Rappler Talk: Women, gender, and the 2022 elections

MANILA, Philippines – After six years of Duterte-brand machismo, where do we go from here?

It’s difficult to avoid factoring in gender when we speak of the high-stakes 2022 election – where do candidates stand on crucial issues related to women’s rights? Would it be possible to see the SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender, identity, and expression) anti-discrimination bill passed after 20 years of languishing in Congress?

And likely on the top of people’s minds – will the next president of the Philippines be a man or woman? There is, after all, only one female candidate in the presidential and vice presidential races each.

Rappler researcher-writer Michelle Abad interviews Jean Franco, a University of the Philippines political science professor with a research interest in women’s rights; Sharmila Parmanand, a gender and human rights fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science; and Bahaghari chairperson Rey Valmores-Salinas as they dissect the dynamics of gender in the 2022 elections. She asks them about their assessment of the women and gender rights movement in the past six years, how the Philippines can push for women’s victories in still-patriarchal Philippines, and what gender advocates should be demanding from candidates. – Rappler.com