When global women politicians meet - From The Stands

During the last three days, some of the world's high-powered women political leaders and astute academicians shared expertise, experiences and insights at the Philippine International Con-vention Center. If only our male politicians had been around to sit in on their meetings, they might have picked up a few lessons on the right ways to govern and lead. At the talks and panel discussions, the speakers and discussants expressed such methods of transparency, integrity, honesty, and efficiency to run good governments-- qualities which appear to be sorely lacking in leaders and politicians in the forum's host country.

The speakers were headed by former President Corazon Aquino; Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former Sen. Leticia R. Shahani of the Philippines; Dr. Wan Azizzah wan Ismail, member of the Malaysian Parliament; Winnie Byanyuima of Uganda; and Margareta Winberg, minister of agriculture and minister for gender equality of Sweden. Among the academicians were Dr. Janes Bayes of California State University, Dr. Nancy Harstsock of the University of Seattle, and Dr. Mary Hawkesworth of Rutgers University.

Non-politicians spoke, too. The most successful Filipino entrepreneur in the US, Loida Nicolas, delivered a spiel about running a multi-million dollar business wisely. Educators, too, such as Dr. Lourdes Quisumbing, Dr. Patricia B. Licuanan, former Secretary of Labor Nieves Confesor, and Dr. Aurora Javate de Dios. An interesting piece on expectations of governors by the governed was given by lawyer Lorna Kapunan-Patajo of the Women's Business Council. Strategies were being drawn up as I typed this piece on the forum which was convened by Irene Santiago, former executive director of Unifem and vice president partner of Sen. Raul Roco in the last presidential election.

Mrs. Aquino's speech was more than woman-friendly than ever before, as far as I can remember. She noted that the present-day economic crisis has paralyzed many of the world's governments due to "unmanageable levels of external debt and structural adjustment programs." Armed conflicts "continue to displace people in large numbers, rip families apart and destroy and degrade the government," and in many developing countries, families are run by single parents while their partners toil in another country "in order to make ends meet."

"It is a brave new world that we are facing and it will take more than the garden-variety political leader to effectively handle the vast problems that we face, with wisdom sensitivity and compassion," she said.

She said that five years after Beijing, the women's agenda "has yet to be regarded as a priority by many governments." In the Philippines, as in some developed nations in the North, "women still labor under traditional biases, in employment, in promotions, and in salaries that they take home. Their access to employment is limited by the traditional attitudes that women belong to the home, that their work, if ever, is merely auxiliary, marginal and dispensable."

Mrs. Aquino mentioned inequalities between women and men in terms of pay for the same work, positions of power and promotions.

"It seems that it is only when women take matters into their own hands that they are able to secure their rights and privileges as full human beings, equal partners of the menfolk. Our foremothers showed this when they campaign for the right to vote. It is up to the women who are in positions of power and responsibility to push for the quality that women aspire for and deserve."

"Women are natural candidates for positions of leadership -- in business, in the academe, in civil society, in politics," Mrs. Aquino said. "We, who are the keepers of the values of the family and of society, should not leave the important task of leadership in the political sphere to the men alone. It is a job men and women can and should do together, in complementarity, just like they should in the home."

Vice President Macapagal, also on opening day, stressed the necessity of transparency under a practicing democracy: "Practicing democracy means promoting accountability and transparency in decision-making. It means pursuing reforms aimed at stamping out graft and corruption both in the public sector and in the corporate sector. Such reforms are essential to balance globalization. They must include even aspects of the public sector that are not traditionally considered economic agencies. For instance, a corrupt and ill-equipped police force only gives life to criminality which dampens productive activities. Indeed, in the government sector, fostering efficiency and reducing corruption are basic though difficult reforms to undertake."

"The path to sustained development is now more tricky in the global millennium," she said. "But if the women political leaders assert our participation in the democratic space that our fellow women like President Cory Aquino have won for us, we may still find for our people abundant opportunities to bring us closer to the goal of democracy, which is the greatest good for the greatest number."