Enough Reasons for Women’s Outrage

It has been 152 years since the historic March 8 march of women workers in New York to protest against inhumane working conditions and low wages. It has been 101 years since 15,000 women marched in the streets of New York for “Bread and Roses”: for economic security and a better quality of life. Likewise, it has been 92 years since Russian women workers marched for “Bread and Peace”, which contributed to the isolation and downfall of the oppressive feudal rule of the Tsar of Russia. With oppressive and exploitative structures still in place in the country and in most parts of the world, there are still enough reasons for women’s outrage and there is still much to be done by the women’s movement and the people’s movement for genuine social change.

BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
ANALYSIS

Up to now, the US embassy refuses to turn over Lance Corporal Daniel Smith to Philippine custody despite the Supreme Court ruling ordering his transfer to a local detention facility. It would be remembered that Smith is in prison not for acts related to or in pursuit of the joint military exercises. Smith was convicted of raping a Filipina “Nicole” at the Subic Freeport.

Last February 24, 2009, Army Judge Colonel Donna Wright of the US Court Martial in Okinawa dismissed the case against Army Specialist Ronald Hopstock for lack of sufficient evidence. The case against Hopstock stemmed not from acts related to or in pursuit of his duties as a soldier. Hopstock raped a Filipina migrant worker “Hazel” inside a hotel in Okinawa last February 18, 2008.

In the case of Smith, the Arroyo government, through the Departments of Justice and Foreign Affairs, conspired with US Ambassador Kristey Kenney in spiriting Smith out of the Makati City Jail. In Hazel’s case, the Arroyo government did not lift a finger in helping Hazel seek justice. Consequently, Hazel lost the criminal case she filed against Hopstock before a Japanese court in June 2008.

Nicole, who was only 22 years old then, was invited to Subic by a friend, also an American soldier. She was there to relax with friends. Hazel, who was only 21 years old then, was in Japan to earn a living for her family. Perhaps their only fault was that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in the company of men honed to aggression and trained to kill, rape and pillage by a country asserting its political-military hegemony.

Rebelyn Pitao, a teacher at St. Peter’s College in Davao City was on her way home at around 6:30 p.m. of March 4, 2009. She boarded a tricycle at a terminal in Bago Aplaya, Davao City. Three others boarded the same tricycle: two men and a woman. Around 300 meters from the terminal, the tricycle was blocked by two armed men. The two armed men, together with the two male passengers, forced Pitao into a white van and drove away.

Rebelyn Pitao, only 20 years old, was found floating on a river the next day. She bore five stab wounds, with marks of torture and rape. Perhaps her only fault is that she is the daughter of an NPA commander who the Arroyo government wanted neutralized, and was caught by men honed to aggression and trained to kill rape, and pillage by a corrupt and desperate regime.

The cases of these three innocent women represent those of tens or hundreds of thousands of women who are victims of wars of aggression by those who seek to maintain oppressive social, economic, and political structures.

But these are not all.

In the country alone, there are millions of women who are victims not only of violence but of oppression and exploitation. They are enmeshed in poverty, live in subhuman conditions, do slave work in factories, farms or in households, both here and abroad. They bear the brunt of the crisis because they constitute the majority of workers in export industries, particularly garments and electronics, who are now being retrenched due to the combination of the crisis in the country and in the world; they are also form the majority of overseas contract workers employed in the service sector: serving foreign households and employed in stores, who would be the first to be cut off when the crisis affects their employers. A political economist once said that the extent of crisis and decay of society manifests in the conditions of women and children.

It has been 152 years since the historic March 8 march of women workers in New York to protest against inhumane working conditions and low wages. It has been 101 years since 15,000 women marched in the streets of New York for “Bread and Roses”: for economic security and a better quality of life. Likewise, it has been 92 years since Russian women workers marched for “Bread and Peace”, which contributed to the isolation and downfall of the oppressive feudal rule of the Tsar of Russia.

Still we have a long way to go. Another social critic once said that the degree of women’s emancipation is the natural measure of the general emancipation of society. With oppressive and exploitative structures still in place in the country and in most parts of the world, there are still enough reasons for women’s outrage and still much to be done by the women’s movement and the people’s movement for genuine social change.

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