National Women's Congress

* This was my speech during our public speaking class *

Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Evening.

Today, March 8, 2007, is an important day for us women. We are celebrating right now the National Women’s Day. This is the day to commemorate the struggles of women for change, to celebrate the progress made towards the improvement of the quality of life of women and to reaffirm our commitment towards the liberation of women.
Nowadays, millions of women throughout the world live in conditions of deprivation and attack against their human rights just because for the reason that they are women. As a lawyer, I have met any cases regarding on the abuses of women. Abuses against women are now increasing because most of them sill do not fight for their privileges. Violence and discrimination are still very rampant due to the unawareness of the women’s rights violations.
We are now living in a world where women do not have control over what is happening to their bodies. Millions of girls and women are now forced o marry and have sex with the man they do not desire. This is one example of a women’s rights violation. Some women are unable to depend on the government to protect them from physical violence in the home, especially to protect them or save them from he increased risk of HIV/AIDS infections. Husbands and other male family members dictate women’s access to the right reproductive health care. Moreover, this is not a good idea.
When I went to South Africa, I have realized that the women here in the country are more blessed compared to the women there. Rural women in South Africa had the most difficulty in accessing education, health and other basic services. It can be seen because most of their husbands work in urban areas. Women in South Africa literally keep their families together while their husbands are working.
We are here today to fulfill its mandate of advancing the rights and well being of Filipino women. The National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), in collaboration with the national government agencies, local government units (LGU’s), NGO’s, private sector and other institution who are taking care of the rights of women are leading the country’s celebration of the National Women’s Day.
As we celebrate the National Women’s Day, we acknowledge that we still have a long way o go to achieve full emancipation of women from the hardships hat they have experience because of their race, gender and social class.
Even if there are abuses of women, there are still women who have been taken care of well. This is because of he different groups of women who are willing to listen and defend their fellow women. One of this is the Gabriela, this is a women’s group on helping other women prevent different kinds of abuse. I am very much thankful to all the organizations that have always been there. This is a very good thing because this will encourage more women to speak up what they are experiencing. I do hope that this will continue.
To sum it all, I would like to encourage all of you here to help and assist each other on achieving our goal for he betterment of women.

Thank you and God Bless!