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member, Human Development and Harmony Cluster, Pamayanang SanibLakas ng Pilipinas
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Repudiation of all physical, cultural and philosophical & religious justifications for macho-patriarchal beliefs, rules and practices Promotion and institutionalization of genuine respect between the sexes Promotion of equality of opportunities for all individuals regardless of sex or gender preference Attainment of Equality view as institutionalized standard and, upon this premise, focusing on work for Holistic Harmony between the sexes.
1. Total Human Development and Harmony Through Synergism 2. Holistic Health Care and Medicine 3. Deep Ecology and Harmony with Nature 4. Sense of History and Sense of Mission 5. Civics and Democratic Governance 6. Culture as Community Creativity 7. Light-Seeking and Light-Sharing Education 8. Gender Sensitivity, Equality & Harmony 9. Reconstructive/Restor-ative Justice 10. Associative Economics, Social Capital and Sustainable Development 11. Synergetic Leadership and Organizations 12. Appropriate/Adaptive Technology 13. Mutual Enrichment of Families and Friendships 14. Human Dignity and Human Harmony: Human Rights and Peace 15. Aesthetics Without Boundaries: 'Art from the Heart' . |
Gender Balance, Politics & Governance by Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel Member for Akbayan Party-List, House of Representatives, Congress of the Philippines Privilege
Speech delivered before a House plenary session
July
30, 2007) Ginoong
Speaker, iginagalang na mga kapwa Kongresista, mga kabaro at kapatid na
lalaki, magandang hapon po sa inyong lahat!
I
RISE
TO EXPRESS
AKBAYAN’s gratitude to the House leadership for its
decision on this representation’s appeal, which was made last July 24,
2007, to exercise gender sensitivity in selecting a woman Deputy
Speaker. This proactive stance on the part of the House of
Representatives would help eliminate barriers to the meaningful
participation of women in politics and governance. I
made the manifestation to convey our concern that in choosing the new
leadership of this body, we seem to have ignored gender equity as a
principle that any decent parliament or Congress must uphold. Of the
officers and leaders that we chose last week, from the Speaker of the
House, Deputy Speakers, Secretary General, to the Sergeant-at-arms, none
is a woman. Ginoong
Speaker, never mind the fact that women lawmakers comprise 22% of this
chamber, with 54 female members of the House of Representatives out of
the total 236. It is and it should be the principle that matters: gender
equity requires that leadership selection should be all-inclusive and
non-discriminatory. Women lawmakers have co-equal powers and duties as
our male counterparts; thus, our participation in choosing the
leadership of the House should be meaningful. We are not mere members of
Congress who have the right to cast our votes in choosing the officers
of the House. We should also be seen as potential Speaker, Deputy
Speakers, Secretary General, and Sergeant-at-arms. As
an active member of the International Parliamentary Union, which
monitors gender balance in parliaments worldwide, it is incumbent on
this chamber to be pro-active in increasing the participation of women
in Congress. In IPU’s database on women representation in parliaments,
the House of Representatives has always fared below the recommended
minimum standards on parliamentary gender balance. In 1998, for
instance, only 12% of the members of the House of Representatives, or 27
out of 217, were women. It went up to 18% in 2001, with 40 out of 227
women, but it declined again in 2004, with women comprising only 15% of
the House, or 36 out of 236. Ginoong
Speaker, if we are indeed truly keen on increasing the participation of
women in politics and governance, we should strive to increase the role
of women legislators in the affairs of the House. AKBAYAN calls on
Congress to break the glass ceiling that blocks the possibility of
increasing the role of women legislators in our own leadership
structures. There
is no dearth of exemplary women parliamentarians to prove that, if given
the chance or an equal playing field, women have the capacity to lead.
The current Speaker of US House of Representatives, for instance, is
Nancy Pelosi, a representative from California known for her
uncompromising brand of politics that made it possible to consolidate
democrats in Congress even when they were still in the minority. In the
UK, Labor MP Clare Short held a key Cabinet position during the term of
Tony Blair, and became a symbol of peace when she resigned from the
Cabinet over the decision of the British government to join the war in
Iraq. Helen Clark leads the Labour Party in the parliament of New
Zealand, and has been serving as the Prime Minister of the country for
several years now. In Sweden, Social Democratic MP Anna Lindh was
regarded as the next Prime Minister of that Scandinavian country until
she was murdered in 2003. This
chamber is also not lacking of women senior members or career officials
who have the potential to become House leaders. During the 11th
Congress, we actually had a woman Deputy Speaker, then Rep. Daisy Avance
Fuentes. For this term, we have Rep. Darlene Antonino-Custodio, whose
leadership in the minority is commendable. In the majority, Rep. Cynthia
Villar has been an active woman legislator whose leadership in pushing
for women’s issues is admirable. Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz and Rep. Janet
Garin, who are active woman members of Congress, have exhibited passion
and rigor in pushing for the promotion of reproductive health, cheaper
medicines, and the Magna Carta for Women, which are bread and butter
issues for women. In the House Secretariat, we should give a chance to
the likes of Atty. Arlene Dada-Arnaldo, who has the track record,
competence, and rigor of a Secretary General. Now
that the House leadership has decided to elect a woman Deputy Speaker,
we in AKBAYAN hope that member who would be elected to the position
would exercise her leadership to push for the women’s agenda. In all
honesty, a single woman in the leadership is not enough: we should
aspire to increase it to at least 30% in the near future to
follow the internationally recommended minimum standards for women
representation. Nevertheless, this position should be an embodiment of
equality and women’s rights, not of tokenism and patronage. After the
bitter Speakership race last Monday, we could only hope and appeal to
the House leadership that the position would not be used merely to
settle political debts. Let
us also disabuse the minds of the public of the notion that we are
creating a new post, the Deputy Speaker for Women. This is not true. If
this was the intent of the House leadership, then let this
representation be the first to say that the decision smacks of tokenism
and even ghettoism. Each and every member of the House leadership,
regardless of gender, has the duty and obligation to tackle women’s
issues, exercise gender sensitivity, and promote women’s rights –
including the male Deputy Speakers, whom we don’t call Deputy Speakers
for Men. The
new Deputy Speaker has the responsibility of expediting the passage of
measures that promote women’s rights. Her primary duty is to correct a
grave error committed by the 13th Congress to Filipino women
– not a single measure on women’s rights was enacted during the
previous Congress. This should not be the case for this term, and I urge
the 14th Congress to prioritize women’s issues. Parliaments
are supposed to represent the composition of the society, and we in
AKBAYAN challenge this chamber to prove wrong the notion that Filipino
women are neither sufficiently represented nor meaningfully heard in our
legislature. Ginoong
Speaker, AKBAYAN hopes that the woman Deputy Speaker would work on the
early enactment of the following bills, which are long overdue and
should be in our legislative priorities: ·
The
reproductive health bill, which establishes a rights-based national
policy on reproductive health. If enacted, this bill would grant women
additional information and services for our reproductive health; ·
The
Magna Carta for Women, which creates a national policy framework to
protect the rights of Filipino women; ·
The
Anti-Prostitution Bill, which decriminalizes prostituted women and
shifts criminal liability to the sellers and buyers of prostitution; ·
The
Magna Carta for Rural Women, which recognizes the needs of women in
rural areas and establishes a gender-oriented framework for rural
development, and; ·
The
Gender Balance bill, which establishes a quota system to allow for the
meaningful participation of women in politics and governance. All
of these measures would harmonize our laws with international human
rights instruments that affirm and uphold women’s rights and
fundamental freedoms. These include the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the
International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, among others. The
Gender Balance Bill is of particular importance in the issue of
increasing women’s participation in Congress, Ginoong Speaker. The
quota system that it introduces is an affirmative action to give women
an initial break in politics and governance. Countries like Norway,
Denmark, and Sweden have implemented quotas for several years, resulting
in high representation for women in their respective parliaments and
institutions of governance. The African National Congress also has
enforced an internal quota system for women in the party, a landmark
decision that led to a significant jump in the number of women in South
Africa’s parliament and local governments. South Africa is now number
14 in IPU’s list of countries with high representation of women in
parliament. I am proud to announce that AKBAYAN is also implementing the
same system internally, with at least 30% of the party’s leadership at
all levels, from our chapters at the barangay level to our list of
nominees, reserved for women. We urge the other parties in the country
to do the same. If
enacted, the bill would ensure that by 2010, at least 30% of all
appointive and elective positions would be reserved for women. This
would increase to 40% in 2013 and 50% by 2016. The bill requires all
political parties and appointing authorities, the President of the
Republic in particular, to ensure that women are sufficiently
represented in our governance institutions. This also compels the
government and our political parties to institutionalize leadership
development programs for women in politics and governance. Ginoong
Speaker, the goal of the bill is not simply to increase the number of
women in politics and governance but to create a critical mass of women
in decision-making structures to strengthen the push for the women’s
agenda. This cannot be done if our political institutions act like
enclaves of men. Indeed, as a feminist party, AKBAYAN wishes that this
chamber would be in the forefront of the struggle to increase women
participation. Again, we congratulate the decision of the House
leadership to elect a woman Deputy Speaker, but and we join Filipino
women in looking forward to the day when the Speaker presiding over this
chamber is a feminist woman. |
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