Group pushes for pro-women policies

A COALITION of women’s organizations on Monday urged candidates for this year’s midterm elections to take up their legislative agenda, which they see as vital in addressing barriers to achieving women’s equality.

It is urging senatorial and congressional candidates to push for the passage of a menstrual leave law and the implementation of a Magna Carta for informal workers, while also seeking the reinstatement of divorce and the approval of a gay rights bill.

Political candidates should also take up amendments to the 2019 Safe Spaces Law to make it receptive to advancements in artificial intelligence and campaign for the approval of a measure addressing teenage pregnancy, the Caucus of Women Organizations, composed of 14 women’s organizations, said.

“These legislative measures are critical for addressing long-standing barriers to women’s equality and empowerment in the Philippines,” Juanna Marie Caumeran, gender officer of coalition member Akbayan Women, said in a media briefing.

“We have already sent the agenda to senatorial and party-list representatives for their review,” she added in Filipino.

Progressive lawmakers have had difficulty in advancing bills on women and gender issues, such as reproductive health, divorce, abortion and gender equality due to pushback from the Southeast Asian nation’s predominantly catholic and conservative population. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio