Gender, Sexuality, and the Law

• This module discusses political and legal perspectives on gender and sexuality
• It aims to determine laws affecting women, identify women's rights, analyze the laws' impact, discuss WID, WAD, and GAD, and examine LGBTQ+ rights and related discrimination

Key Definitions

• Anti-Discriminatory Bill: Proposed Philippine legislation against SOGIE-based discrimination in economic and public accommodations
• Development: A process of growth and advancement
• Due Process: The government's obligation to respect legal rights, ensuring fair and equal laws/proceedings
• Equal Protection: Requires equal treatment for similarly situated individuals regarding rights and responsibilities
• Gender and Development (GAD): Developed in the 1980s, focuses on improving women's reproductive and productive capacities and stems from socialist-feminist ideology
• Magna Carta of Women: The main law enshrining all the rights of women and their roles in building the nation
• Nation Building: Collaborative national development efforts
• Protection Orders: Orders issued by the Barangay or courts to distance a perpetrator from a victim
• Public Crime: A crime against society, enabling anyone with knowledge to file a VAWC (Violence Against Women and Children) case

Foundations

• The 1987 Philippine Constitution serves as the fundamental law
• Women and Development aims to improve women's positions by increasing access to the productive sector
• Women in Development emerged in the 1960's, projects addressing women's issues

Women and the Law in the Philippines

• The 1986 People Power Revolution led to a progressive Constitution with gender equality at its core
• Article II Section 14 recognizes women's role in nation-building and ensures equality before the law
• Unequal gender relations are addressed through women's representation in the legislature via a party-list system (20% of lower house seats)
• Article 13 Section 14 mandates the State to protect working women by providing safe working conditions and maternal support

Laws Promoting Gender Equality

• Local Government Code of 1991 allows for women's sectoral representation in local councils
• Party List Law enables the creation of women-based political parties, recognizing women as one of the nine sectors
• Labor Code (1989) includes provisions like night work facilities for women, and prohibitions against gender-based discrimination
• Republic Act 7192 (1991), the Women in Nation Building Law, integrates women into development and nation-building by allocating government resources and removing gender bias
• A minimum of 5% to 30% of official development funds were mandated to be allocated by all agencies in mainstreaming gender concerns

Additional Laws

• 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law: Grants Filipino women land ownership rights
• Republic Act 7688 (1994): Provides women representation in the Social Security Commission
• RA 7877 (1995): Anti-Sexual Harassment Law, unlawful in employment, education, and training
• Republic Act 7822 (1995): Assists women in micro and cottage businesses
• Republic Act 8353 (1997): Expands the definition of rape, reclassifying it as a crime against persons

National Programs and Initiatives

• Philippine Plan for Gender Responsive Development (1995-2025): Action commitments from the Beijing World Conference on Women provides a monitoring framework
• Gender and Development Budget (GAD): Integrates gender concerns into the government's development agenda by allocating 5% of the budget to gender-responsive activities

Framework Plan

• Framework Plan for Women (FPW): Focuses on women's economic empowerment, human rights, and gender-responsive governance
• It addresses concrete gender issues, sets targets and indicators, names programs, and sets up monitoring tools

Women's Right to Participate

• Women gained the right to vote in 1937 due to the 1935 Constitution, after a national plebiscite with over 300,000 votes from women
• Concepcion Felix de Calderon, Rosa Sevilla de Alvero, Trinidad Almeda, Pura Villanueva Kalaw and Paz Mendoza Guazon, Pilar Hidalgo Lim and Josefa Llanes Escoda were women activists in the Philippines involved in pushing for women's right to vote

Women's Involvement

• Women participate in civil society through gender-specific organizations and all-women groups such as GABRIELA, UKP, KILOS KABARO, and SIBOL Legislative Network
• The "Philippine NGO Beijing Score Board" monitors the government's implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action

R.A. 9710 (Magna Carta for Women)

• Defines discrimination for women, and protects and promotes women’s rights
• Signed into law on August 14, 2009, by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo

Magna Carta Definition: Discrimination

• Gender-based distinction that impairs women's rights
• Exclusion of women from rights and opportunities
• Failure to address gender-based disadvantages that restricts women's rights
• Discrimination compounded by ethnicity, age, poverty, or religion

Salient Provisions

• "All rights in the Constitution"
• Ratified international instruments protect women's rights, without discrimination
• Incremental increase in women's recruitment and training in law enforcement for gender-related offenses by 50% in 5 years
• Fifty-fifty gender balance for women in 3rd level government positions in 5 years
• Violence Against Women's Desks in every barangay
• Abolishing all practices that restrict women to only noncombat jobs
• Women in the military must be accorded the same promotional privileges and opportunities as men
• Special leave benefit of two months with full pay for gynecological surgery after 6 months of employment

R.A. 9262 (Violence Against Women and Their Children Act)

• Passed on 2004
• Also known as the Anti-VAWC Act
• Was a result of women's human rights advocacy, protects women from abuse, discrimination, and violence

Important Features

• Physical, psychological, sexual, and economic violence against women
• VAWC: A public crime, allowing anyone with knowledge to file a complaint
• Protection orders may be issued to keep a victim safe
• Requires community mechanisms to respond to violence

Anti-VAWC Law Protection Orders:

• These aim to prevent violence and safeguard the victim:
• Prohibition of threats or commission of acts penalized by the law
• Prohibition of harassment, annoying and communications
• Removal of the respondent from the petitioner's residence
• Directing the respondent to stay away from the petitioner and family at a court specified distance
• Directing lawful repossession of car and personal items
• Granting temporary, or permanent custody of any children to the petitioner
• Directing provision of support to woman and/or child
• Prohibition of the use or possession of deadly weapons and any license to order him to surrender
• Includes damages for medical expenses, loss of income etc
• Sheltering for anyone in need

Rights of Victim-Survivors

• Victim-survivors are entitled to respect and dignity and may seek legal recourse from the Public Attorney's Office, Department of Justice, or legal aid office
• Also entitled to support from the DSWD and LGUs, legal remedies under the Family Code, and information about protection orders

National and Local Government Duties

• Section 39 of RA 9262 mandates the Inter-Agency Council on Violence Against Women and their Children (IAC-VAWC)
• LAC-VAWC formulates gender-sensitive programs and capability-building for employees

IAC-VAWC Members

• The DSWD
• Civil Service Commission
• Commission on Human Rights
• Council for the Welfare of Children
• Department of Health
• Department of Education
• Department of Labor and Employment
• National Bureau of Investigation

Section 47 Barangay Duties

• Educate citizens on violence against women and children and Republic Act No. 9262
• Implement violence prevention programs
• Prioritize and develop programs for women
• Involve women in barangay programs
• Implement anti-VAWC desks with 24-hour availability
• Conduct gender sensitivity seminars and record keeping

Women in Development (WID)

• By the 1970s, focused on excluding of women from development programs
• Improve women's access to resources and integration into development programs
• Increased visibility of women's issues
• The UN declared 1975 to 1985 as the decade for Women
• Served as starting point for including women in development

Women and Development (WAD)

• Emerged in the 1970s from WID criticism, adopting a Marxist feminist approach
• States women had always been part of development, and important economic actors
• Integrations had only sustained global inequalities

WAD Core Tenants

• Interactions between women and development
• Focused on the unfair distribution of wages
• Underplays the role of patriarchy in undermining women’s development

Gender and Development (GAD)

• Rose in prominence during the 1980’s
• Ensures women and men both benefit equally from development
• Is not concerned with women exclusively
• Social relations allot specific roles, responsibilities, and expectations between the genders
• Focuses social or gender relations like the division of labor
• Focuses issues of access and control over resources and power

Practical Approaches: Welfare Approach

• Until the 1970s, welfare focused on reproductive roles and population control
• Women increasingly identified with backwardness and the traditional

Equality Approach

• Main aim was to eliminate discrimination
• Contributions and productivity were revalued
• Women saw active participants

Anti-Poverty Approach

• Emphasized satisfying needs, income, and women’s productivity, while ignoring women

Efficiency Approach

• Aims to increase production and economic growth with an emphasis on the full use of human resources
• Understanding men's and women's roles helps improve effectiveness and ensures women participate in national development

Empowerment Approach

• The approach aims to increase women's self reliance
• Main strategy is the raising of awareness, and to ensure change takes place
• Instrumental in helping women determine their needs

Laws and Policies on Violence and Discrimination of the Members of LGBTQ+

• The 1987 Constitution values human dignity and "guarantees full respect for human rights"
• It includes due process and equal protection which protects all members of the LGTBQ+

Equal Rights

• The 2010 Supreme Court ruling in the "Ang Ladlad" case considered the coverage of the Constitution's equal protection clause
• The court ruled that general laws apply equally to LGBTs, allowing their participation in the party-list system

Violence Figures

• 41 transgender murders have been reported in the country since 2008

Anti-Bullying Act of 2013 (Republic Act 10627)

• Includes gender-based bullying as a prohibited and punishable act
• Humiliates due to actual sexual orientation

Child Protection Policy 2012

• Protects students from any from of violence regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity

Special Protection of Children

• Parents of children who suffer abuse can be charge due to RA 7610
• Can cover instances of physical or psychological injury, or cruelty depending SOGIE

LGBTQ+ Rights in Workplace

• The Labor Code of the Philippines (PD 442), does not contain discrimination laws besides ones for women
• Equal opportunity but hard for the members of the LGBTQ+
• No national law that does not protect them regarding gender identity

Anti-Sexual Harassment

• The Civil Service Commission policy includes prohibiting "derogatory remarks or innuendoes" against members of one's sex, sexual orientation
• Civil servants are able to rely on generic protection remarks

Conclusion

• Court upheld adults' right to privacy and included the right to have sexual relations in the confines of their private lives
• "Had simply let nature take its course and has not taken unnatural steps to arrest or interfere with what he was born with"