For this year’s celebration of International Women’s Day, Senator Risa Hontiveros called on men to take part in the fight for women’s rights.
Hontiveros challenged Filipino men to be more proactive in ensuring gender equality.
“Male privilege should be used one last time to provide a platform for issues surrounding women, then dismantled,” said Hontiveros, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality.
At the same time, she said men should unlearn “toxic macho traits they have grown accustomed to for generations,” especially those that result in violence against women.
“Men need to unlearn this entitlement to women’s bodies, clothing and attention. This entitlement results in pervasive gender-based abuses directed at women,” she said.
“Sexual harassment, domestic violence, and rape start with the thought of ownership over women,” Hontiveros said, adding that in the Philippines, a woman is raped every hour while one in four women have experienced spousal violence.
At the House of Representatives, Deputy Majority Leader and Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera urged her colleagues to hasten the passage of a measure prohibiting child marriage.
“Child, early, and forced marriages pose risks and have serious impacts on the health and development of women and girls. Child marriage is a grave form of violence against women and girls, and we must put an end to this vile practice,” she said.
“Married girls will most likely drop out of school and lose their chance of getting educated, gaining a decent job, and earning for herself and her family. Child brides are also the most common victims of domestic abuse and violence,” she added.
Data from the United Nations Children’s Fund showed that as of 2017, at least 15 percent of Filipino women between 20 to 24 were first married or entered a union before they turned 18 years old.
According to the United Nations Population Fund, many of adolescent brides experienced early and repeated pregnancies and childbirth before they could become physically mature and psychologically ready for responsible motherhood.
The Family Code of the Philippines sets the legal age of marriage at 18 and above, and requires that consent must be freely given by both parties. Muslim minors, however, are an exception.
Presidential Decree No. 1083 or the Code of Muslim Personal Laws sets a lower age for marriage – 15 for a male and 12 years for a female, for as long as she has reached puberty.
“Despite international and local legal frameworks, child, early and forced marriages are still a growing trend in the Philippines, especially in indigenous communities. To stop this form of abuse and exploitation, we should strengthen the implementation of the Family Code and repeal contradictory laws,” Herrera said.