Gabrielas’ in KSA, UAE celebrate Intl. Women’s Day

Press Release

8 March 2013                                                           

 Reference:    Chay Medina, Chairperson

                        Gabriela-Jeddah, KSA

                        Mobile # 00966 508647230

Call for women OFWs to rise up against abuses and exploitation

Gabrielas’ in KSA, UAE celebrate Intl. Women’s Day

Chapters of the women’s group Gabriela in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) today join the celebration of the 105^th International Women’s Day (IWD) in two separate but simultaneous occasions with a theme that calls for women to rise up against abuses and exploitation.

On Thursday night, 30 women OFW-members of Gabriela in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia gathered in an undisclosed place to commemorate the IWD and at the same time held its 2^nd general assembly.

Gabriela-Jeddah’s theme for this year IWD celebration and 2^nd assembly, “Palawakin, patatagin, at pakilusin ang hanay ng migranteng Kababaihan para sa tunay na pagbabago at demokrasya. Labanan ang Imperyalistang pandarambong at pagkatuta ni Aquino.”

Some of Gabriela-Jeddah members during its 2nd General Assembly & Intl. Women's Day 

Celebration

Chay Medina, chairperson of Gabriela-Jeddah, said, “We are determined to mobilize our ranks against violence against women (VAW) especially among women OFWs here in the Middle East being the most vulnerable sub-group of OFWs. We vow to continue giving education to fellow women OFWs about their rights and stage various campaign to advance women’s interest and welfare.”

Medina added that most women OFWs, who comprised about 40% of an estimated 10-M OFWs scattered around the world, are victims of forced migration due to worsening poverty in the Philippines.

She further said, “It’s a bitter reality that even women, traditionally known as ‘Ilaw ng tahanan’ were forced to work abroad just to earn a living and to send their children to school only to become victims of abuses and exploitation and a scores of them have died mysteriously.”

Medina scores the Aquino III govt. for continuously peddling Filipino women as household service workers and other related jobs and yet there is no guarantee that they will be protected against abuses and exploitation.

“PNoy govt. until now failed to create jobs with decent pay and benefits for our women workers,” Medina adding that Filipinos are not being ‘choosy’ as claimed by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE).

“PNoy govt. and DoLE are just vainly trying to justify forced migration of Filipinos, thus it swiftly concluded that Filipinos are choosy on local jobs available. The truth is it is worsening poverty that drives many to look for work abroad,” Medina averred.

On why poverty in the Philippines under the Aquino govt. worsens, Medina believes that it is mainly due to Aquino III subservience to US imperialist neo-liberal policies of globalization, liberalization, privatization, and denationalization.

She cited the liberalized mining policy as an example that wantonly exploits the country’s natural resources by big foreign mining companies and displaces many families of Filipino peasants and farm workers.

Meanwhile, Gabriela chapters in Saudi Arabia and the UAE also join other sectors calling for peaceful resolution to Sabah standoff while it condemned the Aquino III govt. in supporting the Malaysia govt. all-out suppression against the armed followers of the Sultan of Sulu. # # #