Philippine Women Centre of Ontario

Press release

PWC’s Young Women’s Collective launches first community-based women’s studies program
For immediate release: June 17, 2009

June 17, 2009 (Toronto, ON) – The Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON), along with its newly formed Young Women’s Collective, is launching “Towards Filipino Women’s Liberation: a community-based Filipino women’s studies program.” This program, which will consist of ten three-hour sessions, marks the first ever community-based Filipino women’s studies program in PWC-ON’s history. Modeled after the Philippine Women Centre of BC’s own community-based Filipino women’s studies program, these courses will examine the root causes of Filipino women’s migration through the study of political, social and economic forces – both historical and contemporary – that frame Filipino women’s experience.

As Filipino women comprise over 70 percent of Filipino migrants and immigrants in Canada, the need for understanding the role of Filipino women in the community’s struggle for settlement and integration becomes more pressing and vital. The increasing feminization of labour and migration is especially evident in the Live-in Caregiver Program, a program that is comprised of 96 percent of Filipino women. And as Filipino women in Canada continue to be relegated to the brunt of Canada’s labour market, working within the service sector, factory or domestic work spheres, despite having proper educational and work credentials from the Philippines, the need to educate the community towards the empowerment of Filipino women becomes a crucial step towards action.

Not only do Filipino women and women of colour experience oppression from race and class, they experience the three-fold oppression of racism, classism and sexism found within a white patriarchal society. Coming together as women from different backgrounds to relate through common experiences and issues thus becomes strength against oppression. Recognizing the unique experiences of individual women yet finding strength within a collective setting is one of the motivations behind establishing a community-based Filipino women’s studies program, and also behind the formation of PWC-ON’s Young Women’s Collective. Young female members of the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC/FCYA-ON) saw the need to organize as young women to tackle specific issues, just as the community-based Filipino women’s studies program aims to develop a strengthened women’s perspective in tackling the community’s issues.

Towards Filipino Women’s Liberation: a community-based Filipino women’s studies program aims to accomplish the following objectives:

• To deepen the understanding of women’s history and current situation from the perspectives of Filipino women
• To analyze and understand women’s marginalization, oppression and exploitation within the context of globalization
• To develop tools to reconceptualize the women’s movement from the perspective of Filipino women in Canada

The program description includes:

• Ten three-hour sessions on the theory and practice of women’s history, struggle and resistance for and by Filipino women
• Filipino men and women are welcome to participate
• Participants will integrate into the community to understand the situation of women in different sectors through a community-based research
• Learning and teaching will also include Filipino cultural resources and multimedia techniques

The course outline is as follows:

1. Course orientation (June 21st, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)
2. Precolonial and colonial histories, US and neocolonial histories (June 28th, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)
3. Women’s methodologies (July 12th, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)
4. History of migration and current history (July 19th, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)
5. Context of the woman question (July 26th, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)
6. Context of globalization (August 9th, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)
7. Context of transnational issues (August 16th, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)
8. Intersectional analysis – race, class and gender (August 23rd, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)
9. Community-based Filipino women activists (August 30th, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)
10. Project presentations, evaluations (September 6th, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM)

Speakers and resource persons will include members of the Filipino community, as well as PWC’s own members. The first out of the ten three-hour sessions will begin on June 21, 2009 at 12:00 noon. A $20 fee for course materials will be required, to be paid upon the program’s commencement. Those who are interested in participating can register by e-mailing pwc-on@magkaisacentre.org, or by contacting Alleben Purugganan or Kim Abis at (416) 519-2553.