Gap girl

International Women's Day came and went.  Not with too much of a bang, as far as my limited tentacles were concerned, but still, without real cause for worry at the apparent absence of major visibility.

Of course, and without intending to minimize the importance of their efforts, there was the usual Gabriela call to vigilance. There were the sporadic posts on social media about women power.  There were the speeches and prepared statements from politicians and leaders. But unless it is the product of becoming too blasé, I didn't feel that the "celebrations," such as there were, were creating much impact.

Is it because women have already advanced so far in Philippine society?  For example, one marker for the success of women's rights in this country was seeing the front page of Philippine Star yesterday.

Capturing the Manila visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the photo splashed right up front showed an equal number of Filipina women business leaders with their male counterparts representing the country in meeting the Prime Minister. What a show of female strength.  Female representation at its finest!

Standing toe to toe with the Udenna tycoon and the Vista Land billionaire were the Filinvest lady President and the no longer the heir-apparent but heiress-realized of SMA.  Where there was a powerful man, there was an equally powerful woman.  How much proof do we need that women can and do succeed in this society?

Sure, there are unfavorable developments that cannot be ignored. Outright crimes that should be prosecuted.  Women being raped, female children being molested. The much-too-common misogyny that can and do pepper our daily conversations.  The disrespect that can be shown by the mobs, even against our highest elected women officials, like Senator Leila de Lima and Vice-President Leni Robredo.

(And we should stop right here and appreciate that first, unlike other countries, these women managed to actually got elected to these top posts, and second, that they have become so powerful as to elicit the kind of tactics combining violent hate and opprobrium that they're receiving now. If they didn't represent the threat that they are, politicians wouldn't be paying them any attention at all!)

So while what this country has isn't best in class, it isn't the worst performer, either. Our women have the right to vote and to drive.  Our women are accorded respect for their parenting duties, and given flex in the professional arena.  Our women aren't denied leadership roles - in fact, more and more women are taking the helms of companies.  (Have I previously written the tidbit that there seems to be more women graduating from law school and landing in the top ten of their graduating class?)

The United Nations has lauded us for closing the gap between men and women. We have, in fact, apparently landed in the top ten of countries surveyed for the gender gap, claiming slot eight out of 149 countries.

Not bad, Philippines.  Soon, women might indeed run the world.  And so, what's the next challenge going to be, LGBT rights and representation?

It would have been wonderful for the Philippine business phalanx to have included a gay or lesbian business leader in their midst when they met the Malaysian Prime Minister.  Mohamad would have been forced to acknowledge that Filipino LGBT leader, and accorded him due respect.  For LGBT community members in Malaysia, that diplomatic slash economic interaction would have come across as wonderful news and particularly symbolic, as they have, for decades, been appealing to Mohamad to give them due recognition and respect.

(Natch, I am assuming all the men and women in that photo were heterosexuals, but I could be wrong. My fault, I am not that big a gossip.)

So, thank you for the reminder, International Women's Day.  Shall we move along to Pride?