Year of the women
By madrilena de la cernaCebu Daily News
At the Women’s Kapihan of the Cebu Women’s Network and Legal Alternatives for Women Center, Inc. last January 12 over DYLA, the topic centered on the Predictions for Women for 2013. Thanks to the staff of LAW Center, Inc., we were provided with interesting facts about some of these predictions. Expect to see amazing and impactful changes made by women in the area of politics, sports, business, medicine and more. Among the predictions is that violence against women cases in Asian countries is seemingly increasing when March of 2013 comes. Some will be condemned and sentenced to death penalty after case hearing but other judgment may lead the transaction to nullify or throw out the case.
On Work and Economics, women will continue their ascendancy in the work world because women’s advocacy organizations are ever more influential with the media and government and, in turn, in policy, public opinion, and hiring practices. An ever higher percentage of degree-holders is female, in part, because of major efforts to make schools and colleges more female-friendly. Ever fewer jobs require physical strength, where men have an advantage.
The voice of women will begin to ripple through the world of technology, with 2012 sowing the seed of change (IBM, HP and Yahoo all have female CEOs and Sheryl Sandburg has become Facebook’s first female board member), women in technology now have some footsteps to follow in.
What is interesting is that you can rely on Grandmother Power in 2013 and 2014, as women born from August 30, 1948 through November 12, 1948, June 10 1949 through August 24, 1955 and January 28, 1956 through June 10, 1956 come into their own. These women were born with Uranus in Cancer. And actually, many of them are not grandmothers at all – they rebelled against a traditional female role in the family. No matter what their status though, these are the Mothers of Invention. Women born with Uranus in Cancer in the late 40’s and early 50’s came of age in the 1970’s when the Women’s Liberation Movement took hold. Do not underestimate these women as they are at their most radical in the second half of 2013 and first half of 2014 and will change the world, one corner at a time. As the economic crisis forces the younger generation to lean on the money and property of their elders, this will also shift the way families operated. It’s a grandmother power revolution.
2013 is also the year of the women in social media and it’s a tumultuous year. The last couple months have already seen the rumblings of what could turn into a wave of feminist agitation across the developing world. With growing economic power, increased literacy, and improved access to news and opinion via the Internet, women in the developing world are less willing to tolerate oppression and discrimination – as demonstrated by huge protests by women in Pakistan and India denouncing violence against women in both countries. The prediction sees that growing social media adoption and political awareness of women will converge to trigger another wave of social revolution, this time focused on gender equality, in 2013 and beyond.
On Marketing, women will break through stereotypes in advertising, so advertisers should take note. Finance companies will focus more on women as all trends point to the continuing rise in women’s economic power. Women will continue to shop, do research and interact online. The website, email, social media and mobile strategy should be at the core of all her marketing efforts. One marketing research says that 80% of purchase are made or influenced by women and yet, 97% of creative directors are men.
In the local scene, my personal interest is the role of women in the mid-year elections. There has been no women’s vote yet. One big issue the women or women’s groups could confront the candidates (especially the local ones) with is the proper use of the Gender and Development (GAD) budget which comprises 5% of the local governmnet’s budget. First of all, are candidates aware of the GAD budget? How is it used to improve the quality of life of women constituents? What about the local women’s council? Why is there hardly any local women’s council in the barangays and municipalities?
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