There are millions of women of strong mind and heart that have achieved personal freedom, found success and achievement by their determination and courage to thwart the insults and hindrances of males who continue to cling to the notoriously ridiculous notion that they are superior to women and should have more power, positions, privileges and higher pay. It is this attitude of male dominance that poses one of the greatest challenges to women in fighting for equality and justice in the world today.
Women are among the most successful businesspeople in the world and it is working mothers who work hard and long hours for little pay to support millions of single-mother families. Penguins are more faithful husbands than many men.
The abandoned working women bravely struggle to survive with their children. This week, we found Jemma, a 35-year-old mother of seven small children whose 13-year-old child was sexually abused by her third live-in partner. She is uneducated and has to work as live-in house help for a rich family and leave her kids with a neighbour, hungry and neglected.
Help will be provided now. Not only on the factory floor, but in the highest level of business management, women are not only conspicuously absent but they are on average paid less than men doing the same job. The BBC China editor, Carrie Gracie, quit over a pay dispute when it was revealed that she was being paid much less than her male counterparts. A culture of gender inequality was at work, she said. A finding later revealed that men are being paid 9.3 percent more than women.
Women have achieved great triumphs in sports and endurance achievements.
I recently mentioned the young 22-year-old English woman who recently rowed a boat singlehanded across the Atlantic in 70 days. In tennis, unequal gender pay was, and still is, notorious in many sports today.
Famed tennis champion, Billie Jean King, threatened to boycott the 1973 United States Open tennis tournament unless the prize money for women was equal as that of the men. She won and the male-dominated sports surrendered and the organisers capitulated. At the Miami Open championship, she said: “Everyone thinks women should be thrilled when we get crumbs and I want women to have the cake, the icing and the cherry on top, too.”
The abandoned working women bravely struggle to survive with their children. This week, we found Jemma, a 35-year-old mother of seven small children whose 13-year-old child was sexually abused by her third live-in partner. She is uneducated and has to work as live-in house help for a rich family and leave her kids with a neighbour, hungry and neglected.
However, the English Wimbledon Tennis Club did not pay equal prize money until a fracas and protest arose that forced them to close the gender prize money gap only in 2007 no less. However, in 2015, at the tennis championship tournament in Ohio, the prize money for women was less than that for men.
Roger Federer was paid $5.6 million while Serena Williams received only $3.8 million.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
Today, the struggle and campaign for equality, rights, respect and human dignity of women goes on because their rights are not universally respected. They have become stronger, more vocal and empowered in recent years where the exposure of abuse is on the centre state with the #MeToo movement and the successful campaigns against child sexual abuse.
In past years, it was taboo; the no-talk culture of silence instilled fear in almost every woman and child who suffered abuse. It is only many years later that men or women have found the strength and opportunity to speak out. It is usually when one bravest of all steps up and complains.
We must give women and children the opportunity to tell their truth and share their story and give help and support. Everyone with a heart and compassion for the abused have to be also strong and open to accept and understand, ready to listen and believe the story and complaint. Public awareness campaigns are vital in further changing the attitude of the public to realise that there is massive abuse of women and children—especially at this time of Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic when many are forced to live in lockdown.
The education of boys and men in values that respect girls and women is vital. They must be taught that their own value and dignity as a human being and role in family and society is rooted in the respect for the dignity of females.
In 2017, the National Demographic and Health Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority found that one in every four Filipino women and children aged between 15 and 49 has experienced physical, emotional or sexual violence from abusers or husband or partner. Victims of child sexual abuse, if left untreated, are left traumatized, growing up in fear of rape and sexual abuse.
That is why intervention, protection, healing and empowerment therapy is so important. At every level of social status, rich, middle class, poor, besides formal education, there has to be additional human rights training for boys and girls from the earliest age in human dignity and equality.
Women have to be empowered economically by having skills training and small business opportunities and thus be enabled to take control over their lives. The economic power of women is essential for changing inequality and the injustice in societies where women are treated unfairly and regulated to lower status than males.
Money talks and in community-based Grameen loaning schemes, it is the women who are mostly given the loans. They are considered stronger, more reliable in repaying, wiser in using the loans and more caring of the needs of the children. Having money empowers women and gives them status and respect in the community and in their families.
The education of boys and men in values that respect girls and women is vital. They must be taught that their own value and dignity as a human being and role in family and society is rooted in the respect for the dignity of females.
We need to take action by having a gentle, friendly chat with children asking if anything bad ever happened to them and offering to help. Listening with affirmation and understanding is opening a door for a child to share her story of abuse. Then, get help immediately.
You can call or text information to Philippine number +63 917 532 4453 or email me at shaycullen@gmail.com. We will direct immediate help wherever the child is and get professional help to him or her. Everyone must do their part to save abused women and children.
Father Shay Cullen
www.preda.org
