Filipinos mark March simply as National Women’s Month. Elsewhere, the month is celebrated as Women’s History Month in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia to highlight the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society.
This article written by Soledad “Choleng” D. Hidalgo in the ‘70s looks back in time when Filipina women were increasingly asserting their roles within their families and in society. This was originally published in Naga Times, the local daily, under her byline “My Two Cents Worth.”
LET US INCREASE WOMEN’S RIGHTS
Having no woman delegate to the constitutional convention in the first district of Camarines Sur, the candidate who will propose increasing women’s rights, will naturally get the women’s votes this coming election.
In these days when the men are wearing their hair longer and beginning to look like women while women are wearing the pants in the family, one would think that the female of the species have more rights than ever before and more than she ought to have. Such is not the case, however.
There are certain important fields where she is still under the bondage of the male species and one of them is in the field of Finance. While it is true that in Philippine society women have always held the purse-strings in the family – since we inherited this from the Spanish system of running the home – yet modern times have changed this and more and more the arrangement has been Americanized.
Women are now given a budget in which she must limit her expenditures. Now, there is nothing wrong with this except for the fact that while she scrimps and stretches to make it work, the man has limitless access to the rest of the earnings and family income. It has been observed that as man earns more and more, the basic needs of the family remain the same and this gives the man the leeway to spend it as he pleases; often-times to the detriment of the home.
This does not refer of course to the majority of breadwinners who are conscientious family men who invest their savings wisely, but to those irresponsible men who think nothing but their own pleasures. It cannot be denied however that there are women who cannot be trusted with the family fund…. I am sure this is in the minority.
Lucky are the wives who get the pay envelope intact and whose husband let her manage it to run the home and invest the balance if any. This does not mean of course that hubby is left without money in his pocket for cigarettes, beer and personal needs….
Financial bickering has always been one of the causes for broken homes, quarrels. the mere pittance that the bread winner gives leaves a woman needing more for personal needs… A woman has to shift for herself in order to maintain her dignity with grooming, socials.
It has been observed that women have big possibilities for financial investments if given the chance to do so. Perhaps because she has the qualifications to do better. Usually, she has no vices. It is very rare for a woman who gambles, drinks or philanders. In rare cases that she does it can be taken as one of the occupational hazards that a man takes when he marries. Or he does not know how to pick a wife. “Aguanta.”
What then is the solution to the unequal division of a man’s earnings to make it fair for him, for his wife and for the whole family without detracting from each their dignity in the community where they live?
Lucky for those women who have properties of their own and have remunerative jobs or business enterprises…. How about those wives who have to depend solely on their husbands for support? What happens when she is married to an irresponsible breadwinner who does not respect her position in the family?…
What has all these to do with the coming constitutional convention? Well, if the candidates are promising so many things, why not promise the women some down to earth solutions to their domestic problems? To ask for her own right to the man’s earnings? Such is not the case. A woman is not entitled to all of it, not even a small part of it for herself alone.
Employees are asking for higher wages…. For a better way of life. What about the housewife, whose work is never done, who has to be a genius in order to stretch the budget; whose personal needs are just as important to maintain her dignity, for the best of marriage in the long run?
Postscript
As of that writing, many exceptional women of Choleng’s generation were having free rein with their lives, having the liberty to choose careers where they thrived beyond expectations. Alumnae of Universidad de Sta. Isabel shone brightly in the local and even international circles. Soon the world was going to see the first female Philippine president and the first Bicolana vice president. Even then many women already predominated in business and world politics! The proposal in this article to increase women’s rights still rings true in attaining gender balance in fields now open to women, even in government positions. There is the inevitable imbalance where some women may have managed to land a good job after breaching into new frontiers like the military and the space industry. The turnout in the US now seems to shine on some women in high positions and roles, but it is still tilted towards the males.
For married women who have to “man” the home front, with a tight purse string, she still must juggle whatever the breadwinner brings home. It is a balancing act for the embattled homemaker who also doubles as the housekeeper. Perhaps finding a job outside the home presents a double advantage: she could escape the domestic challenge and manage to explore a whole new world that beckons! The current economic crisis has also forced women to do both – work to contribute to the fund and manage to do a remarkable balancing act. As a witness to the active career of the author, I revel in the fact that she was well supported by her husband, Dr. Jesus Hidalgo, so that she was able to go into multiple business ventures, while he took care of her income tax obligations.
The header shows members of the City of Naga Local Council of Women, a non-government entity which aims for women empowerment, social justice and poverty alleviation. (from their FB page, Women’s Month 2022)
Contributed by:
TELLY HIDALGO HOW is a retired pediatrician and professor of pharmacology at the University of the Philippines, College of Medicine. Born and raised in Naga City, her parents were Dr. Jesus F Hidalgo, medical practitioner, and Soledad Dato Hidalgo, columnist and writer. She graduated from Colegio de Sta. Isabel, High School in 1965. She completed her medical degree from UP College of Medicine in 1974. She is an Emeritus Professor in UP.