THE WOMEN WHO HELPED SHAPE PHILIPPINE FEMINISM

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Sister Mary John Mananzan

“You have to tell the story of Judith, of Esther, of Mary and all the strong women of the Bible. You should read the Bible from the perspective of women. If you are a man, like the patriarchal priests, [you] would consider Mary as a model of obedience, of being the handmaid of the Lord. They would use her as a model to make women subservient,” says Sister Mary John Mananzan, who belongs to the Benedictine Missionary Sisters. She founded the Institute of Women’s Studies of St. Scholastica’s College and co-founded FILIPINA, the first consciously feminist organization in the Philippines. She believes that in teaching religion, feminist theologians must deconstruct what is oppressive and construct and enhance what is liberating. Although Mananzan is a nun, she is also for the reproductive health law.

“A feminist like me would say, no, you did not read the Gospel as a whole! If you read it, you would see that Mary is a very strong woman. Look at her song, she says there, God shall put down the mighty from their seat. That’s revolutionary. God will send away the rich empty and feed the poor. That is very social justice, hindi ba?” She formed FILIPINA with Ging Deles, Remy Rikken and Irene Santiago. In 1984, feminists groups started sprouting. FILIPINA initiated a meeting at St. Scholastica’s College and formed an umbrella organization that will unite all the women’s movement. They called it GABRIELA and Mananzan acted as the federation’s Chair for 18 years.

She was a political activist fighting against Marcos before becoming a feminist. “Our feminism should always be in the context of social transformation. If you put feminism by itself, hanging in the air, it’s not going to do a lot of good. It would just be about the relationship of men and women and has nothing to do in the transformation of society.” It was through a Women’s Conference in Venice when she first realized that one cannot have social transformation unless the gender question is resolved. “I made up my mind, when I return to the Philippines, I would see to it that the woman question would be included as an essential part of national transformation.” From then on, she focused on giving gender consciousness seminar among grass roots women.

“A feminist like me would say, no, you did not read the Gospel as a whole! If you read it, you would see that Mary is a very strong woman. Look at her song, she says there, God shall put down the mighty from their seat. That’s revolutionary. God will send away the rich empty and feed the poor. That is very social justice, hindi ba?”

— Sr. Mary John Mananzan

Mananzan believes that the Philippines has one of the best laws protecting women. “We even have the Magna Carta of Women, which is not present in all the countries. Lately, the Commission on Higher Education made a memorandum order. We are the only country that has mandated that all tertiary education should have gender mainstreaming.” However, Mananzan also admits that the country is very poor in implementation. “For example, the law on 9262, which is domestic violence. That could help a lot of women but how will women know about it? How many law enforcers know about it? We may have many laws but the implementation is very poor. I have to say, we have not reached even fifty percent of the women.”

Feminism, for Mananzan, asks: “Number one, are you aware that there is such a thing as a woman question? That means that there is oppression, discrimination and exploitation of women as women. It cuts across class, race, creed, and nationality. It is an ideologically, structural and global problem. If you are aware of that, are you willing to be a part of the change? In whatever capacity you may have? If your answer is I am aware and I am willing to be part of the change. You are a feminist.”