Time is past when women stay at home, tend to their children and keep the house. Those were the halcyon days when the mother was appropriately called a housewife and a homemaker. But over time, there has been a remarkable transformation in the role of women in our family and society. The tremendous social changes driven by growth in education, science and technology have opened up wide opportunities for women and redefined their status in the community. Even before the landmark book, The Feminine Mystique, was published in 1963, there had been a growing voice from throngs of women to expand their limited gender roles.
Whereas before the household is their rightful place, women now compete in various fields that were previously the exclusive domains of men. With the opening up of educational opportunities for females, more professions and careers were made available to women. Earlier, they were confined to teaching, nursing, social and hospitality work and the arts, but now women have invaded the men’s world such as medicine, law and even engineering. At present, females outnumber the males in colleges and universities, which only means that they will dominate many professions in the future. In fact, a big number are now enrolled in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) and the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) and more often graduate on top of their classes. They can successfully combine professional careers with homemaking. It’s no longer a choice between career and marriage. A confining marriage prevents them from pursuing a satisfying and productive career. Society pays a great price when able and competent women sacrifice their career and give up their promising jobs just to focus on house chores. Marriage should not impede a woman’s personal and professional advancement. Otherwise, this would be unfortunate because success in one’s endeavor has no gender. Nowadays, hardly are there any more glass ceilings that block women from reaching the top. Even in politics, women can aspire for the highest position within the gift of our people. One of the frontrunners in the 2022 presidential election is a woman. This is not surprising since we had already elected two women as our country’s president.
The 4th Annual Women Future Conference organized by Stevie Awards is currently being held virtually from November 1 to 5, 2021. The top-level conference exclusively for women “encourages engaging connections, professional and personal development, and mental health and financial wellness through motivational keynotes, educational sessions, and networking.” For the first time, it features powerful speakers from the Asia-Pacific (APAC) Region, all females representing a diverse mix of CEOs and entrepreneurs, who are widely acknowledged as business achievers and thought leaders in their fields. The sessions highlight the milestones achieved by women in traditionally male-dominated fields such as fintech, banking, e-commerce and insurance. Thus, it was no surprise that Ms. Nina D. Aguas, Executive Chairman of Insular Life, a 110-year old life company and one of the largest in the country, was invited to keynote the opening day of the conference. In a powerful speech, Ms. Aguas, fondly called Nina by her friends and colleagues, sang paean to today’s women who, aside “from caring for the home and looking after their family and even extended relations, are breadwinners taking on more than just one job, they are business and community leaders, doctors, nurses, they are caregivers, nannies, lawyers, teachers, in the armed forces, they are migrant and BPO workers…all contributing to the economic and social advancement of their families, and inspiring their communities to level up.”
No question that modern women are now thrust into more prominent positions entirely different from their traditional roles years ago. Now they find themselves blazing paths not taken by their forebears. They have made their footprints in all corners of the world, and even in outer space where they serve as astronauts. But one area where our women can make a lasting contribution is in promoting their financial well-being, their families’ and country’s. This was not lost on Nina who aptly observed that “[I]n the last decade or so, however, women have made remarkable strides, and we should leverage on our market power and social status. The greater the power of women, the greater a country’s economic success.”
Nina quoted famous actress Glenn Close who won best actress at the Golden Globe Awards for her movie, The Wife. Glenn Close honored the empowered women in her acceptance speech by saying: “Women, we’re nurturers. That’s what’s expected of us. We have our children, we have our husbands if we are lucky enough, we have our partners or whoever, but we have to follow our personal fulfillment. We have to follow our dreams. We have to say ‘I can do that’ and ‘I should be allowed to do that.’” Then Nina added: “And to be able to do that, the first step is to become self-reliant and financially independent.” And just exactly how will the Filipino women achieve financial freedom? The unflappable Nina has a ready answer. Two years ago, Insular Life launched its program for economic inclusion called the InLife Sheroes, in partnership with the International Finance Corporation, to build a generation of financially literate women. It aims to empower women to take control of their economic, social, health and financial well-being by affording them greater participation in wealth creation and better control over their financial resources. Insular Life helps by providing them affordable insurance and health care solutions to serve the women market, their family and their small businesses. After close to three years since its birth, Sheroes has touched the lives of, more or less, 3 million women who are now on their way to establishing independent financial lives.
Nina humbly admitted that: “[I]t almost took me a lifetime to find a solid platform where I could be in a stronger place to support and elevate women to better and endless possibilities.” And her tireless efforts did not go in vain. Thanks to Nina, her indefatigable team and her partner IFC for their unselfish work. Today, our womanhood may look forward to a more revered place in our society and a better and brighter tomorrow. And as the title of her keynote speech rightfully states: “The Future is Female.” No man should mess with that.