In celebration of National Women’s Month, SPARK! Philippines, the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines, the Finnish Embassy in Manila, the Irish Embassy Manila, Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc., and Telus International have come together to organize #Women2022: Women Take Charge, a weekly event that gathers women thought leaders from multiple fields to exchange views and share their knowledge on a wide range of issues that affect women’s active, effective and productive participation in nation-building and global progress. The four plenary conversations will provide an opportunity to discuss concerns ranging from women’s vulnerability to COVID-19 infection to the impact of the pandemic on women’s labor migration experience and from the significance of women’s involvement in crafting policies on disaster risk reduction to enriching talks on sexual activities as a vital discourse on women empowerment.
“It is important to understand that the COVID-19 pandemic did not only create additional problems that directly affected women negatively but also intensified the existing ones. Therefore, we continually hold conversations that are based on the intersectional identities of women to expose issues that would not be possible if we only see women as a homogenous group,” SPARK! Philippines Executive Director Maica Teves explained.
In the first roundtable discussion on March 10, entitled Women and the Pandemic, the guests are Dr. Beverly Lorraine Ho, Director for Health Promotion Bureau and Disease Prevention and Control Bureau of the Department of Health, Dr. Frauke Renz, Engagement Manager of McKinsey & Company, Lorelie Quiambao-Osial, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, and Sandra Sanchez Montano, Chairperson of the Philippine Commission on Women. The event examines the level of exposure of women to getting infected by the COVID-19, the reasons for being more susceptible to it, and the interventions that organizations can come up with to address the problem.
Scheduled on 15 March, Women and Sex is an attempt to normalize conversations on sex, sexuality, and sexual rights and health of women in order to help women decide for their bodies and reject hetero-patriarchal invented expectations on women that are harmful and further reinforcing gender inequality. Hosts Isabelle Diaz Daza and Ava Diaz Daza of The Sexy Podcast, Advocate Kristine Chan of SheDecides, and Chief Business and Medical Officer of HealthNow Dr. Chelsea Elizabeth Samson will serve in the panel of discussants.
Identifying women’s issues during typhoons, storm surges, monsoon rains, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes is the focus of Women and Natural Hazards on 22 March. In this conversation, the roster of speakers includes the Co-Founder of Curiosity Design Research Pamela Gloria Cajilig, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in a Humanitarian Governance Project Dr. Kaira Alburo-Cañete, Needlab founder Sameera Chukkapalli, and Lea Ivy Manzanero from Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
On 29 March, Women and Migration will serve as the culminating event of the #Women2022 conversations which will be led by the International Organization for Migration through the UN agency’s Head of Programmes Troy Dooley. The discussion centers on the conditions of Filipino women migrant workers in the time of the pandemic and efforts that can be improved and maximized to assist them.
The weekly event will be broadcasted on SPARK! Philippines’ Facebook page. For more information, please contact Mikaela Luisa Teves at +63 917 751 3000 or e-mail info@sparkphilippines.org. You may also visit SPARK! Philippines on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.