Sidlak, Region VII Gender Resource Center has been here for more than eight years. Dr. Rhodora Masilang Bucoy together with women advocates in UP Cebu, mostly members of the Gender and Development Committee, worked to establish Sidlak with partners from the government, schools and NGOs.
These private partners include Lihok Filipina, Women’s Resource Center, Cebu Women’s Network and Legal Alternatives for Women Center, St. Theresa’s College, the University of San Carlos, Cebu Normal University and the University of the Philippines.
Over the years there has been a great deal of working together and sharing of ideas and updates: the latest legislation on women and their children; campaigns such as the 10-day campaign against violence women or one-million rising.
A Sidlak training team can now respond to needs of partners to accomplish what has been mandated in the Magna Carta of Women. Members of the training team have been to Bohol, Negros, Siquijor and cities and municipalities of Cebu, even Mindanao.
The Department of Agriculture has often requested us to hold consciousness-raising sessions. Sidlak worked with the Agriculture Training Institute. This time, Irma Fernandez-Lucero wanted us to be part of efforts “Towards a Gender Responsive Extension Program.” Our subjects were mainly women farmers from Sudlon, Toledo, Ronda, Carmen, Badian, Carcar, Alcantara, Dumanjug, Santander, Oslob and Madridejos.
It was a first-level gender orientation that started with clarifying the concepts of gender and sex. We viewed and discussed the short film “The Impossible Dream” and then gave a situationer about women in the global and national setting.
Dr. Bucoy discussed national and international mandates, the basis for claiming women’s rights and moving towards empowerment. The Magna Carta of Women is a major law from which women can make their claims and assert their rights.
The exchange of ideas led to the workshop. First, participants chose the most pressing problems of women in their areas. They then formulated a simple plan as a response to these concerns.
Let me share some of them. Some groups declared that many women and their families need more income. Because of this, they wanted to visit the women who had been oriented by LAW Center, Inc. and were able to access funds for livelihood projects in San Remigio and Daanbantayan towns.
One group narrated incidents of sexual abuse among the young. They did not want to report the incident to authorities because they belonged to a small community. Exposing it may bring shame upon them and their families. Young people in the community did not take the matter seriously and even made fun of the victims. Mothers did not support the idea of calling in the authorities.
That group felt strongly that the victims badly needed psychosocial processing. We told them about the Children’s Legal Bureau and LAW Center Inc.
Another group whose members farmed deep in the interior described the problem of bringing their produce to the market. They said they could not ask the men to carry their load of vegetables and fruits because the men were also busy with their tasks. So the women had to carry the heavy load for several kilometers, risking their health. After years of teaching high school economics,
I’ve never seen so urgent a need for farm-to-market roads. They already requested government officials for access roads but hesitate to sign documents fearing they would be embroiled in anomalies!
Back home, I watched in Sa Mata sa Kababayn-an, Emmy telling the story of her victimization and the long journey of her coping and healing. The unfaithfulness of her husband plunged her into depression. The marital conflict resulted in psychosomatic illness among her children like asthma and an emotional attachment to her.
She was so irked and found it very difficult to accept how the serenity of their family life had been plunged into chaos. After a period of depression, she decided to deal with the situation by being a workaholic. As a garment factory manager she introduced a positive angle. She set up a salary scheme where employees learned to save. This was a reaction to the extravagance (resulting from the horrible pain of infidelity) that plunged her into debt. In fact, this experience led her to give talks and advice on financial management.
But despite her success in getting out of debt and becoming a financial adviser, Emmy still felt empty and inadequate. These unresolved issues may have caused her to weigh 183 pounds. Dr. Rhodora Masilang-Bucoy referred her to LAW Center Inc. for counseling. She has filed a case against her unfaithful husband and asserted claims for her children. Having learned to truly value herself and losing the extra pounds, Emmy has become a genuinely confident, glamorous woman. She continues to nurture her children, instilling in them a respect for diversity, encouraging them to be open and explore new experiences.
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