Real men wear high heels, women dance

BAGUIO CITY—Real men wore heels and proved they were willing to walk their talk of sharing women’s causes to celebrate International Women’s Day in this city on Tuesday.

For the third edition of “In Her Shoes,” a yearly campaign by the National Youth Commission to highlight women’s issues, the police chief of La Trinidad town walked in high heels, while members of militant women’s groups, students, teachers and sidewalk vendors danced to the theme song of the One Billion Rising Revolution before joining a unity march down Session Road.

Wearing purple and pink T-shirts, women lined the streets to witness their menfolk march on the city’s Malcolm Square in heels.

BEST FOOT FORWARD A police trainee helps a colleague put on high heels during the third staging of “In Her Shoes.” KIMBERLIE QUITASOL/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON

On Monday in La Trinidad, Chief Insp. Radino Belly led some 60 men, among them police officers and trainees, in a march on the town hall, trudging about a kilometer on the Halsema Highway in high heels borrowed from wives, daughters, cousins and friends.

‘Pattong’

At the town hall, a group of men performed the “pattong,” a traditional community dance.

While the activities helped raise awareness about women’s rights, Virginia Dammay, chair of Innabuyog, the local chapter of Gabriela, also urged the crowd to be aware of how the May elections could play on women’s issues to court voters.

“This election season, many politicians will court women for their votes but we should be very critical and scrutinize the platforms of the candidates. We should use the election to campaign for the agenda of food, jobs and rights,” Dammay said.

“We cannot just be mere spectators in the significant moment of 2016,” she added. Kimberlie Quitasol, Inquirer Northern Luzon