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Innabuyog launches 16 days to end violence against women

BAGUIO CITY (Dec. 2) — Innabuyog-Gabriela launched the 16 day-campaign to end violence against women in a recent press conference in commemoration of the International Day to End Violence against Women (IDEVAW).

According to the group, Latin-American women declared November 25, 1981 as IDEVAW in Bogota, Columbia, on the death of sisters Minerva, Patria and Maria Theresa Mirabal also known as “Las Mariposas”. The Mirabal sisters were victims of state violence in the Dominican Republic during the reign of General Raphael Leonides Trujillo.

Innabuyog Secretary General Vernie Yocogan-Diano said that Filipino women are experiencing similar violence almost everyday. She said that there are documented cases of women who suffer the same state repression in militarized areas in the country. Sexual and physical abuse against women is alarming these days, she added.

Diano revealed that “a woman is raped every 76 minutes and sexually harassed every 86 minutes, while a child is battered every three hours.”

Further, Diano said that aside from physical and sexual abuse, worsening poverty experienced daily by ordinary women is economic violence. She added that women and their families cannot afford a decent life due to lack of secure and respectable jobs amid relentless price hikes of basic commodities.

Diano stressed that women must organize their ranks and act as one in the pursuit of their collective rights and welfare because they can not expect a significant action from the present administration.

“We do not expect to end violence against women in 16 days but we will not stop until women are free from all forms of violence,” Diano declared.

The campaign’s highlight is a forum on Legislative Advances on Women’s Rights on December 10.

Urban poor women’s plight

Garret Killip of the Samahan ng Maralitang Kababaihang Nagkakaisa (SAMAKANA), disclosed during the same press conference that urban poor women in the city are forced to take on odd jobs to augment the meager wages of their husbands.

“Our husbands do not have secure jobs and their wages are not even enough, if we do not help them we will go hungry,” she explained in the vernacular.

Killip added that most urban poor men are employed as contractual laborers. This means that they are not entitled to benefits like Social Security Services (SSS) and Philhealth, she explained. She added that after a five-month contract they have to find another job, which is very difficult nowadays.

Killip said that most urban poor women are sidewalk vendors faced with daily demolitions by the city demolition team. She added that vendors pay a P1,000 fine for confiscated goods. Sidewalk vendors earn an average of P100 to P150 a day, she added.

Despite the danger posted by the daily demolitions, urban poor women are forced to take the risk in order to make both ends meet.

“It is better to take the chance rather than to go hungry,” Killip stressed.

Teachers’ lament

Connie Sulang of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) revealed that women comprise 80% of teachers who suffer from low salaries, heavy teaching load and low education budget.

Sulang further criticized the Arroyo government for not granting the long overdue demand of teachers and other government employees for the P3,000 across the board salary increase. She added that the government should increase the salary of teachers and government employees due to the rising cost of living.

According to Sulang, women teachers and government employees are also subjected to discrimination and sexual harassment.

In the Department of Education (DepEd) for example, ACT observed that most of the high-ranking officials are men. The group also observed that more men are sent to staff development seminars, which according to Sulang, are additional merits for promotions. # Kim Quitasol for NORDIS

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