An eight-year old girl once asked her mother what are synthetic jewels. Like any other typical mother, she answered, “It’s man-made.” Her daughter replied, “Then it could also be woman-made…?
As it turned out, her daughter wasn’t any ordinary girl; she had but a critical eye on gender issues. However, this didn’t surprise the mother at any rate. She is, after all, no different from her daughter. Dr. Judy Taguiwalo is an ardent feminist and now associate professor at Department of Women and Development Studies (DWDS) in University of the Philippines—Diliman.
“No wonder that my daughter is socially conscious. At a young age kasi sinasama ko siya sa mga miting, alam niya yung mga groups ko (organizations she’s involve at), alam niyang aktibista yung nanay niya,” Taguiwalo explained.
Taguiwalo was a student activist at a young age. In 1970, she and the other activists founded an organization—Malayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA)—to highlight the issues of women. “Its (MAKIBAKA) aim was to ensure the participation of women in the struggle for national independence and democracy. And in the process, the secondary position of women in the society,” said Taguiwalo on the need to organize an all-women’s organization.
Taguiwalo claims to be a feminist if, as she said, “…a feminist is someone who recognizes the subordinate position of women in society relative to men and who acts to change the situation.” In fact, she courted the father of her second child in the belief that women were not doomed to wait for their prince charming to come—they also had the right to court.
But her beliefs shouldn’t be mistaken as bourgeois feminism—feminism’s main aim is the equality between men and women.
As she refuted, “considering that the issues confronted by women are not limited to gender issues, we also have class issues…So it’s not a question of equality between women and men, but a general condition of inequality in a class society.”
As such, MAKIBAKA’s battle wasn’t exclusive for women’s issues. It also fought against foreign domination and the country’s feudal backwardness. Historically, women were involved in the national struggle against the Spaniard, Japanese, and American colonization. Years after, women fought “against martial law…against the military bases, against the low wages of women in the sports processing zone, and now they struggle with regard to laws to end violence against women.”
Taguiwalo herself was one of the 3500 victims of custodial violence during the Martial Law period. “I was in prison twice…so when I was interrogated, I was made to strip,” she recalled. “There were also a lot of incidences of sexual molestation in the prison cells under the custody of the military.” It may seem like a déjà vu when a military intelligence tried to mash her breast during her investigation. That is because she experienced harassment when she was in high school. She watched a movie by herself when somebody mashed her breast at the movie theater. And because her mother earlier warned her not to watch a movie alone, she kept it to herself. The next time she went again, she brought with her a safety pin for protection.
But according to Taguiwalo, “before you can [fight], you have to be able to understand what your situation is. So consciousness raising and education are very important for women.”
As part of the efforts at raising consciousness of women, Taguiwalo and the other women activists commemorated the international women’s day on
“There’s a need for women to participate in political struggle and the need to provide them support so that the burden of child rearing is not to be carried by them alone,” she added.
But her will to change the society didn’t end there. She was also one of the founders of National Federation of Peasant Women (Amihan) in 1986. Seven years later, she became the Executive Director of Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) for two years. CWR does education trainings and researches on and for women. She is also a recognized speaker in various seminars such as the 2005 South East-East Asia Women Conference for Peace in
“You do your other activities because these are important for you, regardless of whether you get paid or not, in most cases you don’t get paid because it is an advocacy,” said Taguiwalo on her dedication in continuing her advocacy. ■
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