In time for the celebration of the 100th International Women’s Day and in the face of a presidential adviser’s admission that poverty in the country has worsened in the past nine years, Kilusang Mayo Uno–Women’s Department today said poverty has a woman’s face, that poverty impacts on poor Filipinas as a group in our society.

It has been 100 years since German left-wing leader Clara Zetkin proposed to the 1910 International Conference of Socialist Working Women that an international women’s day be organized to celebrate advances in working conditions that American women have achieved in their struggles.  

Meanwhile, presidential adviser on economic affairs and Albay governor Joey Salceda made headlines today in admitting poverty has increased under Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s stay in office. He also said that the wealthy families in the country became even wealthier within the same period. 

“It is worth reminding us on this day that poverty in the country has a woman’s face. When Joey Salceda talks about population increase as a factor that contributes to the country’s poverty, he invokes poor women who face the daily and hourly problem of feeding and sustaining children, who lack employment opportunities, and who are denied access to information about reproductive health and access to decent health services ,” said Nenita “Nitz” Gonzaga, KMU vice-president for women.

Gonzaga cited statistics from a survey conducted by research group Center for Women’s Resources that show how poor women are bearing the brunt of increasing poverty in the country. Almost 78% of the poor women surveyed said they take on additional jobs to augment the family’s decreasing income, while 47% said their family’s meals are the most affected by cost-cutting measures. 

“Poor and working-class Pinays are under enormous and increasing pressure in the context of the country’s worsening poverty. They are taking on more tasks in feeding and sustaining their children and family, while being maintained as subordinate in value to Filipino men,” said Gonzaga. 

“The plight of poor Pinays highlights the urgent necessity of persevering in the struggle for genuine social change – a struggle that enjoins their active participation as makers of history, and does not simply promise them the fruits of the struggle or regard them as mere cheerleaders in the making of history,” added Gonzaga.

“They are as such important participants in the struggle to smash the main enemies of Filipinos and Filipinas, which are also the main causes of the country’s poverty – US imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism,” Gonzaga concluded.