National Women's Month

 

                Women's Month Celebration has since served as a venue to highlight women's achievements and discuss continuing and emerging women's empowerment and gender equality issues and concerns, challenges, and commitments.

                We celebrate women trailblazers in politics, governance, and other areas of public service and development efforts, especially during the pandemic. Women from all walks of life have in their own way shown leadership and compassion in the delivery of inclusive, innovative, and effective responses to the pandemic. In every family, every barangay, every island of the nation, and every small or big organization, we have Juanas who takes the role of solution providers, peacemakers, and trendsetters during these difficult times. The skills and talents that women have should be further harnessed by empowering and providing them spaces that enable their meaningful participation in planning and decision making at various levels. Women’s strength and resilience, we also recognize that this health crisis has its gendered impacts that we cannot neglect. We saw women bearing the brunt of intensive domestic work, women and girls striving to adjust to the new normal like online classes, women being in the frontlines battling the pandemic, women entrepreneurs losing their businesses, women workers facing pay cuts or entirely losing their job, experiencing different forms of violence during the implementation of quarantine measures. All these also take a toll on their mental health.

                I am one with all women in their efforts to promote gender equality and women empowerment, and to protect the rights of women the world over. Equality and development of women, to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.