As the nation comes together to observe March 2025 National Women’s Month, I am pleased to share this timely article about women’s rights and their struggles to achieve gender equality. This was published in the mid-1970’s when the writer, Soledad “Choleng” D. Hidalgo, was in her 60’s. At the outset, she declares her position in no uncertain terms, but she did qualify her point midway. By reading through, it will be apparent how and why she had a clear view of a woman’s role, as she could venture into a world dominated by men, on her own steam. The word Feminism does not even appear in this piece. This is at best only a personal impression, limited in scope in her small corner of the world.
Sometime ago I was asked to comment on this thing known as Women’s Lib, a movement for the complete emancipation of women. Well, come to think of it, I said, this thing has been a going concern in our country for more than forty years now and much earlier in the United States and other countries since women won their right to vote and to get elected to public office.
Women have been steadily encroaching on male territory by their invasion of government positions and private enterprise, business, scientific and other kinds of male endeavors. And they have achieved these through their proven abilities and competence. It was the women who created a new gender: the Unisex.
It is not unusual these days to have women wearing the pants in the family. In fact, it has become quite a job for many of us to distinguish between men and women – what with the long-haired men and the close-cropped women loose in the city streets. When the men started growing their manes, wearing necklaces and technicolor shirts, the women considered it an outrage and retaliated by wearing long pants, hot pants and T-shirts. Many American women even went to the extent of shedding of the bra. Now we can only hope that they don’t grow beards and moustaches.
Seriously though I am in favor of Women’s Lib as long as it does not rob women of their identity as such. Physically and emotionally, no woman can run away from being a woman. She still has a reserved place in the hearts of men. What will happen then if the day comes when men consider women their equal in everything like cracking dirty jokes with them or getting their feminine shoulders whacked by big masculine hands.
Of course, seeing a man giving up his seat to a woman in a bus or jeepney, or helping her across the street in heavy traffic is becoming a rare sight these days. The death of chivalry? Or the sign of total equality?
Up to now however there are still many fields off limits to women. We don’t find them in the mine pits or road construction gangs. And although we have WACS and nurses in the army, we still have to see them drafted and sent to fight a war. If Women’s Lib is to go this far, then I’d like to be excused. Because we have to look at it this way…. If the women decide to push their luck far out, what can stop the men from giving them men’s responsibilities such as digging wells, donning space suits, or staging commando raids in NPA strongholds? We still have to throw a wrench into that feminine machine which lets out a yell at the sight of a rat or a garden snake.
Definitely there are jobs and chores that men can be relied upon to do and which women can never be physically and emotionally qualified to undertake. Women’s Lib can be a dangerous venture for the average Filipina. It would do our local women well to stick to the old habits, customs and traditions. For no matter how our men revel at the new fads and fancy goings on in society, they still prefer the “mahinhin” type of woman.
Since I belong to the so-called “old school of thought”, I still choose to have my husband greet me with a kiss and a hug instead of a hearty thump on the behind with the words: Hiya Babe, what gives, huh?
Postscript
The recent decades have spared her generation the onslaught of the radical waves of Feminism and its offshoots of liberalism, the alphabet and trans movements. Although she was within the lifetime of Simone de Beauvoir and Germaine Greer, perhaps these names were not in Choleng’s reading list. Most of her books were non-fiction, among which was Pentimento by Lillian Hellman. She was also spared the challenge of figuring out, or even writing about the current memes, on pronouns, DEI and gender issues. It would have been interesting for her to define what a woman is. And give her two cents’ worth on women’s choices on family and career. These could have given her much material to offer her readers! She would have been on the same page with Alice von Hildebrand (1923-2022, a Belgian-born philosophy professor) who dedicated her work writing on Feminism.
The header shows the first women’s liberation movement march held on March 6, 1971. An estimated 4,000 men, women and children braved the sleet and snow to march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square in London. (Photograph: Tony McGrath/The Observer)
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.