Womans have ever enjoyed greater equality in Philippine society than was common in other parts of Southeast Asia. Since pre-Spanish times. Filipinos have traced affinity bilaterally. A woman’s rights to legal equality and to inherit household belongings have non been questioned. Education and literacy degrees in 1990 were higher for adult females than for work forces. President Aquino frequently is given as an illustration of what adult females can carry through in Philippine society. The visual aspect of adult females in of import places. nevertheless. is non new or even unusual in the Philippines.
Filipino adult females. normally called Filipinas. have been senators. cabinet officers. Supreme Court justnesss. decision makers. and caputs of major concern endeavors. Furthermore. in the early 1990s adult females were found in more than a proportionate portion of many professions although they predominated in domestic service ( 91 per centum ) . professional and proficient places ( 59. 4 per centum ) . and gross revenues ( 57. 9 per centum ) . Womans besides were frequently preferred in assembly-type mill work. The handiness of the types of employment in which adult females predominated likely explains why about two-thirds of the rural to urban migrators were female.
Although domestic service is a low-prestige business. the other types of employment comparison favourably with chances open to the mean adult male. This favourable occupational distribution does non intend that adult females were without economic jobs. Although adult females were eligible for high places. these were more frequently obtained by work forces. In 1990 adult females represented 64 per centum of alumnus pupils but held merely 159 of 982 calling top executive places in the civil service. In the private sector. merely about 15 per centum of top-level places were held by adult females.
Harmonizing to many perceivers. because work forces relegated family undertakings to adult females. employed adult females carried a dual load. This load was moderated slightly by the handiness of relations and retainers who functioned as assistants and kid caretakers. but the usage of retainers and relations has sometimes been denounced as the equivalent of working some adult females to free others. Since the Spanish colonial period. the adult female has been the household financial officer. which. at least to some grade. gave her the power of the bag.
However. the Spanish besides established a tradition of subordinating adult females. which is manifested in women’s by and large submissive attitudes and in a dual criterion of sexual behavior. The woman’s function as household financial officer. along with a woman’s care of a by and large submissive demeanour. has changed small. but the dual criterion of sexual morality is being challenged. Male laterality besides has been challenged. to some extent. in the 1987 fundamental law. The fundamental law contains an equal rights clause–although it lacks specific commissariats that might do that clause effectual.
As of the early 1990s. divorce was prohibited in the Philippines. Under some fortunes. legal separation was permitted. but no legal remarriage was possible. The household codification of 1988 was slightly more broad. Reflective of Roman Catholic Church jurisprudence. the codification allowed annulment for psychological incapacity to be a matrimonial spouse. every bit good as for perennial physical force against a mate or force per unit area to alter spiritual or political association. Divorce obtained abroad by an foreigner mate was recognized.
Although the restrictive divorce Torahs might be viewed as an violation on women’s autonomy to acquire out of a bad matrimony. indicants were that many Filipinas viewed them as a protection against forsaking and loss of support by contrary hubbies. hypertext transfer protocol: //www. mongabay. com/history/philippines/philippines-the_role_and_status_of_the_filipina. hypertext markup language La Mujer Indigena – The Native WomanA description of the Filipino Woman during Pre-Spanish Timeby Lorna S. Torralba Titgemeyer| | Introduction: When Sr.
Mary John Mananzan came to Vienna to give a seminar on the comparative function and position of the Filipino adult female in the household and society. yesteryear and nowadays. ab initio I was non so certain of take parting. for grounds hard to explicate. Partially because I was confident of my position as adult female and married woman. or possibly I was afraid that my individuality and assurance might be influenced or could do alterations in me. But wonder got the better of me. The twenty-four hours turned out to be really amusive. really interesting and really enlightening. The followers is in portion a sum-up of Sr. Mary John?
s one-day talk. reflecting on the position of the pre-Spanish Filipino adult female. as this helped me understand why we sometimes have this unusual feeling of being different from how we had been brought up… that is. being mild. obedient and humble… in short. a good mujer christiana. From Catalona or Babaylan. La Mujer Indigena to La Mujer ChristianaThe Philippines during the pre-colonial period was non a whole entity. the manner it is now. It was made up of slackly related princedoms with their ain separate societal. political and economic systems under their ain tribal swayers.
Community life and societal activities were organized chiefly on the footing of affinity. beliefs and economic involvement. A group of seniors were advisors to the tribal swayer and jointly they acted as justice and lawmaker. In some communities. the Babaylan was extremely respected as priestess or spiritual practician. every bit good as therapist. counsellor and go-between in the folk. Although differing in name. every folk had its ain spiritual practicians. who were preferred to work forces. In fact. when a male performed the spiritual office of a Catalona or Babaylan. he was dressed like a adult female.
With this mention. I would wish to show the unknown image of pre-Spanish Filipino adult female. la mujer indigena wholly in contradiction to the prevailing belief that the lift of the position of adult females. was one of the benefits brought by Spanish colonisation. The matriarchal society which many of us believed we ever had in the Philippines is besides a false given. The falsely taken patriarchal upbringing with its machismo and a touch of misogynism came uplater with the Spanish colonisation.
In the eraly Philippines there had ever been an classless relationship non merely between hubby and married woman. but besides in the upbringing of progenies. The early Filipinos gave equal importance to both male and female progenies. Inheritance was divided every bit among them. separating merely primogeniture and legitimacy. Education was an chance for both sexes. Arranged matrimony was a usage among pre-Spanish Filipinos. The groom and his household gave dowery to the bride? sparents. an sum agreed upon harmonizing to their agencies. When married the adult female did non lose her name.
In some Tagalog parts. if the adult female was particularly distinguished. the hubby normally took her name. So it was usual to hear people refered to the hubby of Ninay or the hubby of Isyang. The pre-colonial Filipino married woman was treated as a comrade. non as slave. She enjoyed freedom in doing determinations in the household. Her say was non merely confined to domestic personal businesss like holding a babe or non. Giving birth many times was disliked by adult females. particularly those who inhabited towns near the sea. stating that in holding many kids. they are like hogs. For this ground they practiced abortion after holding the coveted figure of kids.
What name to give a kid was besides her privilege. She enjoyed a cardinal function in the economic stableness of the household. Formal contracts were done merely in her presence. In fact there were merely really few hubbies who would make bold enter into contracts without the consent or presence of their married womans. It was rarely that a adult female did non cognize how to pull off the household landholdings. She had the undertaking of agricultural production once the land had been prepared by the adult male. She engaged herself in weaving and pottery-making and normally managed the trading of merchandises and wares.
The function of adult females in the political field. particularly leading function is a debatable topic for those who say. this was based simply on fables. Remember the fable of Queen Maniwantiwan. the married woman of Datu Marikudo whose consent had to be secured before he could sell his lands to the Bornean immigrants led by Datu Puti. Another queen who is reported to hold ruled Cotabato in the 7th century was Queen Sima. The pattern of primogeniture with respect to inheritance regardless of sex allowed adult females to win their male parents as swayers of folks.
The most celebrated of the adult females leaders of pre-Spanish society was Princess Urduja of Pangasinan. She was supposed to be a beautiful Amazon. brave and intelligent. possessing cognition of linguistic communications and civilization of Old Asia. In Teresita Infante? s documented survey. The Woman in Early Philippines and Among Tribal Minorities. there is a description of the function of adult females among the Kalingas: “Kalinga adult females are non barred from belonging to the highest rank of society. which entitles them to the privileges equal to those of work forces in similar rank.
Some are recognized as treaty holders and as she is the 1 who owns the treaty. merely her kids or relations have the right to inherit it. ” Pact holders were those who held understanding with a outstanding citizen of another folk or community in which each party agreed to give protection and assistance to all members of each other? s community while they were in his/her district. Punishment was imposed if any injury had been done to them by his/her folk member. This of import place of being a treaty holder was recognized among adult females in the pre-Spanish society.
In the event of divorce caused by childlessness. unfaithfulness. failure to carry through duties towards household. etc. the dowery had to be returned by the bride? s household if she was at mistake. However. if the hubby was at mistake. he lost any right of its return. The kids were divided every bit between the two regardless of sex. The conjugally-acquired belongings was besides divided every bit. This manner. she possessed equal rights with respect to disassociate harmonizing to jurisprudence and usage.
To sum up. the pre-Spanish Filipino adult female. the mujer indigena had an honoured place in the household and society. which was dispensed with by the Spaniards. A new Filipina was formed. a individual moulded to the image and similitude of the perfect adult female of the Iberian society of her clip. She had to follow many regulations and ordinances on how to take the life of a good mujer christiana. which meant lesser freedom and rights. | hypertext transfer protocol: //www. univie. Ac. at/Voelkerkunde/apsis/aufi/wstat/mujer. htm.
