Inklusibo joins in celebrating Women’s Month this March, and today, March 8, the International Working Women’s Day. Simultaneously, we strongly uphold the women’s demands: a living wage, lower prices for basic commodities, and accountability for the  plundering of the country’s resources by the US-Marcos tandem.

Filipino women in our society have endured struggles, past and present, particularly peasant and working-class women. From underappreciated care work within their homes to discrimination and unequal treatment in workplaces; to the scarcity of job opportunities and decent work, and the struggle to stretch meager wages amidst soaring prices, their challenges are due to the interconnectedness of their economic vulnerability, gender-based discrimination, and the constant threat of patriarchy and misogyny.  

In urban poor communities, women’s hardships within a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society are stark. Since a significant population of the urban poor consists of landless peasants or those dispossessed of their land, they are forced into various forms of informal work. Many of these are women, earning through selling homemade products, street vending, laundry services, domestic work, and personal services (e.g., beauticians and manicurists), among many others. Official employees also earn a mere ₱645 per day, which they must stretch amid the ongoing inflation under the Marcos Jr. administration, which peaked in mid-2024. Furthermore, women in impoverished urban areas are particularly vulnerable to domestic violence, and are deprived of basic social services such as healthcare, financial assistance, and childcare. 

It can be recalled that just last March 5, Nexperia workers in Cabuyao, Laguna, commenced a strike. Many of these are women workers and unionists demanding a 50-Peso wage increase. While they were also in the midst of Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issued an Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ) order last February 5, which is a direct attack on the right to organize and negotiate wage increase. Nexperia’s attempts to break the strike and picket line have also ensued, through cutting off water supply and blocking those delivering food and medicine. This is a manifestation of DOLE and Nexperia’s profiteering agenda and blatant disregard for the welfare of the workers.

As we build a more inclusive society, it is imperative that we join the toiling masses’ struggle and surface the issues of working women and engage them in struggle. Thus, the struggle of the basic masses is the struggle of all women. 

Together with Filipino women, let us call on the Marcos Jr. administration to increase wages and lower prices on basic necessities, make social services more accessible and inclusive, end domestic violence and abuse!

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Photo: Cigarreras of Compania Generalde Tobacos de Filipinas (from the UWM Digital Archive)

In the 18th-19th century, Filipinas were hired in tobacco factories to assemble cigar and cigarettes. Popularly known as cigarreras, women even at the age of 12 were employed to assemble them.

Despite being a reliable workforce, women confronted issues of insufficient wages, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and unjust treatment (Honculada, 2003). Some even engaged in prostitution to make ends meet (Camagay, 1986).