Manila - The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) led a series of fora, advocacy campaigns, and employee engagement initiatives highlighting anew the productive and reproductive roles of its female employees and women workers in general in celebration of National Women’s Month in March.

The celebration was kickstarted with a free museum tour for its employees at Casa Manila courtesy of the Intramuros Administration. ILS also launched a social media campaign dubbed “Babae ako, of course…” capturing the nuances of being a woman. The Institute’s Gender and Development Committee, in collaboration with ILS divisions, also held a series of fora on the care economy and the ratification of the International Labour Organization Convention 190 on eliminating violence and harassment in the world of work. Both highlighted the important and timely issues for awareness and participation of women across the country.

Capping the month-long celebration, the GAD Committee held a film showing featuring a movie on individuality and women's empowerment.

“Although this is a culminating activity for women’s month, it does not end our celebration and commemoration of advocacies for women’s rights and for gender and development,” emphasized Deputy Executive Director Atty. Mary Grace Riguer-Teodosio.

The ILS GAD Committee Chair Franchesca Castillo vowed to improve the gender responsiveness of the Institute’s advocacies, projects, and programs, and aspires to qualify for the “Gender and Development Transformation and Institutionalization through Mainstreaming of Programs, Agenda, Linkages and Advocacies” (GADTimpala) award granted for exemplary government agencies on gender mainstreaming by the Philippine Commission on Women.

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