Halt to discrimination against women tackled

The House Committee on Women has now started deliberating on House Bill 3744 filed by Cebu 6th district Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz which seeks to eliminate discrimination against women in social institutions designed to provide social welfare and health care services for people in difficult situations, and lay down the standards for gender-responsive care.

The Committee on Women, headed by Rep. Josefina Joson of the 1st district of Nueva Ecija, has considered House Bill 3744 as a timely measure to fill the gaps in women's right legislation.

This as the country marks the 25th year of the ratification of the United Nations convention on elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.

To be known as the Empowerment of Women in Vulnerable Situation Act, the measure aims to adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach towards making essential goods, health and other welfare services available to all women free from discrimination.

In her bill, Soon-Ruiz pointed out that women are more exposed to indifference and maltreatment or abuse perpetrated by some service providers.

She added that social welfare and health offices as well as protection units for women and children, intentionally or without knowing, often add burden to the women in vulnerable situations through their insensitivity and failure to respond to women's gender- specific needs.

The committee's vice chairman, Rep. Ma. Milagros Magsaysay of the 1st district of Zambales who presided over the meeting, also said that discrimination against women really does exist.

Because although there are various provisions in national and international laws that uphold the protection of women's rights, the realization of a free and just society for women still remains to be seen, she said.

Magsaysay added that the unfair treatment and unequal opportunities accorded to women undermine their capacity for growth and advancement.

It has been noted that most women in vulnerable situations experience discrimination in health and social institutions such as orphanages, prisons or detention centers, homes for unwed mothers, home for the aged, and in hospitals where most pregnant women are reportedly told to "stop being baby mills". - Flor Z. Perolina