The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) marks the International Women’s Month celebration this March with a host of previous and forthcoming activities underscoring the clamor for greater women empowerment in the country.

On March 6, ILS staff Ronell J. Delerio joined a solidarity walk organized by the National Youth Commission, featuring men from different government agencies and youth groups walking in heels to symbolize their empathy with women’s experiences still considerably characterized by discrimination and prejudice.

The walk called “In Her Shoes 2” was supported by actor NYC Commissioner Dingdong Dantes with Chairperson Gio Tingson, who both wore women’s heeled shoes as they walked with other men from Banawe St. in Quezon Avenue to Welcome Rotunda. Simultaneous walks were also held in La Trinidad town in Benguet, Cebu City, and Davao City.

The NYC initiative was first launched in 2014 to dare its male employees to wear women’s shoes to symbolically call attention to the often trivialized conditions of women in a country where maternal mortality ratio is still as alarmingly high as 221 per 100,000 live births.

Meanwhile, the ILS is also set to hold this month a research forum on women workers in migration, in collaboration with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. ILS OIC-Executive Director Mary Grace Riguer and OIC-Deputy Executive Director Atty. Stephanie Tabladillo will present their 2014 papers concerning Filipino household workers and health workers abroad, respectively.

The Gender and Development Committee of the Institute also plans to conduct a gender sensitivity training for its staff. – with a report from on-the-job trainee Dennis Mopera

The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) is the policy research and advocacy arm of the Department of Labor and Employment. For more information on this story, please contact the Advocacy and Publications Division of ILS at telephone nos. 5273490/527-3447.