Women are potent agents of change in our society, women should be active drivers in bringing about positive changes, and that they should also reap from fruits of development efforts. This can be made possible by empowering women – enabling them to meaningfully engage with other development stakeholders. In addition, empowering women enables them to confidently and meaningfully engage with appropriate institutions to ensure that they contribute to and benefit from development and changes.
According to Philippine Commission on Women that every March is the celebration of International Women’s Month. Hence, the first week of March is declared as women’s week, this celebration is pursuant to Proclamation No. 224 series 1998 with a theme “We Make Change Work for Women. It highlights the empowerment of women as active contributors to and claimholders of development. This pursuit of development is also anchored on the commitment of “Malasakit at Pagbabago” or True Compassion and Real Change. Further, the National Women’s Month annual celebration is infused with activities that aim to inspire and empower women of all ages to achieve gender equality.
As kick off activity of National Women’s Month Celebration, the Department of Interior and Local Government Unit (DILG) XII in coordination with the National Nutrition Council XII and Philippine Red Cross, conducted a health awareness seminar. Nutrition Officer II Leah Fe Utlang discussed and presented the importance of having a healthy lifestyle. She highlighted five components of healthy lifestyle which includes (1) healthy diet, (2) regular physical activity (3) avoidance of smoking and drinking much alcohol (4) good rest (5) positive thinking and the benefits of healthy lifestyle. She also presented the pinggang pinoy and 10 Kumainments to promote healthy eating habits and to achieve optimum health and wellness respectively. NO II Utlang emphasized that Improving the lifestyle with small steps in the right direction will have a big impact on a well-being. After the Nutrition Information Campaign, it was followed by a blood-letting activity which was facilitated by Philippine Red Cross Team and was participated by 14 employees of DILG XII. The said activities were conducted at the Regional Office of DILG XII. These endeavors manifest the government’s thrust of taking care of the health of its working force.
In order to make lasting change, women need the skills and resources to build self-confidence, understand their rights, earn an income, and gain the respect of their family and community. Moreover, the real change can only be achieved when all genders work hand in hand to foster an environment that is inspiring to everyone. (LFU/AMF/AML)
