Women at work

Empowering just one wo-man can make all the difference to the prosperity and well-being of a whole family. At the TESDA Women’s Center (TWC), it’s all about helping women help themselves–regardless of age, educational backgrond, economic or civil status.

Helping women "has a multiplier effect on the family," says Cecilia Dizon, who heads the center’s research and advocacy division. Social science experts believe that helping a woman learn a craft or go into business can result in the improvement of her whole family’s financial and economic status.

The center welcomes all women aged 18 to 50 years who have completed high school education. If they pass the qualifying exam and interview, they can go for six months’ training in one of nine courses: welding; general automotive mechanics; decorative ceramics; jewelry-making; consumer electronics; dressmaking; food processing; gifts, toys and housewares; hotel housekeeping and guest room maintenance; food and beverage services; or food preparation.

Women can also take up short-term programs on how to handle their own finances as well as on how to start and maintain a business.

Novalyn Malacad, 20, took up consumer electronics last year and now works as a production operator at Hitachi, a company that makes hard disk drives. She found out about the TWC’s free training through an announcement posted on the bulletin board of the Iglesia ni Cristo church she attends.

"I am so lucky. I only had to pay for the cost of my uniform and my id," says Novalyn, who finished high school but had no money to continue on to college. She first applied at the TWC when she was 17, and came back again when she turned 18, and was accepted.

She says her TWC trainor told her about the job openings at the appliance manufacturing firm Hitachi, which is based Biñan, Laguna. She started out as a contractual employee, and was later regularized and now earns a daily wage of P250.

Asked about her future plans, Novalyn’s voice breaks. "Balak ko mag-aral ulit (I plan to study some more)," she says, adding that her cousins in Bicol may also avail of TWC’s free training soon.

Elena Lao, 50, retired from her job at a bank and availed of the TWC’s free training in jewelry-making about two years ago.

Though she now works as a financial consultant at Trulife UK, she supplements her income by selling beaded and silver jewelry to former officemates.

"I’ve always been interested in fashion," she says.

Elena laughs when she reveals that she makes her jewelry for "stress relief" from 6 p.m. to 12 midnight. Part of the fun, she says, is buying the semiprecious stones from her suki Muslim vendors. She then crafts these into earrings, bracelets and other items of jewelry.

As for Elena’s line of silver jewelry, her bad eyesight prevents her from actually working on the pieces.

"I ask somebody to do it for me," she says, noting that she supervises the whole process of melting and forming the silver based on her designs.

Loreta Taradel, who took up the TWC’s course in gifts, toys and houseware crafting last year, delights in being an entrepreneur.

"Ang pagbenta ng mga produkto ko ay sa KKK–kaibigan, kapitbahay, at kamag-anak (I sell my products to friends, neighbors and relatives)," she says, chuckling.

As for Loreta’s products, she simply shows potential clients her samples and designs and then asks them if they have designs that they want her to execute.

Loreta makes anything from curtains, quilted and patchwork throw pillows, beaded bags, pouches, ethnic bracelets and other accessories to crocheted placemats, doilies, glass coasters and holders.

There’s more–Loreta also plans to come out with a line of traveling bags and backpacks made of used paper and accessories made of "paper beads," strips of brightly colored newspaper or magazine pages, one side wet with glue or paste, coiled around a barbecue stick and cut to the desired size when it hardens.

Fifty-two-year-old Loreta worked as an executive assistant until 1992, when the company she worked for closed down. Having finished only her junior year in college, working toward a degree in business administration, she realized there were few good job openings for people above 30 years old.

She learned how to sew clothes and bags and bake cakes, breads, and pastries. Her earnings from her "kkk" business helped support her family.

Taking courses in sewing and baking whetted Loreta’s appetite for learning. "I won’t stop studying," she says, detailing her plans to take up courses in TWC on how to be a better entrepreneur and manager.

Loreta has just finished a TWC course in packaging, labeling and improving her products and is now in the middle of a program on financial literacy.

These courses, she says, will help her when she teams up with some friends to craft give-aways. Her friends will take orders from companies abroad.

The TWC designs its dressmaking course to help self-employed women but some of its graduates parlay their newly-acquired skills into jobs abroad.

Ronelda Gil, 34, has a degree in commerce and, until she took the dressmaking course last year, worked as a regular office staff.

Though she planned to put up her own dressmaking shop, Ronelda received an offer of $600 a month to be a dressmaker at Carnival Cruise Line, a luxury liner based in Miami. Her salary excludes tips and income from sidelines making clothes for passengers on the liner.

Arlyn Regulto, who works at the TWC’s research and advo-cacy division, takes us on a guided tour of the center’s facilities.

"Many women want to take up a course in TWC, but some are just too poor to come up with P5.50 for jeepney fare," she says as she opens the door leading towards the center’s daycare center.

Arlyn says that some women cannot go to the TWC because they have to take care of children who are too young to go to school. The TWC has a daycare center staffed by a trained child care specialist and supplied with milk, toys and food to encourage more women to avail of the center’s courses.

The TWC building, which sits in the middle of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) complex along South Superhighway in Taguig, was inaugurated in 1998. Its construction was funded by the Japanese government.

The center has nine workshops–one for each of its nine courses –that are equipped with "women-friendly" tools and equipment. It has a canteen, a multi-purpose hall that can hold up to 270 people, two function rooms and seven lecture rooms. The TWC’s dormitory can house up to 160 women.

Women enrolled in any of the courses can also borrow books from the TWC’s library. Arlyn says that, besides craft books, the resource center boasts of a wide collection of books on empowering women.

Cecilia says 40 to 65 percent of the the TWC’s graduates, or over a thousand women, are employed, while another 10 to 15 percent are self-employed. Many of those employed are hired on a contractual basis, she says, because of "the conditions of the labor market. There is lesser hiring because of the lower labor cost in other countries."

Those who choose to set up businesses of their own are referred to micro-credit facilities that can give out small loans of around P5,000.

The TWC recently signed a memorandum of agreement with Jul Dizon of JB Diamante Inc. for the conduct of a specialized training program in jewelry design. They plan to bring back the stature of the jewelry industry as the country’s premier export industry. The center will serve as the training venue since it has state-of-the art training facilities, tools and equipment for jewelry making. JB Diamante will provide the experts to conduct hands-on training.

Cecilia says the TWC, in the future, wants to assure its graduates of the best possible opportunities once they finish their training.

"We want to produce secure, stable, self-reliant graduates," she says. "If we have more industries that can employ our graduates, (this will) create more opportunities for our people."

While the overall labor situation in the country is not ideal, the TWC and its charges and graduates are keeping their nose to the grindstone and working to empower women and boost their skills and capacity to earn–and that is as good a start as any.

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Interested parties can contact the TESDA Women’s Center at tel. 817-2651 or 817-4076