EDITORIAL - Not for women?

In expressing his disapproval of alleged plans by his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte Carpio to run for president of the Philippines in 2022, President Rodrigo Duterte again let slip his opinions about women in general.

"My daughter, inuudyok naman nila. Sabi ko my daughter is not running. I have told Inday not to run kasi naawa ako sa dadaanan niya na dinaanan ko...

Hindi ito pambabae. Alam mo, the emotional set-up of a woman and a man is totally different. Maging gago ka dito. That is the sad story," he was quoted as saying.

If it sounds sexist to you, that’s because it is.

With that statement he just managed to insult women all over the world. Including, of course, his own daughter.

It isn’t the first time he has insulted women, we only have to remember his comments about his womanizing friends, female rebels, and a missionary who was gang-raped to prove this.

Perhaps his view of women as inferior to men is so ingrained in him he doesn’t even realize when he is putting women down.

In case he has forgotten the Philippines has been led by two women.

One was a widow who was suddenly thrust into a national leadership role after the assassination of her husband. The other had to take over after his predecessor, a noted womanizer, was ousted from power. Both of them managed to hold their own in a society that still largely recognizes the leadership role as belonging to a man.

President Duterte should also look at women around the world who have successfully led countries. We refer to Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Theresa May, Park Geun-Hye, and Jacinda Ardern, just to name a few.

Women are just as good as men when it comes to leading nations, making important decisions that impact millions, and creating foreign policies that affect future generations.

If the aim of President Duterte was to dissuade his daughter from seeking the presidency, we should not be surprised if Mayor Duterte decides to do the opposite instead, just to prove him how wrong he is about women not having the “right stuff” or the emotional set-up to do so.

Then again, that might actually have been his plan all along.