#Respeto Naman

RESPETO

Naman is a nationwide campaign against gender-based violence launched last November as part of the celebration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. A project of the Embassy of Sweden in Manila, the Office of the Vice President (OVP), the UN Women Safe Cities Metro Manila Program, SPARK Philippines, and Empower, the movement is a natural complement to the OVP’s Angat Binay, one of whose priority is women’s empowerment.

As VP Leni Robredo expressed, “Women’s empowerment in the 21st century is no longer just about representation and activism. Each one of us is called to go beyond lip service, and be more proactive in championing the cause of making our spaces not only safe for women, but conducive to their success.”

The Rotary International (RI) is one service organization which has championed the cause of women empowerment by initially opening up membership to women and eventually seeing women rise to lead clubs and districts and then occupy directorships in the international board. To ensure that women membership approaches the demographical representation, RI has mandated that in territories where the existing Rotary Club remains purely male, the District Governor can mandate the chartering of a more balanced membership club to cover the same territory. I am proud that my club, the Rotary Club of Diliman has inducted female members and in Rotary Year 2019-2020 will have a female president serving with a female district governor.

VP Robredo also noted, “Only half of Filipino women have access to jobs and 11.2 million of them remain poor. One out of five Filipino women aged 15 to 49 suffered from physical violence while 6 percent experienced sexual violence based on the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey. Sadly, out of this number only 30 percent sought help.” I can surmise that the lack of systems support for these women prevents them from reporting the times they are subjected to sexual abuse, including sexual harassment. Not many organizations have formal policies and procedures to deal with sexual violence and harassment and clear and effective sanctions.

In an article I wrote for Philippine Rotary, an RI regional magazine, I described what Rotary International has put in place to ensure “zero tolerance” to sexual abuse and harassment. It calls on Rotary Clubs to terminate members who the club knows has engaged in sexual harassment. If a Rotary Club does not do so, Rotary International will decharter the club and remove it from the membership rolls (the club is the member of Rotary International not the individual Rotarian).

Other organizations should follow Rotary International in this crusade not only because of the reputational risk (international NGOs have been pilloried and even lost considerable funding) and no prescription period (we have seen prominent personalities taken to task for actions that occurred during their college days) but because it is right. The difficulty is when a person realizes that he will be found guilty in the investigation, he immediately resigns, putting himself outside of the group’s jurisdiction and hopefully leaving behind a sordid past and moving to another organization, unaware of his true character.

Rotary International policies and procedures provide that before inviting a prospective member, the Rotary Club should inquire with his previous club concerning him/her. The person’s profile is also circulated among the members for their perusal and reactions. In a number of cases this has led to the person not being invited.

Following Rotary International’s example, other organizations, including business enterprises, should follow suit. RI should not only be a part of #RespetoNaman but the Rotary leaders should lead the way.