Representations of Gender Inequality and Women's Issues in Philippine Feminist Discourses

Abstract

The dynamic women's movements of the Philippines in Southeast Asia are composed of women from various social classes, ideological orientations, religious affiliations and occupational groups. This paper is a preliminary attempt to undertake an anthropology of feminist knowledge as I examine the representations of gender inequality, the empirical articulations of women's oppression, and their influence in the directions and dynamics of feminist theorizing. Narratives or texts about women's/gender issues are embedded in many kinds of writing—in research reports, creative works, in designs of development programs, in advocacy materials, training manuals and so on. I argue here that the development of many discursive sites for the interrogation of marginality has been responsible for the advances as well as drawbacks, the many bases of unity as well as tensions, among feminists in non-government organizations, in academe and in people's organizations. Narratives or texts about women's/gender issues are embedded in many kinds of writing—in research reports, creative works, in designs of development programs, in advocacy materials, training manuals and so on. In other words, the discourse has gone beyond feminist academic circles to include feminists in development and advocacy work. I try to provide a brief overview of the important historical events in the birth and subsequent growth of what is often referred to in feminist circles as the second wave of women's movement. This provides a useful backdrop for understanding the contents and trajectory of the many and diverse ideas put forward by Filipino feminists.