March 8 is the celebration of International Women's Day and EVERYONE--- men and women, young and old--- can take a concrete step to help achieve gender equality more quickly. Whether to help women and girls achieve their ambitions, call for gender-balanced leadership, respect and value difference, or root out workplace bias, each of us can COMMIT TO TAKE ACTION TO STEP UP GENDER EQUALITY. :)
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| #PledgeForParity: Each of us can be a leader within our own spheres of influence and commit to taking action to accelerate gender parity. (Image source: internationalwomensday.com) |
And since International Women's Day is celebrate all over the world, I thought of posting an article I wrote a few weeks back that talks about about WOMEN EMPOWERMENT which is a timely and relevant issue in our country, the Philippines, these days:
Political Empowerment
Will Make Our Nation Stronger
In a political context, empowerment is understood as the
process of developing a sense of autonomy and self-confidence, and acting
individually and collectively to change social relationships and the
institutions and discourses that exclude certain groups of people, and help
them to leader a prosperous and a successful life (Madugalle, 2014). The
empowerment and autonomy of marginalized groups such as women, children, etc.
and the improvement of their political, social, economic, and health status is
a highly important end in itself essential for the achievement of a nation’s sustainable
development.
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| Women empowerment in the Philippines throughout the centuries. (Image source: businessmirror.com.ph) |
To begin
with, democracy is not possible without political empowerment which requires
that citizens shape political life by voting, standing for office, and
initiating and participating as equals in informal public discourse (Wilhelm,
2014). For instance, the electoral process in the Philippines determines
important propositions such as the redirection funds to schools, reforms
sentencing of low level crimes, and the election of many important offices. But
while elections allow voter participation and strengthen political empowerment,
this participation is distorted by lack of education among the voter and the
voted. In the Philippines, the voter chooses the candidate who will serve the
voter’s ends. But, unfortunately, the
ends sought by the uneducated voter are usually: money in exchange for his
vote; and an appointment in the civil service, so that he can have a job. The uneducated majority are merely seeking
their selfish individual interest, particularly in economic terms
(Defensor-Santiago, 2012). Therefore, political empowerment entails that all
people can participate in local decision making processes and hold others to
account given that they understand their the implications of their aspirations,
responsibilities, and actions in relation to other social and economic actors
and to the state.
Second, when
governments, businesses work to eliminate inequalities and promote political
empowerment, developing countries are less likely to be plagued by poverty. For
example, a research conducted by the European Journal of Business and
Management suggested that by providing equal employment opportunities between
men and women, female economic power also enhances the "wealth and
well-being of nations" (2014). Women who control their own income tend to
have fewer children, and fertility rates have shown to be inversely related to
national income growth (Karim, 2014). However, while boosting female employment
rate could mean large economic gains, it could also cause a backlash on the
country’s birthrate, such as the baby strike in Korea and in Japan where the age at which women are having their first child
are rising, resulting in fewer women having a second child (Abe, 2015). This
only suggests that efforts on political empowerment, especially among women,
must also include a wide range of policies such as continuation of child-care
support, reduction of long work hours, and a jobs creation program.
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| Empowered women, empowered nation. (Image source: govolunteering,com) |
Last
but not the least, political empowerment is an essential tool for achieving the
goal of equality, development and peace in a nation. For example, equal access
to education by taking measures to eliminate discrimination in education at all
levels on the basis of gender, race, language, religion, national origin, age
or disability, ultimately contributes to more equal relationships between women
and men (UnWomen, 1995). Equality of access to and attainment of educational
qualifications is necessary if more individuals are to become agents of change.
Literacy among all people is an important key to improving health, nutrition
and education in the family and to empowering every individual to participate
in decision-making in society. However, access to education and promotion of
literacy may lead to brain drain where a country loses its most educated and
talented workers to other countries through migration due to negative
characteristics of the home country that forms the impetus for intelligent
people migrating from Lesser Developed Countries (LDC). In terms of labor
force, the Philippines, for example, is faced with a brain drain issue, which
is depriving the labor pool of much of its greatest talent. This has been a
problem for a while now, with the country having lost an estimated ten percent
of its population to work abroad, including many highly qualified professionals
(Davis, 2015). For this reason, governments must ensure that more than being
politically empowered, citizens feel safe and that economic activity is
continually stimulated to provide better wages among workers and create better
educational systems for a more affordable means so that citizens do not have to
go overseas for higher education.
A nation is
not its land and buildings—it is its people. If a nation has to rise, the first
thing that it must accomplish is to empower its people with the help of laws,
education, and employment that will help them use their full potential.
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| Filipinas, WE CAN DO IT! (Image source: allposters.com) |
References:
Abe, F. “The Economics of South Korea's Declining Birth
Rate.” (2015)
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/The-economics-of-South-Koreas-declining-birth-rate-30260719.html
Davis, C. “How Philippines Can Reverse Brain Drain”. (2015).
Defensor-Santiago, M. “The Problem With Elections.” (2012.) http://miriam.com.ph/newsblog/2012/11/23/the-problem-with-elections/
Karim, T. “Empowering Women to Eliminate Gender
Discrimination in Asia.” (2014). http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/EJBM/article/viewFile/18693/18849
Political Data. “Filipino
Advocates for Justice encourages Filipinos to Vote”. 2014. http://asianjournal.com/news/filipino-advocates-for-justice-encourages-
filipinos-to-vote-in-november/
Political Empowerment. (2016).
Why is Economic Empowerment Important for a Country's
Development? (2014) http://www.empowerwomen.org/es/circles/open-ideas-and-questions-about-womens-economic-empowerment/why-is-women-economic-empowerment-is-important-for-a-countrys-development#sthash.8ctmLtJJ.dpuf)
Wilhelm, D. “Defending Political Autonomy.” (2016).
https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/dagmar-wilhelm/defending-political-autonomy-%E2%80%93-or-habermas-on-europe
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