23 March 2015 - The Philippine Consulate General in Agana, Guam celebrated Philippine National Women’s Month, and belatedly International Women’s Day, with a breakfast roundtable forum on March 19 at the Gallery of the Hilton Guam Resort and Spa.

The forum, which brought together a diverse group of outstanding women from all sectors of Guam society, featured prominent women leaders i Guam in a panel discussion. The panelists were Guam Attorney-General Elizabeth Barrett-Anderson; Ms. Maureen Maratita, publisher of Glimpses Publications; Ms. Linda Tolan, president of the Filipino Ladies Association of Guam and board member of the Guam International Authority; Ms. Eileen Agahan, executive director of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce; Ms. Atilana Rambayon, a former educator and humanitarian volunteer; and Dr. Shirley “Sam” Mabini, a former senator and now acting director of the Agency for Human Resource Development.

In his welcome remarks, Consul General Marciano R. de Borja highlighted the fact that the Philippines recently ranked ninth in the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index for 2014, which made it the best performing Asian country out of the 142 countries included in the report that measures women’s economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment.

Consul General de Borja contrasted the country’s recent strides in narrowing the gender gap with the experience of his mother who was born before the Second World War, when most women in the Philippines did not get the benefit of a formal education because during that time “women didn’t need one as their husbands will take care of their needs.”

That reality for women certainly seems far removed from the experiences of the more recent generation of women leaders and decision-makers both on the panel and in the audience even as one realizes that the experience of the Consul General’s mother was the norm less than 80 years ago.

While much had changed in the broader social context for women, the panel also drew attention to the fact that the situation for women is still far from ideal.

Attorney General Barrett-Anderson asked at one point who among the audience, which was composed almost entirely of women, knew what ERA stood for. Only those of a certain age, particularly those who were young professionals at the time, acknowledged that this referred to the struggle of women’s groups in the United States to pass an Equal Rights Amendment. The attorney general urged the audience to recognize that the fight is not over yet and that women must continue to assert their right to participate equally in society.

The other panel members also shared the challenges they faced being part of that pioneering generation of women who had to balance the demands of their work with their responsibilities as mothers and husbands.

Ms. Agahan, who represented younger women and women in business, said that the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce will continue its advocacy to enable women to have a greater role in the economic and business activity of Guam.

While it is generally recognized that greater participation of women in leadership positions generally benefits society as a whole, there is no broad appreciation as to why it is essential to continue efforts at enhancing the participation of women in decision-making roles.

To this point, Philippine Commission on Women Chairperson Remedios I. Rikken noted that, “women and men think differently (and) that’s why both of them should be in all the different levels of leadership, whether in civil society organizations, academe, bureaucracy or electoral politics. The world would be a better place when both of them speak and are heard and recognized and appreciated.”

The nearly 60 women guests who attended the event came from diverse backgrounds, including from media, healthcare, banking and finance, public service, education, film production and the arts, and business and entrepreneurship. END