Women’s-rights groups are calling on Filipino voters to vote for future leaders who are “ready and willing” to champion solutions to pressing issues affecting women.
The call was made during the launch and presentation of a five-point feminist policy agenda that must be addressed by political aspirants and future government leaders in celebration of the National Women’s Month.
The agenda was presented during an event in Quezon City on Sunday.
“Women’s rights are human rights. It is important to have leaders who are ready and willing to champion the rights of women and girls,” Oxfam in the Philippines Country Director Maria Rosario Felizco said.
Felizco and other activists also asked the leaders to “challenge unjust structures that perpetuate violence against women and girls.”
These include conditions that increase unpaid care work burdens, threaten sexual and reproductive health and rights, and allows a child, early and forced marriages.
“We have yet to see the full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Law despite its enactment six years ago,” Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan Secretary-General Amparo Miciano said. “The truth is that a lot of women from far-flung communities still have no access to reproductive health services and information.”
Data from the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey showed that 9.7 million girls aged 10 to 19 in the Philippines will most likely be mothers by age 19.
The same survey also showed that the teenage pregnancy rate in the country is considered the highest in Southeast Asia, contributing to a higher mortality rate at 114 deaths per 100,000 live births.
