Women power

In celebration of Women’s Month, female legislators ruled the House of Representatives last Monday, with Pangasinan 4th District Rep. Gina de Venecia taking over as Speaker, a post her own husband used to hold. 

The “take-over” has long been a matter of tradition in the House. And that is precisely why the repetition of the gesture year after year only serves to underscore the fact that it is only largely symbolic. 

The symbolism apparently hews to the notion that there is a need to show respect to women. Fine. But if that is the only reason for the tradition, then nothing could be emptier and more hollow than that gesture.

For the truth of the matter is that women have grown in strength and stature over the years, and in many respect, even eclipse the men even in endeavors that used to be dominated only by men.

In the House of Representatives alone, there are already more than 60 women lawmakers, one of the highest, if not the highest, in the history of the chamber. That is a number that the men cannot sneeze at. It is an entire bloc of votes on any issue.

A group of more than 60 women in a chamber of less than 300 is indeed a force that does not deserve a mere symbolic enthronement to power. This is not to say we scrap the tradition, but real positions of power in the House should also be accorded to some of the women members.

I remember when I was young when there used to be a time when Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were given symbolic positions at City Hall. I remember because the elder brother of my friend was named “Boy Mayor” for a day. This boy mayor went on to top the Bar, but that’s another story.

But on the issue of the Bar exams, I think it has not escaped the notice of people that, with increasing regularity over the past decade or so, women have been outnumbering the men among the topnotchers.

I don’t know the reason for this and unless somebody tells me, I am inclined to believe that is yet another manifestation of the ascendancy of women, an ascendancy that can no longer be hidden under the cloak of mere symbolism.

This symbolism about women power already has some basis in fact, and the sooner the men come to recognize and admit it, the better for the coexistence between the sexes. For there are many things that men and women can do better together than as parts of a whole divided by sex.

This is not to say, of course, that the level has been reached where women now dominate the men. That day has not yet come. Everywhere you look, it is still a man’s world out there. But the breathing the men feel on their necks come from the women.

That means the women are there right behind them. More importantly, they are keeping pace and keeping stride. The word stride, by the way, brings me to running. Many media friends of mine who are women can actually outrun and outlast the men, myself included.

As to the media, many newsrooms are now dominated by women. In fact, the editors-in-chief of two of Cebu’s only three English language dailies are women. I am the only holdout left of the male species in this business here in Cebu.

Anyway, to cut this long story short, the respect and recognition that is due women are very real and do not merit mere symbolism. So it is time we regard women for who they are. I have long done that at home. I am the only man in a family with three women and a girl.