Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a
common goal: to define, establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social rights
for women that are equal to those of men.[1][2] This includes seeking to establish equal
opportunities for women in education and employment.
Noncommercial, homosexual relations between two adults in private are not a crime, although
sexual conduct or affection that occurs in public may be subject to the "grave scandal"
prohibition in Article 200 of the Revised Penal Code, which states:
"ARTICLE 200. Grave Scandal. The penalties of arresto mayor and public censure shall be
imposed upon any person who shall offend against decency or good customs by any highly
scandalous conduct not expressly falling within any other article of this Code."[29]
While on the Family Code of the Philippines, stated on Article 1, Article 2, and Article 147
respectively:
"Marriage is a special contract of permanent union between a man and a woman entered into in
accordance with law for the establishment of conjugal and family life. It is the foundation of the
family and an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequences, and incidents are
governed by law and not subject to stipulation, except that marriage settlements may fix the
property relations during the marriage within the limits provided by this Code."[30]
"No marriage shall be valid, unless these essential requisites are present:
(1) Legal Capacity of contracting parties who must be a male and a female; and
(2) Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer."[30]
The Magna Carta for Public Social Workers also address the concern regarding the
discrimination of public social workers because of their sexual orientation:
"Section 17. Rights of a Public Social Worker. - Public social workers shall have the following
rights:
1.) Protection from discrimination by reason of sex, sexual orientation, age, political or religious
beliefs, civil status, physical characteristics/disability, or ethnicity;
2.) Protection from any form of interference, intimidation, harassment, or punishment, to include,
but not limited to, arbitrary reassignment or termination of service, in the performance of his/her
duties and responsibilities";[31]
The Magna Carta for Women also provides an insight regarding the state's duties towards
maintaining the rights of women, regardless of their sexual orientations:
"The State affirms women's rights as human rights and shall intensify its efforts to fulfill its duties
under international and domestic law to recognize, respect, protect, fulfill, and promote all
human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, especially marginalized women, in the
economic, social, political, cultural, and other fields without distinction or discrimination on
account of class, age, sex, gender, language, ethnicity, religion, ideology, disability, education,
and status."[32]
The only bill directly concerning the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT)
community in the Philippines is the Anti-Discrimination Act. This bill seeks that all persons
regardless of sex or sexual orientation must be treated the same as everyone else, wherein
conditions do not differ in the privileges granted and the liabilities enforced. The bill was
introduced by Hon. Kaka J. Bag-ao the District Representative of Dinagat Islands on July 1,
2013 and is yet to be passed
While the roots of feminism are buried in ancient Greece, most recognize the movement by the three waves of
feminism. The third being the movement in which we are currently residing.
The first wave (1830s early 1900s): Womens fight for equal contract and property rights
Often taken for granted, women in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, realized that they must first gain
political power (including the right to vote) to bring about change was how to fuel the fire. Their political agenda
expanded to issues concerning sexual, reproductive and economic matters. The seed was planted that women
have the potential to contribute just as much if not more than men.
Misconceptions
This time is often dismissed as offensive, outdated and obsessed with middle class white womens problems.
Conversely, many women during the second wave were initially part of the Black Civil Rights Movement, Anti
Vietnam Movement, Chicano Rights Movement, Asian-American Civil Rights Movement, Gay and Lesbian
Movement and many other groups fighting for equality. Many of the women supporters of the aforementioned
groups felt their voices were not being heard and felt that in order to gain respect in co-ed organizations they
first needed to address gender equality concerns.
Women cared so much about these civil issues that they wanted to strengthen their voices by first fighting for
gender equality to ensure they would be heard.
Today and unlike the former movements, the term feminist is received less critically by the female population
due to the varying feminist outlooks. There are the ego-cultural feminists, the radicals, the liberal/reforms, the
electoral, academic, ecofeminists the list goes on.
The main issues we face today were prefaced by the work done by the previous waves of women. We are still
working to vanquish the disparities in male and female pay and the reproductive rights of women. We are
working to end violence against women in our nation as well as others.
We are still fighting for acceptance and a true understanding of the term feminism, it should be noted that we
have made tremendous progress since the first wave. It is a term that has been unfairly associated first, with
ladies in hoop skirts and ringlet curls, then followed by butch, man-hating women. Due to the range of feminist
issues today, it is much harder to put a label on what a feminist looks like.