Bangkok, October 27, 1999 -- What is the primary cause of gender inequality in any society?
Dr. Amelou Benitez Reyes, chairperson of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, says that poverty is the biggest factor that hinders the development of both men and women and that government assumes that eradicating poverty will eventually resolve gender disparities. Benitez Reyes, the head of the Philippine delegation, reported on her government's program of poverty eradication during the ongoing UN ESCAP High Level Intergovernmental Meeting in Bangkok, called to assess the implementation by governments in the region of the Beijing Platform for Action for women.
Congresswoman Patricia Sarenas, Abanse! Pinay party-list representative, thinks otherwise. "Abanse! Pinay maintains that the gender issue is more complex," she said. She emphasized that efforts should also target traditional systems that perpetuate the secondary status of women. Economic empowerment will not necessarily improve the lot of the vast majority of women, she added. Women are still abused, looked upon as sex objects and marginalized. Even while they are earning, the women may still be beaten in their own homes.
Sarenas stressed that gender discrimination is deeply imbedded in the system of beliefs, and before this can be eradicated, there should be a change in structures, attitudes and behavioral patterns of both men and women.
*The Women's Media Team for the ESCAP High Level Interngovernmental Meeting to review the implmentation of the Beijing Platform for Action is composed of Mavic-Cabrera-Balleza, Lorna Israel, Isis International-Manila; Suchita Vemuri, Women's Feature Service; Babita Basnet, Sancharika Samuha-Nepal; Adelle Khan, Fiji Women's Crisis Centre; Ung Vanna, Khmer Women's Voice Centre; Lim Siu Ching, All Women's Action Society-Malaysia; Fatmawati Salapuddin, Bangsamoro Women and Development Foundation-Philippines; Rina Jimenez-David, Philippins, Chitraporn Vanaspong, Thailand. The Women's Media Team is co-ordinated by Isis International-Manila and is supported by UNIFEM.
