Philippine E-Journals

THE FILIPINO WOMAN: A Gendered History

Hilton J. Aguja

Discipline: Feminism

 

Abstract:

This paper explores the historical, religious and philosophical underpinnings of how women have been relegated into the background in recent years by tracing the history of women in the Philippines. The respected status Filipino women enjoyed during the pre-Spanish Philippines were predicated on the notion of equality and partnership dictated by the social roles played by both men and women. Spanish conquest of the Philippines altered the hitherto existing social order. The Spanish imposed religion in the colony which had so much misogynistic ideas that demeaned women.