About the conference

Filipino women have gained significant strides in the last 15 years after the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). Landmark laws on women have been passed  largely because of  the  advocacy of women’s rights activists and committed legislators. In 2006, the UN CEDAW Committee commended the Philippines for important legislation it had passed that advanced women’s rights. The Magna Carta of Women has recently been passed by Congress after many years of lobbying. Significantly, the country was cited as one of the top  countries that successfully narrowed gender inequalities, a distinction which  received mixed reactions among feminists.

We are living in times of complex  and multiple crises and the Philippines is right at the center of this. The  economic  and financial crises  have  placed vulnerable economies such as ours on the brink  of bankruptcy;  environmental threats  such as climate change are increasingly endangering communities, families’ and women’s well being ; our human rights , democratic institutions and systems of governance have been seriously eroded and undermined by massive corruption and mismanagement.  All these call for a serious and urgent review  of our programs of actions, strategies  and directions.  What should be our response and what are our priority issues in times of crises? How can NGOs strengthen their solidarity so that it can harness its collective strengths in the face of  these crises?   

The Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA) was a pivotal document that identified the strategic issues challenges and strategies that women continue to face. This important document placed the gender equality and empowerment agenda at the forefront  and  informed policies and programs of government towards a more pro-active agenda on gender equality . It remains to this day , and in the face of current and urgent issues, a powerful tool to clarify, prioritize and act on the urgent issues that Filipino women currently  face.

Fifteen years after Beijing is an opportune time :

  1. To critically  assess our gains fifteen years after Beijing focusing on best practices  and innovative programs   and  collectively think of strategies and innovative approaches to  sustain and broaden such  gains;

  2. To identify key challenges and constraints that continue to impede women’s campaign  for political transformation   towards gender equality and empowerment;

  3.  To actively  and concretely respond  to persistent as well as   new and emerging threats such as the current financial crisis and its impact on women’s well being; climate change; feminization of migration, violence against women  and  women’s well being among others;


Indeed, while the policy environment addressing gender equality has improved, much still needs to be done in terms of enforcement and implementation, provision of budgetary resources, engaging with women’s groups and civil society  and localizing these policies at the grassroots  level. The 2008 Joint Country Gender Assessment in the Philippines (2008)  underscores the fact that national level improvements in the well-being of women reveal  huge gaps at the local level.

The proposed National Women’s Summit to be held on October  20-21, 2009  is principally an NGO event  to gather  women’s groups , civil society groups  and invited government officials with the goal of collectively assessing the situation of women at the national and local levels. It aims to revisit the BPFA and find consensus as to how to use it in responding to persistent as well as emerging challenges and sustain achievements. In order to highlight the achievements of women’s groups in the last 15 years based on the 12 critical areas of the BPFA, the women’s summit will highlight best practices  and innovations in these areas. At the same time, it will provide a forum for identifying key challenges and constraints that impact on the continuing struggle of women for gender equality.

Framing this assessment is the 2010 National and Local Elections in the Philippines which will provide the context in which problems will be addressed. It will also enable participants to bring to fore issues that can hopefully push for gender-responsive political platforms in 2010 and beyond. Certainly, the success of the country in addressing the commitments under the BPFA relies in large part with political context within which these measures are embedded.

Lastly,  the forum will be our own way of preparing the Philippine participants for the Asia Pacific NGO Forum that will immediately follow the National Women’s Summit.

Participants
The proposed participants will be principally women’s groups, grassroots women’s NGOs,  the academe, professional  and civic associations of women. Women government officials and donor agencies will be invited as guests.

Convener of the Conference 
Former Senator  and now College Dean Leticia Ramos-Shahani of  the College of International , Development  and Humanitarian Studies  will be the  Convener of the Conference.

Venue
Miriam College Campus  at Katipunan Road, Loyola Heights, Quezon City will be the site of the two-day conference.

Conference Outcomes and Approach

The conference is designed to give space for  the critical voices of women  in a participatory, democratic and candid way.  The conference  will be a Collective Conversation in an atmosphere of  openness, candor and confidentiality.  Through  this  approach , we hope to generate a lively exploration  and   exchange of ideas  that hopefully will lead to ACTIONABLE OUTCOMES. To ensure  maximum participation, the outcome document will not have attribution to any individual or individuals.