Take bigger role in nation-building, Sereno urges women

It’s time to go beyond just pushing for female empowerment and take on the heavy work of building the nation “brick by brick,” said Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as she called on women to show that they are made of tougher stuff by taking a more active role in nation-building.

Saying the country still had unfinished business in bringing justice to the victims of martial law nearly 30 years after the restoration of democracy, Sereno, the country’s first female chief magistrate, called for more substantive leadership among women to bring about real change in the country.

“Avoid the danger of staying at a plateau of women empowerment. I think what we need to do next is to show leadership in planning for nation-building, [to mount a] concerted effort in lowering maternal death, child care, improving the place of women,” she said.

Sereno was speaking before the Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service Foundation (Towns), an organization made up of Town awardees since 1974.  Sereno received the Towns award for law in 1998.

“Now, we sound the call to our Towns sisters. With the particular location we have in our unique evolution as a country, with our own passionate love for democracy, what do we do now to make our country strong?” she said in her remarks at the launch of the search for Towns awardees for next year.

“And I think it doesn’t need for us to be in the papers. What is more important is we do our job dutifully, faithfully… building up brick by brick the nation that we so love,” she said.

Sereno noted how the country has had two female Presidents and women in important positions in government, but that much remains to be done to translate such level of representation towards genuine reform.

“We have to take it one step further. We have to show our mettle in the hard stuff, which is planning for nation-building,” she said.

“In other words, we women, we have to show that we are made of harder stuff than they have ever thought,” Sereno said.