So the pace of my research has slowed down a bit now that I'm traveling all around - I mean, I still have days where I'll interview 6 activists in a day, but they're far rarer than they were in Manila, and every now and again i wind up not interviewing any - I go to offices, chat with staff or directors, send emails and make calls, but end up at the end of the day with no new interviews recorded. I have to remind myself, after the breakneck pace of Manila, that it's okay to have days like that, as long as they aren't ALL like that. And they aren't, of course - I got another dozen interviews in the last week or so.
One thing that really came through in my interviews in the South was the importance of local governments. Of course, activists talked about this in Manila, too, but visiting Davao kind of drives it home. Davao is a big, progressive city in the south-east corner of Mindanao, which prides itself (seriously, every taxi driver was boasting) on being the cleanest, safest city in the Philippines... or so they claim. Fascinatingly, smoking is pretty much banned there - not allowed in ANY public spaces, with fierce fines if a cop catches you, and huge billboards everywhere reminding you that it's "BECAUSE WE CARE" (their caps). If this doesn't sound that fascinating to you, then pay a visit to Manila... because EVERYBODY smokes EVERYWHERE. Except on the light rail, I think. But everywhere else!
Anyway, Davao's father-and-daughter mayoral team (they just switch place between mayor and vice mayor. It's weird. Clan politics are weird. Wow, that was a nuanced and culturally sensitive comment, huh?) are very strong supporters of women's issues, and a few years back Davao passed a Women Development Code. It mandated the creation of a Integrated Gender and Development Office (still just a department now, but they're working on it) and also:
- Banned beauty pageants that involved any skimpy outfits, nudity or degrading acts
- Banned billboards degrading to women
- Mandated that all city employees be trained in gender sensitivity
- Required that all business provide reproductive health services to employees or risk losing their business license
- Mandated maternity leave of 6 months for women working for any employer
- Set up tax benefits for companies that provide child care
- Defines the feminist principles officials and police should follow when helping battered women. (First line: "Feminists maintain that violence and abuse are never appropriate in an intimate relationship.")
- and it keeps going! special sections for indigenous women and women with disabilities, recognition of the rights of lesbians, ways to improve access to education for older women, etc, etc. I was reading this thing and my jaw literally dropped and I said, "and this PASSED!?" It reads like a (second-wave?) feminist's pipedream. But it passed - and it appears, in many ways, to be fulfilling its stated goals.
I seriously could not believe that they managed to ban bikini contests, though. Can you imagine trying that back home? The libertarians would all have heart attacks.
Anyway, everybody I interviewed mentioned the fact that the local government provided a lot of support, including financially, to woman's organizations and woman's issues - and that if the smaller units of government (barangays) were resistant to, say, dedicating money for a Women and Children's Protection Desk (where battered wives and abused children can seek help at any time), the mayor's office will put pressure on them to comply with the law. In fact, the mayors here appear to be kind of despotic - rule with an iron fist and all - but they're despotic in favor of women, which frankly is a phrase I never expected to write.
Despotism aside, is it encouraging or discouraging that local governments can make so much of a difference? Little of both... it means that even if the national government doesn't pass, say, a reproductive health bill, communities can elect leaders who care about the issue and will make the absence of the national bill downright irrelevant. But on the other hand, it means that even if the nation has passed, say, a bill banning VAW (which they did - Republic Act 9262, 2004) the enforcement rests squarely on the local level, and a mayor or barangay captain who doesnt' care can make the presence of a national bill... downright irrelevant.
On the travel note, I kind of like the rainy season! Okay, there's one thing I don't like: My clothes NEVER DRY. NEVER. OMG. So that's annoying.
But the thunderstorms are so dramatic! And as long as I can find shelter, so much fun to watch! And they cool down the temperature, and add variety, and chase away the crowds. Friends, the rainy season is sweet!
And even cloudy days can be absolutely beautiful... for instance, when we visited Lake Cebu, it was a cloudy, rainy day - and I got mud all over myself to prove it, at one point - but it was also gorgeous. Amazingly gorgeous.
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