together with her boyfriend whom she married while in jail, she still dreamed of social transformation when
she came out, but was extra cautious of her movements lest she be arrested again. Instead, she found her energy
focused on helping battered women through feminist counseling.
The Third World perspective of Filipina feminism deems it necessary for gender issues to intersect with class
and national issues, and therefore for gender, class, and nationalism to be addressed simultaneously. A considerable
number of feminists interviewed, particularly those belonging to the political left and who are members of Gabriela,
share this view. Their being feminists does not mean that they are blind to the concerns of the majority of Filipino
women wallowing in poverty.
A victim of house demolition, Bituon perceives that women's oppression is rooted in class. Similarly, Maki
does not separate her oppression as a woman and her oppression as a member of the lower class. She argues that
she is oppressed as a woman partly because she is poor. Many feminists agree with Bituon's view of the intersection
of class and gender as evidenced by the women's vision of society, where gender is seen as a component of a bigger
social struggle. Hags and Fags editor, Sheilfa Alohamento, echoes Bituon's view as she points to underdevelopment
as the root of women's oppression in the Philippines. If a society is underdeveloped, men and women have to compete
more strongly for scarce resources, such as food, education, and employment. In an underdeveloped society, coupled
with a patriarchal system as most, if not all contemporary societies are, women are doomed to be marginalized.
In addition to nationalism and association with class issues, the Third World feminist character of Filipina
feminism emphasizes the work for peace based on justice. Mary Ann is a feminist, peace advocate and human rights
lawyer based in Mindanao, a zone of conflict between the government and the secessionist movement, the Moro
Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Mary Ann dreams of
a caring, protective, sensitive, holistic society where people exist with respect, fairness and justice;
where development is pursued in balance with nature, where women do not live in fear of violence
and children play and grow without fear of bigger people.
Mary Ann integrates her feminism in her work as a lawyer and peace advocate. As a lawyer, she handles legal
cases of poor and middle-class women who have been abused, harassed, or raped; as a peace advocate, she is involved
in ceasefire watch and is among the pool of women waging peace in Mindanao.

Western feminist perspective

The shaping of Filipina feminism was influenced by Western feminism. Several factors explain Western
feminism's influence on Filipina feminism. These include Western education, the Philippines' historical experience of
 Module 4 Topic 2 6

colonization, global events related to the rise of the women's movement, and funding. In addition, we can find evidence
of Western influence on the informants' visions of society, along with issues their organizations prioritize.
Western education influences Western feminist thinking. Our academic feminists either have acquired their
academic degrees in the West (myself included) or are Philippine educated but more exposed to Western feminist
theories and literature than to Filipino feminist writings, given the paucity of local materials. Numerous Filipina
feminists label their feminism within Western typology: radical, liberal, or socialist. While some of them may be critical
of Western feminist theories - this is especially the case when their experience is alienated from these theories - the
reality remains that they have imbibed some of the Western views, which may be reflected in their own writings. Our
very own feminist scholars are informed by Western feminist literature as they write about feminism in the Philippines
…
The foremost contribution of Western feminism in the Philippines is the feminist theory, which provides a
solid foundation for feminist activism. Many informants admit that while Filipino women were involved in political
activism early on in our history, there was no theoretical foundation of such activism. Women revolutionaries in the
19th century did not call themselves feminists then but nationalists. As Sister Mary John admits:
We have to give credit where credit is due .... We in the Third World have had a lot of experiences in the
struggle but I think we have to say that, especially the radical feminists, we have to give them the credit of
pointing to patriarchy as the key to the ideology of the woman question, and that should be acknowledged.
Filipina feminism is partly informed by Western feminism because of the Philippines' historical experience of
colonialism. A formerly colonized nation, the Philippines adopted much of its cultural, political and economic systems
from its colonizers. While the Philippines is a Third World nation, and many feminists espouse a conscious bias for
Third World feminism, its historical location in the global hierarchy makes Filipina feminists vulnerable to Western
(read: U.S.) thinking in general, and Western feminist thinking in particular. Undeniably, the United States' success
in colonizing the Philippines was cue in part to its achievement in making Filipinos love the American way of life and
forget their Filipino historical identity. With historical amnesia along with colonial mentality, Filipinos aspire to
become like their colonizers: many, if not most, apply whitening/bleaching creams, prefer a long nose, aspire to speak
in English, favor imported goods over indigenous products, and hope to migrate to the United States and become
American citizens. Feminists are not an exception; we may be guilty of one or more of the above-mentioned traits and
practices, as we are part of this cultural system.
We can identify several patterns of the trickle-down effect of feminism from the United States to the
Philippines. White American women fought hard to obtain their right to vote from mid-1800 up to the dawn of the
20th century. The Filipina suffragists acquired some inspiration from their counterpart in the U.S. as they followed
suit in acquiring their right to vote in the early 20 th century with the help of American suffragettes ... In addition,
while U.S. women's rights movement peaked in the late 1960s, the Philippine women's movement began to organize
in the 1970s and reached its height in the 1980s. This was under the global backdrop of the International Decade of
Women (1975-1985), which was initiated by the West.
One of the principles of Third World feminism is autonomy from foreign intervention. Yet, feminist
organizations, even the nationalist faction, obtain funding from Western donors, making them less able to actualize
their Third World feminist activism. Without funding however, these organizations cannot mobilize, so the dilemma
remains. There is a contradiction between theory and praxis. Filipina feminists have to be in constant reflexive
mood, so we can critique the existing order without falling into our own trap. For example, one of my interviews was
conducted at McDonald's, a place suggested by my informant who happened to be a nationalist feminist. During the
interview, she criticized imperialism and the presence of multinational companies (MNCs) in the country without
realizing that we were patronizing one of the MNCs that she was referring to.
We now examine the extent to which the informants' vision of society and their priority issues reflect
Western feminism. As discussed earlier, the majority of the informants expressed a Third World feminist vision of
society. However, a few of the informants' visions of society are informed by Western feminism. Alice Morada, a Cebu-
based lawyer and chair of Lihok-Pilipina, imagines a society where there is no glass ceiling for women. With a very
strong drive to succeed, she fought her way up despite the structural barriers placed on women. Alice lobbies for the
passage of laws that are favorable to women. Among the bills that were passed into laws were the following: the Anti-
Trafficking in Persons Act; the Solo Parents Welfare Act; the Anti- Domestic Violence Act; and others. Incidentally, these
laws are inspired by the example set by our Western counterparts. As a feminist, Alice focuses her concern on gender
issues, and expressed ideological differences with GABRIELA who, according to her, has political motivations. She
believes that the women's movement should focus on gender issues, and leave nationalist, anti-imperialist agenda to
other leftist organizations.
In addition, Filipina lesbian feminism and the fight against homophobia have been largely inspired by
Western feminism, both in theory and resources. Lesbian-feminists Marivic Desquitado and Ging Cristobal of Link
and LeAP respectively, a Philippine society without homophobia is what they dream of. They hope that time will come
when one's sexual orientation is no longer a stratifying factor. A member of a women's organization in the late 1980s,
Marivic wondered why women did not organize lesbians when they were also women: "We talked about women's
liberation, yet lesbians were not liberated from their family and from themselves." At that time, there was no lesbian
organization in Davao. As soon as she found a funding agency willing to support her project, Marivic organized a
lesbian organization for the urban poor called, Link. It aims to help provide a better quality of life for urban poor
lesbians through education, livelihood, and support system. Likewise, Ging deemed that she had to do something
about discrimination faced by the lesbians. While her parents accepted her sexuality, she saw that the larger society
is homophobic. Working with LeAP, she helps eradicate homophobia through education and organizing.
 Module 4 Topic 2 7

In terms of priority issues, Filipina women's groups that focus on lobbying for the passage and
implementation of laws most crucial to women, such as sexual harassment, domestic violence, rape, divorce, and
reproductive health and rights, among others, are informed by Western feminism's framework: women's
empowerment. What characterizes Western-informed feminism is the positioning of gender issues at the forefront of
their struggle, without any political agenda whether it is based on ethnicity, class, or nationalism. It relies on
womanhood as the uniting factor among women, and puts less emphasis on other multiple identities these women
may have for these may create divisiveness among women.

Three Filipino Feminist Thinkers from the First Wave to the so-called “Third Wave”
Excerpt: de la Cruz, N.L.J., in de la Cruz, N.L. & Peracullo, J. (2011). Feminista: Gender, race, and class in the
Philippines. Manila: Anvil Publishing, Inc. pp. 24-35).

Clemencia Lopez: Race and gender in the equal rights discourse

At the height of the Philippine-American War, the Republic of the Philippines sent a delegation to the United
States to assert the independence that it won from Spain. The secretary of this delegation was Sixto Lopez, who came
from an elite Filipino family and who worked closely with the Anti-Imperialist League in the US. After the US won the
war, the Lopezes were persecuted by the American military, mainly through imprisonment, confiscation of their lands,
and various other forms of harassment. In 1902, Clemencia Lopez went to America to petition for the release of her
brothers from prison ...
At this time, American suffragists had taken an interest in the national debate on imperialism. Many of them
were opposed to it, drawing a parallelism between women's oppression in the US and the oppression by Americans
of other races ... Since Clemencia was in the country at the time, she was invited to address the annual gathering of
the New England Woman Suffrage Association, in order to present a Filipino woman's perspective. On May 29,1902,
she presented a speech, "Women of the Philippines." The speech was intended to draw American feminists' support
for the cause of Philippine independence by appealing to two issues high on their agenda: women's rights and anti-
imperialism.
The piece itself is short, no more than 2,000 words, and constitutes the only extant critical work by Lopez.
Some may debate the issue of whether she is a feminist; she uses the liberal framework so popular among first wavers
but does not question certain gender stereotypes. However, I consider her, with some qualifications, as a Filipino
feminist philosopher for reasons I will elaborate on later.
Lopez begins with an explicit acknowledgement of her marginal place, begging her audience's indulgence and
stating her intention to show that - contrary to popular opinion among white people - Filipinos are not "savages
without education or morals" ... She makes a comparison (1) between American women and Filipinos in general; and
(2) between American women and Filipino women.
According to Lopez, the suffragists and Filipinos "are both striving for much the same object - you for the
right to take part in national life; we for the right to have a national life to take part in" ... Two kinds of oppression
are at work here: race in the case of the struggle of Filipinos against American colonization, and gender in the case
of the struggle of American women for the right to vote. The unity of purpose is achieved under the banner of
equality, a fundamental American constitutional principle.
The equality perspective is based on the philosophy of liberalism, whose foremost proponent was John Stuart
Mill (himself an early liberal feminist). Liberalism advocates the greatest freedom possible for every individual, limited
only by the notion of self-protection. That is, " ... the only purpose for which power can be rightly exercised over any
member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others" ... As long as one is not harming
anyone else, then one has the liberty to do as one pleases. First wave feminism, usually dubbed the women's rights
movement of the 18th and 19th centuries, was based on the liberal framework.
Central to the philosophy of liberalism is the idea that human beings are fundamentally the same. Despite
differences in terms of nationality or sex or age or social status, individuals are created equal and capable of the same
abilities, if given the same opportunities. Since patriarchy justifies the subordination of women through the idea of
sexual difference, early liberal feminists viewed the differences between women and men - e.g. the fact of pregnancy
- as basically superficial.
In keeping with the tacit liberal idea that difference constitutes inferiority, Lopez cites some important
similarities between American women and Filipinos. She uses the discourse of women's rights as a starting point
toward her main argument: that Filipinos had equal rights to govern themselves.
In her second level of comparison between the two races, Lopez states that Filipino women are not much
different from American women: " ... the condition of women in the Philippines is very different from that of the women
of any country in the East, and ... it differs very little from the general condition of the women of this country" ...
Lopez does not specify which countries in the East she refers to; in any case, she does dichotomize between East/West
and uncivilized/civilized. Hinting that Filipino culture is Western and civilized, she says that in the Philippines there
is equality between the sexes and respect for family life ...
To further emphasize the need for solidarity between American and Filipino women, Lopez mentions two
areas of common interest. The first concerns women's perennial struggle for equal rights. According to Lopez, "the
Philippine women are not as highly educated as the majority of American women: they have never had the same
opportunities .... " … The second constitutes an appeal to natural gender roles. She calls for female intercession on
the question of imperialism, because men are less predisposed to diplomacy:
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It would seem to me an excellent idea that American women should take part in any investigation that may
be made in the Philippine Islands, and I believe they would attain better results than the men. Would it not
also seem to you an excellent idea, since representation by our leading men has been refused us, that a
number of representative women should come to this country, so that you might become better acquainted
with us? …
This passage may be interpreted as a call for women to solve the problem by themselves in the face of the
failure of men. It raises the possibility of international sisterhood in spite of racial differences.
Lopez's speech mentions the Filipino women's situation only tangentially in relation to the bigger issue of
Philippine independence. However, her reasoning is typical of first wave feminists in its stress on the equality of all
human beings. She prioritizes racial oppression in her critique, seeing it as a key factor in the lack of opportunities
available to Filipino women. Her arguments suggest that once Filipinos are given the freedom to govern themselves,
greater equality between the sexes would follow.
Like first wave feminists, she provides an analysis of women's situation that is gender blind. Since liberalism
assumes all individuals to be fundamentally the same, it does not consider gender as significant. In fact, the discourse
of equal rights posits a universal subject who is supposed to stand for all human beings regardless of differences.
One implication of this is that "equality" tends to be defined from the point of view of privilege; in the case of sexual
equality, it is male-defined. First wavers demanded full female participation in a predominantly masculine social life,
believing that once women gained the same status as men, the problem would be solved. A common critique of the
equality paradigm is that it treats emancipated women as honorary men, inadvertently leaving intact the fundamental
hierarchy between masculinity and femininity.
Like first wavers, Lopez believes that women's situation would improve once they are given men's
opportunities; for example, access to higher education. Unlike second wave feminists who followed de Beauvoir's lead,
Lopez does not consider the social construction of women's roles as the problem. This is why she does not re-examine
gender stereotypes; in fact, she relies on them in her description of Filipino women as loyal to their husbands and
families. She praises them for their piety and obedience, which for her prove that the Filipino race is civilized.
While these ideas may be interpreted as anti-feminist by today's standards, one must remember that during
Lopez's time, people as yet did not differentiate between sex (the biological category) and gender (the socially-
constructed category). The concept of gender constitutes an entirely new feminist paradigm that didn't come to light
until more than fifty years after Clemencia Lopez's time.
Another problematic aspect of Lopez's ideas concerns the feminist dilemma between love of nation and
commitment to women's liberation. For a country with a long history of colonization such as the Philippines, a sense
of nationalism such as that exhibited by Lopez is indeed necessary for Filipinos to go forward. She writes, ''You would
have a right to despise me and my countrywomen if we had so little love for our native land as to consent that our
country should be governed by foreign hands" . However, the search for cultural roots that would justify national
cohesion frequently glorifies native patriarchies. One can see this tendency in Lopez's speech where she touts Filipino
women's readiness to follow their men in their wars or to give up love in deference to their parents' wishes ... A
people's pride and unity is frequently bought at the price of female self- sacrifice."
In the Philippines, the modem feminist movement developed out of the struggle of "progressive" groups
positioned as nationalist ... These groups led by the National Democratic Front, the foremost coalition of left-wing
groups in the Philippines, mobilized against the Marcos dictatorship from the 1970s until Marcos's ouster during the
popular People Power revolt in 1985. The Left claimed the nationalist ideology because virtually all Filipino presidents
after Emilio Aguinaldo in 1898 - but most especially President Ferdinand Marcos - represented bourgeois interests
and American colonial influence." The first women's activist movement to emerge from the Left was MAKIBAKA (the
Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan), a precursor of GABRIELA. However, it wasn't long before Filipino feminists
realized that even the Left tends to marginalize women's issues in favor of class oppression. The history of the women's
movement in the Philippines and its ties to the Left therefore shows that all too frequently, "nationalist" becomes
mutually exclusive of "feminist." This contradiction is evident in Lopez's work, which exhibits a marked priority for
race oppression over gender.

Sister Mary John Mananzan: Filipino women and interlocking oppressions

Sister Mary John Mananzan has published various articles on the situation of Filipino women and edited
collections on women's studies in the Philippines. Much of her writing, as mentioned in the introduction, deals with
a feminist philosophy of religion, a topic that merits a separate study. For the purposes of the paper, I will concentrate
on her ideas regarding Filipino women's experience of gender oppression, as outlined in a central work, The woman
question in the Philippines ...
This slim volume provides a complete history of the Filipino women's movement, from its first wave phase
during the American colonial period to contemporary times. It identifies several key women's issues from inequality
and discrimination to violence against women to the trafficking of women's bodies, and finally to sectoral concerns,
such as those of women workers and peasant farmers. It provides an overarching description of the social
construction of gender in the Philippine setting, and finally presents Mananzan's philosophy of women's organization
and liberation from gender and other forms of oppression.
Mananzan …, maintains that "the current situation of women can be understood only from within a historical
context." … In tracing the history of patriarchy in the country, she compares and contrasts the relatively
independent status of women in pre-colonial times to their sexual and domestic enslavement during the Spanish
colonial period. She writes that the mujer indigena once enjoyed practically the same rights and privileges as her male
counterpart. Her value was not measured by her virginity; she could own land and various other properties even after
 Module 4 Topic 2 9

marriage; and she could succeed her father as ruler of the tribe. The most prominent role of the pre-colonial woman
in the Philippines was that of babaylan or high priestess, who presided over rituals and acted as midwife and healer.
This privileged status however was stripped away starting in the 16 th century when Spanish missionaries
introduced patriarchal customs through their interpretation of the Roman Catholic religion ... In some sense, the
sexual classification of women into "good" and "bad" - virgins and whores - is one of the bulwarks of patriarchy. From
this simple formulation derives a host of other gender roles for women, which limit their participation in the public
sphere, take away their reproductive freedom, and institutionalize female sexual slavery through marriage and
prostitution."
Thus, the type of patriarchy one finds in Philippine society is Western. Indeed, the Philippines is the most
Westernized of all Asian countries, based on its political setup, educational system, and primary religion (i.e. Roman
Catholicism). This doesn't mean though that the East doesn't have its own patriarchal systems. Even if the Spaniards
hadn't conquered the Philippine islands, these would likely have come under Islamic rule. The egalitarian sexual
relations among precolonial inhabitants of the Philippines were bound to deteriorate at some point. Besides, the
emerging Filipino nation as we know it today has been irrevocably forged through centuries of colonial oppression
and resistance. Patriarchy is inextricably linked with our history. However, it is empowering to know that our
women once enjoyed a powerful social status. This hidden history shows that our bloodline carries the legacy of a
great matriarchal culture analogous to Celtic civilization in pre-Christian Europe.
Mananzan then proceeds with an empirical description of women's situation in contemporary times,
mentioning such issues as domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment, and prostitution. She writes that these
are universal female experiences, forming the raison d'etre of feminism:
The "woman question" is the fact or phenomenon, NOT a thesis or hypothesis, of the discrimination,
subordination, exploitation and oppression of women AS women, differing in degrees or extent, but cutting
across class, race, creed, and nationality. …
Generations of second wave feminist scholarship have made gender oppression impossible to ignore. It would
be intellectually dishonest now to deny women's marginalization as women. This is a legacy from existentialist
philosopher and writer Simone de Beauvoir, who marks the transition from the feminist preoccupation with equal
rights and suffrage, to a sophisticated philosophical analysis of gender.
In The Second Sex …, Beauvoir writes that woman's devalued position in society can best be explained by
her identification as the Other. It took two decades for Beauvoir's ideas, first articulated in French, to migrate to the
American continent, the birthplace of the modem women's liberation movement. The premise of the second wave is
that women's situation cannot be improved merely by giving them the same rights and opportunities as men; sexual
inequality is written into the very fact of gender itself.
And yet, despite the primacy of gender oppression in her analysis, Mananzan is aware of the problem of
essentialism. The latter refers to the tendency of privileged feminists to speak universally on female
experience." To illustrate, liberal feminism has been criticized as concealing bourgeois privilege. It advocates women's
equal rights in the public sphere, and yet only middle-class women have the luxury of attaining this because only
they can afford household help in the domestic sphere. It is thus necessary to look at other factors that may intensify
the experience of gender oppression; for example, race. Black feminist writers have described the predicament of
women who are simultaneously exploited as black slaves and as sexual chattel - a double burden from which white
women are exempt. Indeed, Mananzan … grants that "class and race ... may also aggravate the gender issue," …
citing for example the case of a poor woman who may be more vulnerable to domestic abuse than her middle-class
counterpart, who presumably can afford legal help.
The issue of female migrant labor from the Philippines exemplifies the multiplicity of oppressions that Filipino
women have to deal with. A Third World country that is economically ravaged by globalization and kleptocratic
governments, the Philippines has become a primary exporter of cheap labor. We send contract workers to the Middle
East, domestic helpers to Singapore and Hong Kong, prostitutes to Japan and the Netherlands, nurses (who are
frequently certified doctors in the Philippines) to the United States. Women who work as migrant workers are often
members of poorer groups. In addition to marginalization by race and class, they also experience various forms of
abuse because they are women. In fact, Fernandez … relates heart breaking stories of Filipino women migrant workers
who were bound for the Middle East, with whom she chatted at an airport during a stopover:
Some had been beaten by their employers. Others had been locked up without food for days. One said she
agreed to marry her employer after he had raped her. She was his third wife, but at least she was much
happier now.
Arab women were usually jealous of Filipinas, they said. That's why it's more common to be attacked
by jealous wives rather than sadistic men. …
Indeed, it is entirely possible for women with privilege (e.g. heterosexuals, Caucasians) to exploit other
women. This is why Mananzan (2001) stresses that 'There is no such thing as a given universal sisterhood among
women. This remains a project to be undertaken and a cause to be pursued." …
Much feminist writing in the 1990s addressed the problem of essentialism, which is a central issue to women
of color and Third World women. Thus, the contemporary feminist movement, although primarily associated with
gender critique, is evolving into a discourse on all types of oppression.

Delia Aguilar: A leftist perspective on women's marginalization

Delia Aguilar, formerly a feminist activist during the anti-Marcos struggle and professor of women's studies
at St. Scholastica's College, is now a professor with the Department of Women's Studies at the University of
Connecticut. Toward a nationalist feminism … is her definitive collection of essays, articles, and speeches from 1982-
 Module 4 Topic 2 10

1998. Her work reflects the changing terrain of the political Left vis-a-vis feminism in the Philippines. It also discusses
postmodern dilemmas and the lives of Third World women.
Her writings are primarily addressed to academic theorists concerned with the latest debates in feminism,
especially in relation to related discourses such as Marxism and postmodernism. Three main themes recur: (1) the
oppression of women in the Philippines in terms of race, class, and gender; (2) the relationship between Marxism and
feminism; and (3) the theoretical dilemmas of second wave "essentialist" feminism and third wave "pluralist" feminism.
The oppression of women in the Philippines. In the first article, "The social construction of the Filipino
woman," Aguilar repudiates the common myth that the Filipina enjoys relative freedom and value, compared to her
counterparts in other countries. For example, in a popular creation story, the first man and the first woman
simultaneously emerge from a bamboo tree, possibly suggesting gender equality.
However, according to Aguilar, the names of Malakas and Maganda indicate double standards: he is valued
as an active subject but she is (de)valued as a beauty or sex object. In addition, the Philippines' experience of
colonialism has worsened the situation of women; for example, they are exploited for their cheap labor by American
multinational companies.
Aguilar elaborates on this last issue in two other articles discussing IMF-World Bank-sponsored global
restructuring and female migrant labor. Because these international lending bodies are concerned with recovering
creditors' money plus interest, they push for punitive debt-servicing in Third World countries. The result includes
diminished social services and additional financial burdens on the people in the form of, among others, new taxes
and corporate miserliness toward workers. What this means for women is that they are forced to seek work abroad
either as prostitutes or as domestic helpers vulnerable to abuse.
Marxism and feminism. In "Feminism and the national liberation struggle in the Philippines," an early article
written more than a decade ago, after Martial Law but before Ninoy's assassination, Aguilar writes glowingly about
the so-called progressive movement. She defends the Left from allegations of male chauvinism, arguing that before
women could achieve genuine liberation as women, the bourgeois and neo-colonial regime must first be overthrown.
She follows this up with an interview with a famous female cadre on the lives and struggles of women in the New
People's Army (NPA).
However, Aguilar adopts a more critical attitude toward the fissures between Marxism and feminism in
"Toward a reinscription of nationalist feminism." Here she focuses on specific issues of women that are not addressed
by Marxism, and concludes that compared to the national liberation struggle, the women's struggle is more basic (in
contrast to the primacy of the former over the latter, which was her earlier thesis).
For Aguilar, a feminist nationalism is wary of totalizing tendencies of the West, where most feminists assume
that women are white and middle-class. At the same time, a feminist nationalism is also guarded against the utopian
multiculturalism of postmodern theories, since an effective discourse must be able to situate the subject-in this case,
woman-in a racial and economic context. Aguilar's solution is a type of feminism that is based on Marxism but one
which critiques the latter's limitations on women.
Postmodern dilemmas of feminism. As to the failures of feminism with regard to the situation of women in
the periphery (i.e, women of color, women from the masa or the impoverished majority) Aguilar's critique may be
divided into two parts: first she criticizes second wave feminism for being predicated on white women's race and
class privilege. Feminism in the 1970s and 1980s therefore couldn't account for the experience of Filipino women
who are simultaneously oppressed in terms of gender, race, and class. On the other hand, Aguilar also cautions
against the increasing abstraction of the so-called feminist politics of difference from the 1990s onward. While
postmodernism doesn't imply a privileged identity, it assumes a multiplicity of differences bordering on relativism.
As a Marxist feminist, Aguilar contends that feminism need not be paranoid about "over-arching theories." Class
analysis and an unwavering look at the perniciousness of globalization would help ground feminist critique, without
necessarily lapsing into essentialism.
She elaborates on the above theory most lucidly in "The limits of postmodern feminism: A critique from the
periphery," in which she shares her experience of teaching a module in an intercultural women's studies course
sponsored by St. Scholastica's College. Offered in the early 1990s, the course was taken by a number of women from
the Philippines, some others from countries in the Asia Pacific, and two from the U.S. Through dialogue, the
participants discovered that culture was a great divide. For example, highly individualistic women in the First World
could afford to focus on gender; it was easy for them to claim that the family was a site of oppression. Meanwhile,
women in the Third World suffered not only gender oppression but also from race and class oppression. For many
women in the Asia Pacific, it was unthinkable to abandon the family, because the family was considered a site of
resistance against secular Western influences. Interestingly, Filipino women are the most westernized among their
Asian counterparts; they must therefore negotiate the fine line between advocating their rights as women, on one
hand, and resisting colonial influences, on the other. Above all they should not forget that they are among the victims
of the neocolonial practices of trade liberalization and global restructuring.
Aguilar's Marxist bias is concealed in the oft-mentioned word "nationalism," which may be appropriated by
anyone along the full spectrum of political allegiances. For Aguilar, nationalism means loyalty to the "progressive"
movement. Her feminism seems to come in second, despite her criticism of the Left as unhelpful to women in some
respects. Her 1982 paean to Marxism ("Feminism and the national liberation struggle in the Philippines") is written
with the breathy voice of the newly converted. She doesn't seem to be at all horrified at the testimony of an eight-
year-old child who, asked about her reaction if her cadre father were to die, says, "I'll be angry and I'll kill our
enemies" ... Also, Aguilar is highly critical of what she views as reformist accommodation on the part of some elements
in the Left, who have replaced their radical activities with advocacy for civil society and NGO work ...
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Class analysis is indeed useful in the Philippine context, where the distance between the rich and the poor
is among the greatest in the world. The phenomenon of globalization, if not coupled with nationalist economic policies,
is obviously harmful to the people of the Third World. But to denounce the concept of private property and capitalism
per se is to completely ignore the spectacular failure of communism in recent years, not to mention the chilling
repression and human rights abuses of the regimes of Stalin, Lenin, and Mao.
Aguilar puts forward many original insights regarding the problems of feminism, as well as a truthful picture
of the different levels of oppression that Filipino women face. However, the primacy she puts on class analysis
privileges the political at the expense of the personal; for example, the situation of lesbian women is hardly even
mentioned. It doesn't help that her published works have been written over the course of sixteen years, which can
obscure changing perspectives in discourses and in the thinking of Aguilar herself.
Apart from Aguilar's ideological blinders, her writings are useful and ground breaking as a whole. She
presents a comprehensive description of the dilemmas and future of feminism in the Philippines, as well as a class-
based profile of the Filipino woman. …
The works discussed and evaluated in this paper are feminist because they address the issue of women's
rights and liberation. They are Filipino because they consciously incorporate Filipino cultural experience, and are
oriented toward the improvement of the lives of women and men in the Philippines. Finally, they are philosophical
because they constitute a constellation of original ideas organized systematically and drawing from several
philosophical traditions, e.g., liberalism and Marxism.