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Brief History of the Philippines

After attending the education workshop on “The History of Filipino Women’s Oppression and Resistance,” I came to an understanding of my mother’s decision to migrate and become a domestic helper (Law & Nadeau, 1999), along with the other nine million women who chose to migrate to 160 countries all over the world. The Spaniards, the U.S., and the Japanese’s colonization of the Philippines led to forced migration of Filipinos to other countries (Gabriela, personal communication, April 9, 2011).

Before the arrival of the Spaniards. Prior to the Spaniards’ colonization of the Philippines, the role of women was equal, and sometimes higher than men’s social status. Some of the women’s roles include: priestesses or Babaylan, warriors like Prinsesa Urduja, and political leaders like Maniwantiwan. Priestesses are spiritual leaders who led rituals to honour nature. Sometimes Datus, who are men, played the role of priestesses because of society’s high regard for women (Gabriela, personal communication, April 9, 2011). Religion was not yet introduced to the Filipinos until the Spaniards imposed it on them. “Barring women from ritual leadership and religious authority [was and] has been a key focus in the drive to undermine female power” (Assata Shakur Forums, 2011, par. 7).

Spaniards, U.S., and Japanese’ colonization of the Philippines. The Spaniards imposed religion and took over the lands of the Filipinos for over 300 years, from 1521-1896. Women were used to propagate religion (i.e., The Virgin Mother) and were treated as second to men. The peasants and working women were slowly influenced by religion to pray for their previously-owned land so they could take them back. The Babaylans were the first group to be suppressed by the Spaniards. Other heroic women (e.g., Leona Florentino, Josefa Gabriela Silang, Teresa Magbanua, and Melchora Aquino) were either shunned or killed from showing loyalty to the Philippines and its countrymen and women. The U.S. then bought the Philippines from the hands of the Spaniards for $20 million U.S. (Gabriela, personal communication, April 9, 2011).

From 1902-1941, the U.S. capitalized on the Philippines to import U.S. products and build factories and plantations. Women’s contributions to the society were still not recognized. Their portrayed role as second-class citizens were penetrated through the jobs they were allowed to work in such as nurses, teachers, and secretaries. Modern civilization became the sanctity of some Filipino families while the peasants and working women were earning 16-60 cents per day. However, women continued to fight for their rights (i.e., to vote and unionize) until the U.S. left and the Japanese took over (Gabriela, personal communication, April 9, 2011).

The Japanese then took over the Philippines for three years, from 1941-1944. Their ruling worsened women’s situation. Poverty, oppression, family separation, hunger, and raping of women were prevalent. In 1992, it was revealed that the Japanese had a policy on comfort stations wherein women were “legally” raped. The prostitution of Filipino women led to their migration to other countries. The U.S. then returned again after the Japanese left (Gabriela, personal communication, April 9, 2011). From 1945-1972, women continued to be employed as landless peasants who worked at farms that are owned by the government. Some were still working as nurses, teachers, and secretaries without getting promotions. The 70’s and 80’s were at the peak of women’s migration. And my mother was one of the women who migrated to Hong Kong in 1988. Familiarizing myself with Filipino women’s historical roots of oppression and resistance provided some closure on the wounds of my mother leaving us. The poverty, inequality, and hardship she (and other women) went through justify her (them) leaving to go to other countries (Law & Nadeau, 1999).

Filipino Women within the Canadian Culture

Dr. Roland Coloma, an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto, is a Filipino-Canadian-American who conducts his research on the history of Filipino- and Asian-Canadian studies (Southeast Asia Group, 2005). Some of his research includes reviewing history textbooks in search for Filipino identity within those books. One of his (under review) writings called “Abject beings: Filipina/os in Canadian historical narrations” discusses pivotal issues surrounding Filipino women as nannies or live-in caregivers for white Canadians (Coloma, in press a).

As Nannies and Caregivers

“The image of a brown woman pushing the stroller of a white child has become a cultural icon and metaphor for the racialized and gendered dynamic of domestic and transnational labour” (p. 355). Research shows that 95% of the caregivers in Canada’s Live-in-Caregiver Program (LCP) are Filipino women who were recruited from the Philippines (Pratt, 2004; Stasiulus & Bakan, 2005 as cited in Coloma, press b, p. 10).

This image created negative stereotypes (Tonso, 2006; Greene, 1993; Ferri & Connor, 2009; Siebler, 2011) among Filipinos in Canada. I recall my Canadian-born Filipino friend who is married to a Chinese descent remarking that passersby would ask her if she was the baby’s nanny because her baby is light-skinned. I believe that the three negative left side of the cultural proficiency continuum (i.e., cultural destructiveness, cultural incapacity, and cultural blindness) (Robins et al., 2006) can be shifted to the positive right side (i.e., cultural pre-competence, cultural competence, and cultural proficiency) if people are more open to learning about different social and cultural identities and inter-racial relationships.

Being a nanny or caregiver has become the predominant identity of Filipinos in Canada. It is safe to assume that others, particularly Filipinos, would choose to associate themselves with a different identity. “Researchers in language and identity further suggest that although an individual’s identity is derived from in-group memberships, individuals may choose to change their group membership if the present one is not considered positive” (Hansen & Liu, 1997; McNamara, 1997; Pierce, 1995 as cited in Li, 2000, p. 10). This was one of the reasons why I have made a conscious decision to associate myself with people from other cultural and social backgrounds (i.e., class, age, jobs, race, ethnicity, religion, family, ability, sexual orientations) (Sangha-Bosland & Muir, personal communication, Feb 16, 2011). It signifies the importance of my growth and development in learning about my capabilities and limitations I impose on my own epistemology.

As Abject Beings

Coloma (press a) refers to Filipinos in history books as abject beings. He used Butler’s (1993) definition of “abject beings” as: “those who are not yet ‘subjects,’ but who form the constitutive outside to the domain of the subject. They mark the ‘“unlivable” and ‘uninhabitable’ zones of social life which are nevertheless densely populated by those who do not enjoy the status of the subject, but whose living under the sign of the ‘unlivable’ is required to circumscribe the domain of the subject” (p. 3 as cited in Coloma, press a, p. 338).

Prior to this research, as an immigrant to Canada, I narrowly viewed Filipinos’ abjections in the Canadian society. I was once ashamed of my identity of being classified as a Filipino immigrant. I was culturally-blind (Robins et al, 2006) being the spiritual me in “not seeing colour, just human beings” (p. 89). However, in light of the 5P24 course, this research shifted my epistemology and ontology towards the positive right side of the cultural proficiency continuum. What young Filipinos do not know is the pivotal role caregivers play in the Canada’s welfare and prosperity. “Through their labour in Canadian homes, they enable the development of professional careers and the accumulation of material capital in upper- and middle-class families” (Coloma, press a). There are varying and multiple contexts in place that one cannot make assumptions (see Footnote 1 on page 14) about what the other thinks is important. It is critical to deconstruct others’ experiences in order to grasp the complexity of given situations.

Key Learnings: Looking Towards the Future

As an HR practitioner, I have the power to make a difference in policy formulations in organizations I will be working with. In search for my identity, I now am able to characterize myself as a Filipino young adult who is a modernized Asian-Canadian that can break socioeconomic and political barriers within the Canadian society. I have developed a voice that is congruent with my worldview. Further, I have learned to take the journey to cultural proficiency (Robins et al., 2006) in order to teach and learn more effectively. The first factor that affects professors, trainers, or instructors is their understanding of who they are and what they think of themselves (p. 26). Therefore, I deem it necessary to be aware of my ontology (Packer & Goicoechea, 2000). Knowing the purpose of my existence will enable me to affect positive changes in people’s lives (Brown, 2010).

My goal to engage in double-loop learning (Robins et al., 2006, p. 180) started in researching my own identity. Through this I was able to identify the issues associated with the Filipino identity within the Canadian culture. Being in the process to cultural proficiency will enable me to foster double-loop learning into my own practice and out into the world. In addition, knowing the Conflict Management Strategies (see Appendix A) and the Approaches to Managing Conflict (see Appendix B) will significantly contribute to eventually eliminate all of my preconceived assumptions (also see Appendix C) which have hindered my knowledge to achieve cultural proficiency. I would also agree with Coloma’s (in press b) recommendation of: “Using an intersectional framework [such as race, class, gender, ability, sexuality, language, spirituality, migration, and generation] to analyze and integrate Filipina/o Canadians in the curriculum, we can gain insights into the blurring of public and private spaces in domestic labour and the development of Canadian economic capital and professional work-life balance on the backs of women of colour.” (Coloma, in press b, p. 10)

Having known the history of the Filipino women’s oppression and resistance, I am now ready to embark on a journey to making a difference in the lives of Filipinos who are experiencing repression and uncertainty within themselves. I am now able to re-tell my stories and communicate “HERstory” (Gabriela, personal communication, April 9, 2011) in order to develop and foster a community with individual and collective sharing of learning and experiences (Cassidy, 2008).