LOGARTA
Gender is integrated into the K to 12 curriculum. Several modules deal with the topic in Contemporary Issues, Araling Panlipunan for Grade 10.
Earlier educational researchers stressed that it is important for gender to be integrated to the curriculum because without its proper discussion young females would experience limitations in their dream horizon. For the boys, without this, they would have limited parenting training which is usually given to females as they have been viewed to be mainly child bearers and carers.
In our textbook, the Magna Carta of Women is presented. A listing of the rights of women is listed with a short discussion. The needs of marginalized women have also been discussed. For more information, the students had a viewing of what the web provides regarding the Magna Carta of Women. From this source, John Carlos Alvarez also produced the print out of the document. This very helpful document provides definitions of “empowerment”, “violence against women (VAW)”, “discrimination” and others.
We have been using the film, Mulan since its viewing and discussion have resulted in very fruitful discussions on gender — stereotyping and the unhappiness it brings and the great potentials of females and how much communities stand to lose in ignoring these.
Mulan is a historical figure, a female warrior with a statue to honor her in China.
In the beginning of the film she feels unhappy because she has to go to the matchmaker to be trained so that she can bring honor to her family with a good marriage. Then she is sad because her father who is not strong enough to go to war feels frustrated. So she pretends to be male and goes to war against the northern invaders.
Although she was not the commander, Mulan led the group in at least two triumphs. So I ask the students: what led to those victories? Aren’t enemies defeated with unexpected, surprise maneuvers? This leads to the discussion on what women can bring to our male-dominated societies.
The Grade 10 students were also assigned to visit the barangay hall to find out about the VAW (Violence Against Women) Desk. This resulted in the students being informed about the efforts of the barangay to deal with the sad reality and the students also being exposed to the forms of violence against women. Back in school the students showed the various papers the barangay were using to assist women and to keep track of the VAW cases.
In the sharing a student said: “One woman was maltreated because she refused to have sex with her husband, because she was exhausted.” This generated an entire discussion which was both sexuality education and the situation of women with their multiple burdens.
Because of the limited visibility of women in history, we have to make sure that more women’s lives are documented and exposed to our students.
The limitations of textbooks and other learning materials have to be corrected. So the Grade 10 students returned to the community to gather information regarding the leading women in the various fields of human endeavor in Consolacion.
I was thrilled because those in the arts group featured the female sarok makers and accompanied their stories of these women with their photographs and of the beautiful Consolacion saroks.
They had included folk art and women in the peripheries. Perhaps reflecting the limited chances of women to exercise leadership in politics and religion, the student had difficulty in finding leading women in these fields.
But they fully documented the accomplishments of Consolacion’s leader – work that actually improved the lives of the people in the municipality.
Exposure of students to local communities can be very fruitful and fulfilling learning activities for our young.