PHL Consulate General in Toronto Celebrates International Women’s Day with a Talk on the Women’s Movement

The officers and staff of the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto and its attached agencies celebrate International Women’s Day with a talk by Atty. Carolina S. Ruiz Austria entitled “Saying the ‘F word’ out loud… and proud: Celebrating the power and movements behind International Women’s Day.”

14 March 2018 TORONTO – The Philippine Consulate General in Toronto and its attached agencies marked International Women’s Day with a talk by Atty. Carolina S. Ruiz Austria entitled “Saying the ‘F word’ out loud… and proud: Celebrating the power and movements behind International Women’s Day”.

As an advocate for women’s rights, Atty. Ruiz Austria’s credentials are impressive. She currently teaches law and policy courses at the Women’s Studies Institute at the University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus. Before migrating to Canada, she practiced law as women’s human rights lawyer in the Philippines and was the founding executive director of Women’s Legal Education, Advocacy and Defense Foundation, Inc. (WOMENLEAD), a women’s human rights NGO and taught civil law I and gender and law at the University of the Philippines College of Law.  In 2007, she was a Women’s Rights LLM Fellow of the University of Toronto and received the women’s rights fellowship as SJD (Doctor of Juridical Science) candidate in law from 2009 to 2013, also from the same university.

In her talk, Atty. Ruiz Austria traced the origins of the feminist movement, dispelled the myths about feminism in general and talked about feminism from the global south. She also discussed examples of how class, race, ethnicity, nationality intersect with gender issues.

She also mentioned new developments in the feminist movement, noting that these movements may not necessarily be feminist-led but is largely feminist-influenced, such as the movement to redefine masculinity, the movement for institutional accountability as well as the #MeToo Movement. The latter “is a continuation of where the feminist movement in the 80’s and 90’s left off and is a reflection of the current state of feminist revival,” she said.

She noted that the following terms-gender mainstreaming, gender and development and gender analysis-have become part of the lingo of government but emphasized that more needs to be done to achieve gender equality. END

Atty. Carolina S. Ruiz Austria teaches law and policy courses at the Women’s Studies Institute at the University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus.

For more information, visit www.torontopcg.dfa.gov.ph / www.philcongen-toronto.com or https://www.facebook.com/PHinToronto.