Institute of Women's Studies Newsletter 2013

Institute of Women's Studies Newsletter 2013

Dear Graduates and Friends of IWS,

A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 TO ALL OF YOU. As you see IWS is still alive and growing. I just came from a 6-month Sabbatical in Europe where I visited the following countries: Ireland, United Kingdom, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, Prague, Stockholm, Germany and Rome. I did a Sabbatical Course in Dublin and a re-treat in Bolton Abbey near Dublin. I also did a Course in Findhorn Foundation in Scotland and a retreat in the magical Iona island. Moscow was a real revelation to me surprised at visiting a Cathedral Square with 4 beautiful cathedrals inside the Kremlin. I was also impressed with the Metro stations which were like vesti-bules to Palaces being ornately and richly designed and decorated. I was touched by my visit to the Infant Jesus Church in Prague. I also gave talks in Dublin, Wuerzburg, Germany, Russia and Rome. I was glad to meet the Filipinos in Moscow who have a Filipinos Association of Russia (FAR) and who arranged a River Cruise on the Moscova River where I gave my talk. My Sabbatical ended in Rome where I attended the Gen-eral Chapter and watched the proclamation of Hildegarde of Bingen as Doctor of the Church and the canonization of Pedro Calungsod.

But I am glad to be back. I am now full time Director of IWS and we are preparing for our 25th Jubilee in May of this year. I hope you can take part in some of our activities.

The picture shows me dancing the One Billion Rising Dance which is a campaign against violence against women launched in 177 countries and will have its climax on Febru-ary 14 when one billion women will go out in the streets to protest violence against women. Join us!

Lovingly,
Sr. Mary John, OSB

Training &Education Program

It was a busy year for the IWS with several intensive and international trainings. IWS held the Intercultural Course on Women and Society last April to June with 17 partici-pants from the Philippines, Indonesia, China, Myanmar, Cambodia, Nepal, India and Solomon Islands.

The Moving Beyond Faith: An Inter-faith Dialogue Towards Ecological Justice was con-ducted last October at the Women & Ecology Wholeness Farm in Mendez, Cavite.

Three Trainers’ Training on Feminism and Education Work for Women were conduct-ed. One of the 21-day training workshop was held at Digos, Davao del Sur last Octo-ber with 14 participants all coming from different provinces in Min preparing for our 25th Jubilee in May of this year. I hope you tated by IWS graduates from the region/area. The IWS graduates who joined to facilitate the training were Ms. Gina Lee Soreno, Ana Lea Asentista, Sr. Elvie Prado, Luzvisminda Caasi-Barro, Sr. AAAE0/18qL_3gspdw/s1600/468278_4 Sr. Lalyn Macahilo.

Another milestone for the IWS’ Training and Education Program is the implementation 2 Gender Studies for Men Training in Davao City last June and October 2012. The ac-tivities were attended by Moslem and Lumad participants, a first for the IWS 3-day course for men. Both trainings were facilitated with support from Tatis Yee and by our own GSM graduates based in Mindanao namely Roland Layno and Edgar Togonon.

For those interested to attend our courses, please call Tatis Yee at 025223551 or 02 523 0693

CHED Summit

The Commission on Higher Education held the “1st CHED HIGHER EDUCATION SUM-MIT ON GENDER ISSUES” last October 2011 together with its co-convenors, the Philip-pine Commission on Women, Civil Service Commission, Miriam College Women and Gender Institute, St. Scholastica’s College Institute for Women’s Studies, and the U.P. Women's Studies Center. CHED aims to raise the awareness of state universities and colleges on good practices in school policies, curriculum and research development, programs and services pertaining to gender and development. CHED committed to do regional summits which resulted to 17 regional summits before 2012 ended. Dr. Lilith Usog and Prof. Arche Ligo took turns in sharing the best practices on formal and non-formal education of St. Scholastica’s College.

Last November, to reaffirm the commitment in removing gender disparity and en-hancing women empowerment in higher education institutions, CHED spearheaded the 2nd Higher Education Summit on Gender Issues wherein our very own Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Rebecca Marquez, shared St. Scholastica’s College’s Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures. One of the highlights of the summit was the re-port of the 17 Regional GAD Summits aside from the parallel sessions on “GAD Plan-ning and Budgeting” and “Gender Responsive Curriculum”. Regional cluster meetings were also done led by the different regional directors.

Women and Ecology Wholeness Farm

The habagat rains wiped out our herbal patch and vegetable greenhouses completely. We tried to rehabilitate this promptly after the traditional rainy season, but climate change and unpredictable weather patterns prevented us from doing so. The seedlings continued to be drowned by excessive rains. However, we were able to salvage some of our ginger before fungus due to excessive rains could destroy this altogether. Our ginger plots have also been the source of some of the salabat we make in-house use and for sale . Other produce from which we realized some revenue were our santol (pakyaw to a wholesaler), sili and other vegetables grown in the greenhouses (pechay, lettuce). We are now reviving our herbal and vegetable gardens.

With the clearance from Sr. Mary John that the farm resumes agricultural pro-duction, we recently bought a new set of fruiting mushroom bags and likewise resumed drying mushrooms for sale. Since 2007, repeated attempts to rehabilitate the existing solar-panel setup were unsuccessful, even though the batteries, charger and inverter were re-placed. This has led the Institute to the conclusion that the whole setup needed to be replaced. As a contingency, Sr. Mary John resorted to stand-alone solar light fixtures that have been used to light the pathways and as lighting accents in selected areas of the gardens.

Dancing to One Billion Rising

The participation of the IWS through Sr. Mary John Mananzan in One Billion Rising to help in promoting the elimination of violence against women was solicited by the re-nowned author of Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler and One Billion Rising Philippine Coor-dinator and theatre actress, Monique Wilson.

Conceptualized by Ensler, the One Billion Rising is a global campaign to pressure govern-ments and institutions to put an end to various forms of violence against women. The campaign, which primarily involves dance as protest action, will culminate on February 14, 2013, when a targeted 1 billion women and men will dance all around the world.

HOMEFRONT

The prioress of the Missionary Ben-edictine Sisters of Tutzing seats in the IWS Board of Trustees. Thus, when Sr. Lumen Gloria Dungca was elected as prioress last January 2012, she returned to IWS as a member of the Board. However, during the 12th General Chapter of the Mission-ary Benedic-tine Sisters of Tutzing held last September 2012, Mo. Lumen Gloria Dungca was elected Vicaress Gen-eral and the congregation had to elect a new Prioress this month. Sr. Adelaida Ygrubay is now the new Prioress. IWS welcomes back Mo. Adele to IWS.

Ms. Marion Cabrera is now tempo-rarily based in Chang Mai, Bangkok. In her absence, Ms. Rebecca Padilla, former IWS staff and now Dean of Student Affairs of St. Scholastica’s College was asked to join the Board of Trustees.

We would like to thank all the new and previous members of the Board of Trustees for their contribution to the initiatives of IWS in empower-ing the Filipino women.

The Institute would like to congratulate Kristina Gaerlan, the farm’s Resource Center Manager, for the 25 years of service with the Institute. Itty, as we fondly call her, is responsible for the numerous books that IWS has published.

Last March 8, 2012 (International Women’s Day ), the launching of Sr. Mary John’s book, NUNSENSE, was co-sponsored by the Institute and St. Scholastica’s College. The book, published by IWS, was initially print-ed for 750 copies and was reprinted for another 500 copies. The Institute is now preparing for the third reprinting of the book. The book is available in IWS at P300.00 a copy. For orders, please call 02 522 3551 or 02 523 0693 or email us at iwsmnl@yahoo.com

We would also like to give our appreciation to Marites Yee, IWS Training Coordinator for the 15 years of service. Tatis started with the Institute as a Training Staff. Now, as Training Coordinator, Tatis is responsible for developing new modules that IWS has been offering.

Teodora Malaba, our Cashier, has bid us farewell in IWS to join her husband who is based in UK last September 2012. Dory stayed with IWS for 13 years. We wish her all the luck in her new phase of life.

Nun-Sense, Makes Sense, will be celebrating its 3rd year anniversary this February 2013. We wish to thank our viewers, guests. sponsors and friends for all the support. Please continue watching ‘Nun-Sense, Makes Sense’ every Monday at 9pm in Global News Network. The program can now be seen via live streaming at www.gnntv-asia.com

That in all things God may be

glorified.