Last
Updated:
October 31, 2008
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History
In the last 100 years Filipino women
have invaded almost all the professions previously reserved
for men. In the home, they had begun to transcend their stereotype
and housebound wives and mothers, sharing responsibilities of
parenthood and housework with liberated husbands so they can
create lives of their own.
All this was not given to women on a silver platter. In fact,
women had to break ground, slowly but surely, through many centuries
of colonial rule to assert themselves as persons. In this struggle,
an important victory was won by the women of Malolos against
the forces of obscurantism over 100 years ago.
On December 12, 1888, 21 young women from the Chinese-mestizo
families of Malolos, Bulacan the Tantocos, Tiongsons, Tanchangcos,
Reyeses, Uitangcoys petitioned the newly-arrived liberal Governor
Valeriano Weyler to allow the opening of a night school at
their own expense where they could learn to read and write Spanish,
the language which would eradicate friar domination and put
them in touch with liberal ideas current in Europe. With Weyler
s blessings and over the objections of the friar curate, the
school opened in early 1889.
So unimaginable was their petition that it elicited the strongest
reactions from opposite camps. The friars were especially upset
by the request to learn Spanish, the language the friars refused
to teach the Indios, inspite of royal orders, because they knew
that the language would open up the world of progressive ideas
to the natives.
Among the Filipino and Spanish liberals, the letter was received
with unbounded joy and admiration. But the women s greatest
adulation came in the only work of Dr. Jose Rizal in the national
language.
Now that you have responded to our first appeal in the interest
of the welfare of the people; now that you have set an example
to those who, like you, long to have their eyes opened and be
delivered from servitude, new hopes are awakened in us and we
now even dare to face adversity, because we have you for our
allies and are confident of victory.
As a maiden, Rizal says, the woman should be valued by a young
man not for her looks or sweet disposition but for the strength
of her character and sense of honor. As a wife, the woman should
not be a slave to her husband, but rather a partner, shouldering
half of his travails, consoling and encouraging him. As a mother,
she should raise her children to love their fellow humans and
their and their country, to value honor above all, including
death. As a human being, she should develop her mind, learn
to love herself and make decisions on her own. As a Christian,
(not necessarily a Catholic), the woman should equate holiness
not with external rituals like murmuring prayers and wearing
scapulars but with following one s conscience no matter what.
As a citizen, the woman should understand that she is equal
to all humans, assume her social responsibility and unite with
all who fight for their rights.
The 20 Women contributed a lot during the bloody days of the
Malolos Revolution. They served as couriers for important and
secret documents, nursed the wounded Katipuneros, provided food
and shelter, etc. As one descendant tells the story about his
grandmother, the Malolos Republic would have starved without
them! But what is more important is that today s Filipinas
would have starved for education a while longer if the Women
of Malolos did not muster enough courage to fight for their
right for education. |
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