Everyone rejoiced in the news that three Silliman law graduates were among the Top 10 Bar passers this year.
And for those of us in the women’s movement, the fact that eight of the Top 10 were women was especially cheering.
This re-affirms the Philippine reality of growing gender equality in many liberal professions, and of women’s will to participate in and make contributions to social, economic and political life.
Such present achievements, however, can make us forget that the concept of women’s equality is new in human history.
William Blackstone, one of the “fathers” of English law in the 18th century, famously said, “Husband and wife are one person in law, that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during marriage…”
Or that there were laws on wife-beating as a husband’s prerogative: In Villefranche in the 14th century, a man was allowed to beat his wife “as long as death does not ensue.”
In the Philippines, the Animal Welfare Act was passed long before a domestic violence law made abuse of a wife or woman in intimate relations a crime!
So a long and hard fight had to happen (and must continue today) to win rights, and particularly freedom from all forms of discrimination and abuse.
Sadly, there remain many areas of disadvantage and exploitation of women that NGOs like Gender Watch against Violence & Exploitation (GWAVE) see daily.
There is a French saying about the law allowing access to many things (La loi mí¨ne a tout…) and in fact, the law is often the basis for political careers, success in business, public interest advocacies and action, and many other areas of endeavor, quite apart from the legal profession itself.
Over the years, GWAVE, the NGO that provides free legal assistance for disadvantaged women, has been happy to have women (and the occasional male) law students as volunteers and interns, some of whom went on to become in-house or retained lawyers for GWAVE cases.
The present executive director, a lawyer, started out as a law student volunteer, and four other staff are law graduates.
In the women’s movement, there is an approach to the law called “feminist lawyering.” This means there is a recognition that the law is itself an arena of struggle for a number of reasons, among them: there are remaining areas of gender inequality in certain laws; patriarchal or “macho” attitudes and behaviors mostly inculcated by the colonial experience; and the many ways that capitalism turns women into sexual merchandise.
“Feminist lawyering” is social activism with a bias for rights and gender equality that should redound to a sounder and more progressive society as a whole.
So the news about more women achievers in the law is really good news. Perhaps some of them will make their practice of the law an instrument for progress.
Warmest congratulations to all the Bar topnotchers, but most especially to the eight women among them!
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Author’s email: h.cecilia7@gmail.com
