overview
The Institute for Gender Studies (IGS) is pleased to announce that Dr. Carolyn I. Sobritchea from University of the Philippines will be hosted as our Visiting Professor from April to June 2006. On this occasion, IGS will organize its 20th evening seminar series, inviting Professor Sobritchea as its lecturer. The seminar series is entitled “Enhancing Gender Equality and Women's Human Rights: Experiences in the Philippines and Selected Asian Countries.” The research field of Professor Sobritchea is anthropology and women’s studies and her research interests cover gender ideology, feminist methodology, WID (Women in Development), GAD (Gender in Development), reproductive health, and domestic violence. She is widely known as a distinguished scholar who has also played a significant role in developing women’s studies in the Philippines. She is the author of a number of academic books as well as textbooks for vocational education and training. Her latest book is an edited collection, A Gender Review of Selected Economic Laws in the Philippiines (U.P. Center for Women’s Studies and UNIFEM, 2006). In evening seminars, Professor Sobritchea will discuss the perspectives and practices to advance gender equality and women’s human rights by Asian feminists, particularly those from the Philippines and selected Southeast Asian countries.Evening seminars are open to public. Those interested in the lecture topic are all welcome to the IGS evening seminars.
-
The 20th Evening Seminar Executive Committee TACHI Kaoru, HARA Hiroko, KUMAGAI Keichi, SUGIHASHI Yayoi
-
Secretariat: HAYASHI Natsuko, KOMADA Akihiko, KISHINO Sachiko
Seminars |
Title |
Discussant |
Moderator |
1st seminar
May 10 (Wed) |
Women's Movements in the Philippines and
Feminist Scholarship:
An Analysis of Convergence and Disunities |
HARA Hiroko
(Josai Kokusai
University) |
TACHI Kaoru
(Ochanomizu
University) |
2nd seminar
May 17 (Wed) |
The Role of JICA Philippines in Promoting the
Gender-Responsiveness of Technical and
Vocational Education and Training in the
Philippines and other Asian Countries |
TAKIMURA
Takuji
(JICA) |
KUMAGAI
Keichi
(Ochanomizu
University) |
<3rd seminar
May 24 (Wed) |
Feminist Interrogations of HIV/AIDS Phenomena
in Asia |
HYODO Chika
(Waseda University) |
HARA Hiroko
(Josai Kokusai
University) |
4th seminar
May 31 (Wed) |
Gender-Mainstreaming: Has it Really Contributed to the Advancement of Women? |
HASHIMOTO
Hiroko
(Jumonji University) |
SUGIHASHI
Yayoi
(Ochanomizu
University) |
5th seminar
June 7 (Wed) |
Rights-Based Approaches to the Advancement of
Women: The Philippine Experience |
MURAMATSU
Yasuko
(Tokyo Woman's
Christian University) |
TACHI Kaoru
(Ochanomizu University) |
Seminar Overview
Carolyn Israel Sobritchea
The topics and reading materials I have lined up for my evening seminars span the breadth and depth of the perspectives and practices to advance gender equality and women’s human rights by Asian feminists, particularly those from the Philippines and selected Southeast Asian countries. The lectures and conversations aim to map out the various locations, political contexts and discursive practices of women activists and scholars, within and outside of academe and in international, national and community arenas of engagement. They also interrogate the manner by which feminist ideas are inscribed in the language of international human rights instruments, in global action plans, in national laws and in local programs for women, and acted upon, both by those who are in the giving and receiving ends of development funds and technical expertise. In her paper entitled Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses, Chandra Mohanti (in Feminisms, 1997) argues that “any discussion of the intellectual and political constructions of “Third World feminisms” must address itself to two simultaneous projects and internal critique of hegemonic ‘Western’ feminisms and the formulation of autonomous, geographically, historically and culturally grounded feminist concerns and strategies.” This seminar follows the path of these projects. We reflect on how we, Asian feminists, have persevered to create feminist knowledge that is responsive to the needs and aspirations of women in our regions, countries and communities. We examine the various points of unity and tension mediated by our particular locations and contexts.
Seminar 1: May 10, Wednesday 18：30-20：45
Women's Movements in the Philippines and Feminist Scholarship:
An Analysis of Convergence and Disunities
Discussant: HARA Hiroko (Josai Kokusai University)
The aim of this seminar is to provide an overview of the history of the women’s movement in the Philippines, highlighting the critical junctures in its development from the early seventies to the present. The analysis will be made against the backdrop of political and economic changes that the country went through during this period -- the imposition of Martial rule, the return of popular democracy through people power, the recasting of the Philippine Constitution in l987, and the more recent efforts to strengthen political and economic governance through decentralization and neoliberal economic programs. The entry of feminist theorizing and research in academic institutions, through the establishment of women’s studies programs, in the early eighties, gave the momentum for academic feminists to be involved in real life issues and every day concerns of women in the Philippines. While some of the research work and publications of many academic feminists have been used for development programs by women’s groups, others were seen as too theoretical and insensitive to real life problems of women. This seminar will describe the points of tension and unity between the two groups.
Readings:
Sobritchea, C. (editor) 2004. Gender, Culture and Society: Selected Readings in Women’s Studies in the Philippines. South Korea: Ewha Woman’s University Press.
Mohanty, C. 1997. “Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship and Colonial Discourses,” In Feminisms, edited by S. Kemp and J. Squires. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brooks A. 1997. “Consensus and Conflict in Second Wave Feminism: Issues of Diversity and Difference in Feminist Theorizing,” Post Feminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms. London and New York: Routledge.
Seminar 2: May 17, Wednesday 18：30-20：45
The Role of JICA Philippines in Promoting the Gender-Responsiveness of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Philippines and other Asian Countries
Discussant: TAKIMURA Takuji (JICA)
Over the last decade, JICA Philippines has supported the Women’s Center of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), a government agency tasked to enhance the vocational and technical skills of workers in the Philippines and other Asian Countries. This seminar shall describe and analyze the training programs -- their contents, methodologies and impacts, held from 1999 to 2005 that JICA Philippines has supported to mainstream Gender and Development principles and approaches into technical and vocational education and training. It shall highlight how development assistance can be strategically used to advance the economic status of poor women.
Readings:
TESDA Women's Center. 2005. A Study of Employment Opportunities for Women in TWC’s 12 Trade Areas. Manila. JICA Philippines.
Website of Gender. WID, JICA Philippines. http://www.jica.go.jp/english/global/gend/philippines.html
Seminar 3: May 24, Wednesday 18：30-20：45
Feminist Interrogations of HIV/AIDS Phenomena in Asia
Discussant: HYŌDO Chika (Waseda University)
The rise in incidence as well as geographic spread of HIV/AIDS in Asia, over the last decade, has made it one of the most pressing development and health issues in the region. Southeast Asian feminists have started to interrogate the gender dimensions of the problem by examining how the unequal power relations between the sexes both in the domestic and public spheres, have put women at greater risk of infection. This seminar shall provide an overview of the current patterns of HIV/AIDS infection across countries of Southeast Asia, the risks and vulnerabilities of women, brought about by their social class, occupation, domestic roles and other factors. It shall also examine how current prevention, control and treatment programs respond to the gender dimensions of the problem.
Readings:
Micollier, E. (editor). 2004. Sexual Cultures in East Asia:The Social Construction of Sexuality and Sexual Risk in a Time of AIDS. London and New York: Routledge Curzon.
UNAIDS. n.d. “Women and their Vulnerability,” Women, Gender and HIV/AIDS in East and Southeast Asia. Bangkok.
Seminar 4: May 31, Wednesday 18：30-20：45
Gender Mainstreaming: Has it Really Contributed to the Advancement of Women?
Discussant: HASHIMOTO Hiroko (Jumonji University)
Since the 4th World Women’s Conference in Beijing, China in 1995, countries all over the world have adopted the Gender and Development framework and the gender mainstreaming strategy to ensure that policies and programs promote gender equality. This seminar shall assess the effectiveness and impacts of this intervention, based on the experiences of the Philippines and countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. It shall highlight both the gains and gaps both in the substance of the approach itself as well as in its implementation.
Readings:
National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women. 2004. Report on the State of Filipino Women 2001-2003. Manila. (text may be accessed in the website of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women ? NCRFW.gov.ph
Sobritchea, C. 2004. “Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women,” Beijing+10: Celebrating Gains, Facing New Challenges ? A Report of the Philippine NGOs. Manila
Sobritchea, C. 2001. “Women in Southeast Asia: Have They Come a Long Way? Perspectives. No. 4. Manila. Konrad ? Adenauer- Stiftung.
Seminar 5: June 7, Wednesday 18:30-20:45
Rights-Based Approaches to the Advancement of Women: The Philippine Experience
Discussant: MURAMATSU Yasuko (Tokyo Woman’s Christian University)
In recent years, many women’s groups in the Philippines have gradually shifted its strategy of promoting gender equality from using the gender mainstreaming to advocacy institutional reforms (i.e. legal, educational and judicial) in order to eliminate all forms of gender-based discrimination, be they de jure (in law) or de facto (in practice). By invoking the government’s ratification of all international human rights instruments, particularly the Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), these groups lobbied for the passage of several pro-women laws and the amendment of those rife with gender biases. The right-based approach to gender equality works around the concept of entitlement and it encompasses not only women’s economic and political rights, but also their social and cultural rights. It calls on the government to fulfill its obligations to pass policies, install enabling mechanisms and develop programs that would respect, protect and promote the human rights of women, regardless of their sexual orientation, class and ethnic background as well as age. This seminar will highlight the initiative taken by the women’s groups along this line.
Readings:
National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women. 2002. Women's Realities and Rights: A CEDAW Brief. Manila UNIFEM, 2005. Claim and Celebrate: Women Migrants' Human Rights through CEDAW. UNIFEM Jordan Office.
※This event is finished. |
