by Rhodalyn Wani-Obias
In 1902, a young Filipina from Batangas journeyed to the United States to appeal for the release of her three brothers. They were arrested by the American government, under the suspicion of participating in “insurgent” activities. While there, Clemencia Lopez, the woman in question, also spoke before the New England’s Women’s Suffrage Association:
“I believe that we are both striving for much the same object – you, for the right to take part in national life; we, for the right to have a national life to take part in… You can do much to bring about the cessation of these horrors and cruelties which are today taking place in the Philippines, and to insist upon a more human course… you ought to understand that we are only contending for the liberty of our country, just as you once fought for the same liberty for yours.”
While Lopez’s address is set within the context of the Philippine-American War and the Filipino’s call for independence, it also brought to the fore the voice of women expressing views on our country’s political life. As she further stated, “mentally, socially, and in almost all the relations of life, our women are regarded as the equals of our men.” With this mind, Lopez consequently joined the ranks of other Filipinas like Pura Villanueva Kalaw, Concepcion Felix Rodriguez, Encarnacion Alzona, Paz Mendoza Guanzon, Josefa Llanes Escoda, and Pilar Hidalgo Lim in their fight for greater participation in the public sphere. This participation would eventually take on the form of women’s suffrage.
Under American rule, municipal elections were administered as early as 1899. Participation, however, was largely limited to males, particularly those who paid taxes of at least thirty pesos annually, owned property worth at least five hundred pesos, and could read and write in Spanish, English or a native language. Sadly, women’s participation in public life was limited to the classroom, charitable institutions, the church, and voluntary organizations.
With the encouragement of Kalaw, the first bill on women’s suffrage was filed in 1908 by Filemon Sotto of Cebu. Unfortunately, the bill was not discussed and opposition to it was almost overwhelming. Suceeding attempts in 1912, 1917, and 1919 also failed to pass a Woman Suffrage Bill, and the campaign for women’s suffrage continued well into the next two decades.
Those opposed to women’s suffrage presented several arguments. Some believed in a woman’s inability to hold office. Others feared that allowing women to enter politics would lead to “the neglect and detriment of husband, children and household” since a woman’s rightful place was within the private confines of her home and family. Even more interesting was the idea that women should be placed upon a pedestal only to be worshipped and admired. Allowing women to vote would be tantamount to lowering herself to a level deemed unrespectable by men. In a letter addressed to the Philippine legislature, Perfecto E. Laguio contended that:
“The Filipina woman has ever been considered by the Filipino man as having a high position and eminently worthy of respect. He places her upon a high pedestal. His love for her is the purest that can be given by any created being. Looking around him, he sees the difference between Filipina women and women of other lands. Her splendor immediately comes to mind: her dewy eyes, her raven hair, her demure smile, her soft hands, her attractive figure – he looks up to these in admiration and worships her from afar.
But with the widespread occurrence of women’s right to vote, all these will change. The leader of the women in this movement aims to be on an equal footing with men, to have the same rights and responsibilities. If these are obtained, the Filipino woman will no longer experience the same high regard that Filipino men have for her. She will be lowering herself from the shrine where she is “lord of all she surveys” only to be placed on the level of men among whom the spirit of honor and valor are no longer to be found. She will undergo suffering to lose the potency of all that men have conferred on her over many centuries and the splendor that goes hand in hand with her history will completely fade from her womb. And this only to gain the vote that was never her heart’s desire.”
To these arguments, the Filipinas responded calmly and rationally, stating that “we are arraying ourselves not as foes of men but as friends, demanding not an empire, but friendship and equality, and wishing to reign, not over men, but over ourselves.” To counter the view that women were incapable of participating in political life, Trinidad Fernandez Legarda would argue that “sex is merely a division of gender, not of intellect or capacity.”
Furthermore, female activists disagreed with the notion that entering politics would bring about the degradation of the family and the home. Instead, many believed that political life provided educational opportunities from which the whole family could benefit. As to whether a woman could handle political responsibilities amidst her hectic domestic schedule, it was protested that “surely, the duties of home, especially in these labor saving devices and new discoveries, are not so rigorous as to prevent the most domestic of women from leaving her fireside once every three years or so to record her vote!”
Lastly, despite the desire that women remain atop a pedestal, it was presented that, in reality, women were not at all like “fragile flowers.” As Legarda would point out:
“Our opponents are dreadfully exercised for fear that the vote will unsex women. They say we are too delicate – women are such “fragile flowers” – yet men get these delicate blossoms to undertake at the lowest possible wages the intolerable toil of the rope-walk. Women make bricks, girls are driven, when not driven to something worse, to being scullions and boarding-house slaves. Women are graciously permitted to sweat in factories and over other people’s washing when they should be caring for their babies. Still others of these fragile flowers work on the roads, make bridges, build houses, and plough the fields to keep alive. Yet a vote in their hands would soil them and destroy their womanliness!”
By the second decade of the 20th century, women’s organizations all over the country united for a common cause. In 1920, a convention for women’s clubs held in Manila led to the formation of the League of Women Suffragettes. A year later, women all around the country organized themselves under the National Federation of Women’s Club, which would spearhead the campaign for women’s suffrage. Several more bills were proposed to the house and public hearings were actively held.
Finally, in 1933, a Woman Suffrage Bill was signed into law by Governor General Frank Murphy. However, the bill was an amendment to the Hare-Hawes-Cutting Act, which failed to pass legislature. What passed instead was the Tydings-McDuffie Independence Law, which led to the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth. The women had to argue their case all over again in a constitutional convention.
Meanwhile, the constitutional convention attached a condition extending the right of suffrage to women only “if in a plebiscite, not less than three hundred thousand women would vote affirmatively on the question.” Women activists immediately mobilized themselves to meet the 300,000 quota. In the end, the suffrage movement registered 500,000 women voters. Out of this number, 447,725 voted affirmative in a plebiscite held on April 30, 1937.
The women had finally won the struggle. This shining moment of victory was not only a realization of Clemencia Lopez’s plea to “have a national life to take part in”. It further underscored one important aspect: that in the political affairs of our country,“equality knows no difference of sex.”
Sources:
Legarda, T.F. (1931). “Philippine Women and the Vote” Philippine Magazine 28 (4), 163-65, 196-200.
Lopez, C. (1902). “Women of the Philippines: Address to Annual Meeting of the New England’s Suffrage Association” The Women’s Journal.
Rhodalyn Wani-Obias is an Assistant Professor at the Department of History, University of the Philippines Diliman. She completed her BA in Sociology and MA in History at UP Diliman.
