CEDAW ng Bayan: Yaman ng Kababaihan. This is the theme of the 2008 Women’s Month this March  as adopted by  the National Commission on the Role of Filipino of Women. NCRFW, is considered as the national government machinery for the  advancement of Filipino women and serves as  the lead advocate for women’s empowerment and a catalyst for gender mainstreaming.

CEDAW, or the  Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against  Women, is considered as the first and only international treaty that comprehensively addresses women’s civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including rights within family life. Although it came  into force on September 1981, the Philippines signed CEDAW on July 17, 1980 and ratified it a year later — on July 19, 1981.

While “Yaman ng Kababaihan”  literally means “wealth of women” and although the major focus of this year’s  theme is   economic empowerment,  other resources that help women reach their  full potentials as human beings can also be considered as wealth  and can be highlighted during the observance of the month-long celebration, said  Emmeline Verzosa, NCRFW executive director, when    her about Women’s Month preparations in a meeting in Cebu City last January during the Multi-Donor Country Gender Assessment sponsored by the European Union.

What can be considered as women’s wealth is quite long. The following list of yaman, or manggad in Hiligaynon,  is  neither  complete nor necessarily in order of importance to all women:  families, children, spouses, women’s organizations, support groups, helping institutions, information, knowledge or education, skills, health, savings, businesses, enabling mechanisms such as policies, structures, government budgets and private sector resource or investments, and  actual programs and projects planned or implemented by women, or those benefiting women, whether directly or indirectly. A gender responsive, transparent and accountable local and national government, then, is crucial because governments make policies or make available or withhold  resources that have positive or negative impacts on the lives of women, their families and communities.

Women of Bacolod City and the whole Province of Negros Occidental are considered as among those in the country who are very  active in celebrating or  observing the  Women’s Month. Although  advocacy campaigns and actions all observed or held  year-round, March is the time of the year when women voices are more sought and heard, and  more diverse roles and images of women are visible as opposed to the prevalent stereotypes or traditional ones.

Activities on IWD will include caravans, parades, media hopping and advocacy sessions, fora, seminars and trainings, as well as medical missions and other direct services  aim to highlight women’s roles and contribution in development and nation building or hear their cry for responses and actions to existing gaps. 

In the education sector, many public and private schools from elementary to college also tackle gender and women’s issues as well as discuss women  who are achievers in their fields and also those who have brought honors to their communities, hometowns and  country.

Just recently about 60 faculty members of the Colegio de  San Agustin-Bacolod College of Nursing underwent a gender sensitivity training as preparatory activity for engendering their Bachelor of Science in Nursing curriculum. The three-day training was held to enable   teachers  to  know where and how to integrate gender in  various  nursing subjects. 

 On March 4,  Pontevedra town celebrate its  Municipal  Women’s  Day while the Philippine Mental Health Association-Negros Occidental Chapter in coordination with the Soroptimist  International of Bacolod will have a  forum on Teenage Issues for out- of- school youth from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the PMHA Administration Office along Cottage Rd., Bacolod City.

The list of other Women’s Month activities of Bacolod can be obtained from the Bacolod GAD Council through the Office of Councilor Jocelle Batapa-Sigue.

On March 6, the Provincial Council for Women of Negros Occidental, chaired by Wenonah Martyr, will hold the  Provincial Women’s Day with a caravan from the Capitol Lagoon at 9 a.m. and  a solidarity program and forum at the Mayfair Plaza at 10 a.m. where representatives from the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Labor and Employment and from the Technical Education and Skills Development  Authority will share their programs and services for women’s economic empowerment.. An  arts and crafts and  fair will also be held in the afternoon.  

The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Silay City last  week passed a resolution declaring March as Women’s Month  and March 8 as Local Women’s Day in the city. As children and the youth are also women’s wealth, many Silaynon mothers and young women from the 3rd District of Negros Occidental are expected to support the March 1  “Hataw Jam- Lakas ng Kabataan” battle of the bands and dance showdown fund raising-event   organized by the CFC-Youth for Christ and the Don Bosco Technical Institute Parents Council-Silay Talisay Area. 

While there are many reasons to be joyful, more so that 2008 marks the 20th anniversary when then President Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation 227 for the observance of the Month of March as “Women’s Role in History Month” and its  the 18th anniversary of  Republic Act 6949 which declared March 8 of every year as a working special holiday to be known as “National Women’s Day”,  a lot of hard work remains yet to be done  to achieve real equality and development for women.

 As a local legislator who came from the ranks of women’s rights and gender advocates, I know that there is still a need to conduct gender sensitivity trainings for government workers, leaders and constituents,  hold GAD planning and budgeting workshops to help elected local government officials to  use  their GAD budget correctly and responsively. 

Attention and resources must also be channeled for programs on reproductive health which include education and counseling sessions for couples, women, men  and teenagers so that they can take care of themselves and plan their families responsibly. Other    direct and support services for  victims of violence must be given more budgets and existing Women Centers must be maximized to offer not only temporary shelters but also be venues for women’s economic, social and political empowerment, and active involvement in cultural development and environmental protection, not only during Women’s Month but also throughout the year.

The writer is serving her second term as Councilor of Silay City where she chairs the Sanggunian Committees on Women and Family and also on Education. She is the program officer of DAWN Foundation, Chair of PILIPINA-Bacolod and a member of the Provincial Council for Women, the Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics, the PILIPINA National Council and CEDAW Watch Philippines. She had also served as member of the Women Sectroal Council of the National Anti-Poverty Commission.