The Filipina Mom in Denmark

Today we celebrate the International Women’s Day and I thank all our fore Mothers in their effort to fight for women’s right which was unheard of more than 100 years ago.

In Copenhagen we celebrated 100 years of women’s right to vote in the local elections and it was celebrated for almost a year. I joined the celebration together with the Babaylan Denmark in the Copenhagen City Square but unfortunately I haven’t took any pictures since I cooked some food and sold it later . I prepared calderita ( a little bit spicy beef dish) and pancit canton (egg noodles with vegetables and my friend prepared lumpia (spring rolls and leche plan) and it was a big hit everythin was sold out while people watched the program and the open concert featuring the likes of Anne Linnet, Sanne Salomonsen and other famous danish women singers.
This year’s theme is Women and Men united to end violence against women and girls. The Women’s Council of Denmark is spearheading the demonstration in the Copenhagen City Hall Square against total ban of prostitution and afterwards there are severals debate and workshop about the topic.
According to the Women’s council there is an increade of 40% of prostitutes in Denmark in contrast to Norway and Sweden who impost ban on the sex trade. I’m support the ban because it I once had a friend who’s friend was a victim of human trafficking and was sold by her own sister who also in the same trade. It was horrifying just to hear the story and with the au pair problems we have here and the other part of worlds there were rumors that some au pairs are doing it. I don’t know it is true but it is still a big problem for the Philippine Government because of the au pair ban. They should tackle this problem since au pairs are also nameless OFW who sends money to families but when something happens to them then nobody can help them.

learn about human traficking in this link http://www.humantrafficking.org/countries/philippines

In Denmark International Women’s Day is still called International Women’s Fight Dag (or according to Google translate it is Struggle) as it was in the start of the movement. Women in old times just like in any other countries don’t have any right to vote, to study and so on. But in 1910 in Copenhagen there was a International Conference of Working Women who agreed to celebrate a common day of Women’s Day all over the world to make a big impact of the women’s issue if it done globally. The 100 participants in 17 countries unanimously agreed and thus the present celebration started in 1911.
The Philippines theme is Babae, Yaman ka ng Bayan (Woman, Your are the treasure of the country). This recognizes women’s part in nation building which is so relevant in this time of financial crisis. Filipinas comprises the big bulk of migrant workers in Europe there are nurses, doctors, caregivers, domestic helpers, and other professions. How about the womens or wives of Filipino Overseas workers who are left behind to take care of the children and manage the income sent by their husband. These are the Filipinas are important resource to help to improve the reduction of poverty by creating a various activities like entrepreneurial summit for Women. In this times of financial needs we all need to learn how to help our spouses to cope with the crisis and in a way contributes to the country’s economy.

Know more about the Filipina Womens Role in the website of National Commision on Th e Role of Filipina Women

Read my post here about gender gap

Filipina women ahead of the danish women in closing gap on Gender equality

Today women can vote, study and become CEOs but the fight is not over. Here in the Denmark where we have a Ministry of Equality there is still inequalities in the rate of salaries when you’re a woman and a few women In top office. Why because when you’re a woman you give birth which means longer maternal leave. Maybe we have PMS so sometimes we have humor changes.

But these are all minor problems when it comes to the third world countries like violence of women, high maternal mortality rate because they on’t ge the right medical supervision under pregnancy, and still a lot mention.

So I think celebrating the International Women’s Day is still relevant so the world will know that women are still not considered equal to men in many countries. And the women who achieved freedom continue to fight for others who are not allowed or who don’t know that they have the same rights as men.

Well, Anyway Happy International Women’s Day!