Philippine Women Centre of BC
Vancouver, B.C

Filipino Women Take Inspiration From the Past and Take Action For the Future!

As overseas Filipino women in British Columbia, we join women around the world as we take to the streets to honor and commemorate March 8, International Working Women's Day.

We take inspiration from the brave women from the garment factories in New York ninety-five years ago who dared to fight for better working conditions under widespread capitalist exploitation and oppression. We take further inspiration from the brilliant and bold history of the women 's movement in the Philippines.

We remember the militant women's bureau of the Katipunan in the Philippines that fought side-by-side with Filipino men against Spanish colonialism. We hail the women who joined the resistance during the Philippine-American War. We cry out for justice for our comfort women who were victims of sexual slavery under Japanese Imperialism during World War II. We join in the determination of the women's movement in the Philippines, led by GABRIELA, a national alliance of women's organizations, to resist U.S. imperialism in all its forms.

With the deepening socio-economic crisis in the Philippines under the current U.S.-Arroyo regime and seen through the rising costs of the most basic commodities such as rice, electricity, and gas, alongside increasing state repression and deepening US military intervention (with over 4,000 U.S. troops in the country), Filipino women and their families face an ever-worsening situation.

Amidst such abject poverty and social dislocation, it is no wonder that 3,000 Filipinos (65% of which are women) are forced to leave the Philippines everyday in search of survival abroad in receiving countries like Canada. The Filipino community is actually the fourth largest immigrant community in Canada. However, despite being skilled and educated, Filipinos are amongst the lowest paid workers.

Many Filipino women come as domestic workers under the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) while others come as mail-order brides and settle mostly in rural areas of Canada. We are witness to the continuum of poverty Filipino women face even after they leave the Philippines. Upon arrival in Canada, many of these women are subjected to de-skilling and non-recognition of their professional training and education. Over time, they continue to be mired in low income, service-oriented jobs with hardly any prospects of upward mobility.

Thus, the relative poverty and disempowerment that many tried to escape from in the Philippines follow them abroad. The LCP's three main pillars of mandatory live-in, temporary immigrant status, and restrictive one-employer work visa authorization, set the foundation for rampant abuse, exploitation and oppression of these women. Those under the LCP (93 % of whom are Filipino women) face long hours of work, non-payment of wages, physical, verbal and sexual abuse, de-skilling from their profession, long separation from loved ones...the list goes on and on.

While we take inspiration from the militant women's struggles of the past, today we transform that inspiration into action. We must continue to expose and oppose the policies and actions of the Philippine government that cause our forced migration.

We must participate in public policy engagement to ensure our community's development and empowerment. We must continue to educate, organize and mobilize our community to change our current situation and link our struggle in Canada with the struggle of Filipinos for social and national liberation. We must never forget that nothing can be achieved without struggle and resistance.

As Filipino women fought against Spanish colonialism, and garment factory working women dared to fight capitalism all those years ago, so must we continue our struggle against imperialism and demand an end to the exploitation and oppression of people the world over.

Long live the struggle for women's liberation!
Support the Filipino people's struggle for national liberation!
Long live the people's struggle against exploitation and oppression!
Down with imperialism! March 8, 2005 .