May 19-22, 2009
CALD Women's Caucus Strategize
L-R: Evelyn Maduro (Philippines), Jaslyn Go (Singapore) and
Ly Srey Vyna (Cambodia) |
In its commitment to increasing women’s political leadership
worldwide, the
Council of Asian Liberals
and Democrats (CALD), with the support of the Friedrich Naumann
Foundation for Liberty, held a strategic planning workshop for its
Women’s Caucus in Batanes from 19 – 22 May 2009. The
objectives were to
evaluate the Caucus’ previous
projects, to integrate women's issues in CALD activities and to
formulate a
plan for future initiatives.
The participants were representatives of CALD full-member parties
namely: Jayanthi Devi Balaguru, secretary general of the National
Women’s Wing of the
Parti
Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia; Dr. Ly Srey Vyna and Hon. Vanchan Tok,
members of parliament of the
Sam
Rainsy Party (SRP) Cambodia; Jaslyn Go, Singapore Democratic
Party; Ingrid Liao, director of the Women’s Development
Department of the
Democratic Progressive Party Taiwan; Shalini
Senanayake, co-ordinator of the Women’s Wing of the
Liberal Party of Sri Lanka; and Evelyn Maduro and Roscoe Santana
of the
Liberal Party of the Philippines,
Batanes.
L-R: Ingrid Liao (Taiwan), Jayanthi Devi Balaguru (Malaysia)
and Shalini Senanayake (Sri Lanka) |
Organized around four sessions, CALD designed the program to give
a
substantive framework for the direction of the
Caucus as an organization for the
empowerment of women leaders.
The first session discussed the context in which women were presently
operating. Participants presented their respective backgrounds,
the socio-political fields they operate in and the gender-related
issues they tackle. Balaguru shared that women in Malaysia experience
frequent
contradictions in religion vis-à-vis civil
law cases. The Sharia Law is oftentimes used as a “tool”
for repression and to create legal “grey” areas in instances
such as custody disputes, inheritance cases and divorce issues.
On the other hand women in Cambodia, Dr. Ly explained, are pressured
by society to remain in traditional roles. Even though women have
the heart and skills for governance, the stereotype that they are
vulnerable and weak keep their aspirations blocked.
L-R: Dina Abad and Neric Acosta |
Session two presented the challenges in advancing women’s
issues. Participants discussed the struggle to balance family and
professional life. They talked about the
lack of safety
nets for women in most government policies, specifically
with respect to
migrant workers and the
right
to privacy.
The last two sessions were devoted to crafting the Caucus’
call for action. Participants presented concrete initiatives on
how to increase its advocacy such as: producing a
Website
and creating a
women’s desk at the CALD secretariat.
They also discussed how CALD could support the Caucus in fulfilling
its objectives.
The workshop ended with participants electing the SRP as the next
chair-party. SRP has yet to decide who among its members will chair
the Women’s Caucus.
Dina Abad, founding chair of the Women’s Caucus and former
Representative of Batanes, explained how important it is for liberal
women leaders to get organized so that the remaining restrictions
on women’s political participation would eventually be lifted.
She was optimistic that the next steps of the Caucus
would
create traction and impact in Asia.
Dr. Neric Acosta, CALD secretary general, said that CALD wanted
to bring the Caucus together as an organization because women’s
issues have not been given the kind of attention it deserves. “CALD
has just marked its 15th year anniversary, and we have had many
milestones. It is fitting that we have a milestone as well for women’s
issues.” he said.
The CALD Women’s Caucus was founded in June 2006 in Tagaytay,
Philippines. It was inspired by the
National
Democratic Institute for International Affairs’ “
Win
with Women Global Action Plan.”
