Pushing back hard for women’s rights and gender justice

By Mary Barby P. Badayos-Jover

Another year, another International Women’s Day. Perhaps this time, though, the global commemoration takes on heightened significance considering recent events. On this day, we commemorate women’s historical struggles and activism in the fight for gender equity and equality. One important reference to March 8 was the massive women-led “Bread and Peace” strike in Russia in 1917, with the core demands of addressing food shortages and putting an end to World War I. That protest action was a turning point in the Russian Revolution. The simple slogan of “bread and peace” echoes in present-day world affairs as we enter the second week of Trump’s “operation epic fury,” and we in the Philippines are bracing for the economic fallout now rippling through countries that are dependent on fossil fuel. Today, then, should remind all of us of what the women said more than a century ago and what still rings true now, more than ever — we should make sure that every human being’s basic needs are met within conflict-free contexts.

The United Nations’ theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL women and girls,” is simple yet carries a lot of weight. Each of the first three words is underscored as a complete sentence in and of itself, yet collectively they ring out a powerful message. The word “all” is deliberately capitalized to imply that all women and girls, regardless of socioeconomic status, educational background, race or location, collectively suffer from violations of rights and injustice. The theme is a call to action that does not mince words. Women’s and girls’ rights should always be upheld, in the same way that we take for granted that men’s rights are. In doing so, however, structural barriers should be dismantled, including misogynistic cultural practices. The theme also reminds us that “without justice, rights are just words” (https://www.unwomen.org/en/get-involved/international-womens-day). Ensuring the rights of women and girls means redressing the injustices they fall victim to, from casual demeaning remarks to outright sexual violence. It means upholding policies aimed at protecting those rights and holding accountable those who violate them. The UN provides empirical evidence showing that when justice fails, women pay the price. And so, women need to collectively push back — hard.

Filipino women, in particular, must demand full implementation of the laws designed to free them from oppressive gender norms and systems of power. This past week’s turn of events at the Philippine congressional hearing brought to the fore the prevalent and sinister character of our male-dominated Congress. It is not surprising that other male lawmakers and lawyers — people who purportedly have knowledge of our country’s laws — came out to dismiss or trivialize the public outcry over Suntay’s lewd remarks naming Anne Curtis, a beloved female celebrity. Some even went as far as blaming women for their manner of dress. In this day and age, we still see the male gaze being privileged in public institutions that were created to treat everyone equally. I am thus personally glad that women’s groups like the World March for Women-Pilipinas and private citizens who are women’s rights advocates have filed a case against Suntay at the Ombudsman and lodged an ethics complaint against the same unrepentant man at the House of Representatives. People like him should be held accountable. Doing harm to women in any form should not be tolerated. To quote Tracee Ellis Ross, daughter of singer Diana Ross, “the innocuous makes space for the horrific.” We push back hard against any form of women’s and girls’ rights violations because we do not want escalation. We do not want the wolf whistle, the unsolicited sexist comment, the seemingly ordinary misogynistic behavior, to progress into the worst possible scenarios victimizing women and girls. Today, International Women’s Day, we should reaffirm our commitment as a people to work toward the protection of women’s and girls’ rights, and the achievement of gender justice in the short and long term. Because as Anne Curtis herself wrote in her post, women and girls “deserve better, EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.”