New Women's Movement ORIANG Launched

Oriang Press Release March 31, 2017

NEW WOMEN’S MOVEMENT ORIANG LAUNCHED, WOMEN LEADERS CONVENE FOR PROGRAMS ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS, GENDER JUSTICE, PROTEST AGAINST DO 174 AND CONTINUING LABOR CONTRACTUALIZATION, IN QUEZON CITY

Oriang, a new women’s movement, was launched on the final day of this year’s Women’s Month, attended by over a hundred women leaders from across social and sectoral organizations in the country.

The movement was founded as a contribution of women activists to the growing women’s movement and to the expansion of the fight for women’s rights and for gender and social justice. “Oriang is a movement named after one of the remarkable Filipino women revolutionaries: Gregoria De Jesus,” said Oriang Organizing Committee member Lidy Nacpil. “We take her name to honor her, to hold her up as a shining example of women going beyond the boundaries of tradition, women of courage and daring, women giving their lives for the liberation of their country and their people,” said Nacpil.

“We take her name to send a message that the task of revolutionary transformation has not been completed, that this task is now more urgent than ever,” continued Nacpil. 

Oriang’s Founding Congress carried the theme “Kababaihang Lumalaban para sa Kalayaan, Karapatan at Sariling Kapasyahan” as it formally convened to forge and implement programs and strategies for organizing and mobilizing women. Veteran feminist activists engaged in multi-sectoral and social struggles brought to the forefront of the assembly current issues that have been significantly impacting everyday lives of women across the country. Among the issues deliberated upon were climate justice, defense of democracy, workers’ rights, the right to livelihood and housing, the state of human rights in the country, and women-centric issues such as the fight for reproductive justice, freedom from discrimination and violence against women, and women’s social and economic emancipation and political empowerment.

“Oriang believes that women’s struggles intersect with every other struggle,” said Nacpil. “It is important that in tackling any social issue, we do not forget to look through the lens of the woman’s plight. Women, after all, are twice impacted by each societal problem — as a woman and as a citizen,” said Nacpil. Nacpil, as a feminist activist currently engaged in the global movement for climate justice, cited the domestic and social struggles endured by women residing in regional areas across the globe where the worst effects of climate change are being felt. “That is one among many issues where women suffer twofold,” said Nacpil. “Oriang fights to make the extraordinary struggles of these women known and eradicated,” said Nacpil.

After the assembly, women leaders composing Oriang gathered outside the Social Security System building where the assembly was held, to join in the widening call against DO 174 and the continuing problem of labor contractualization. Oriang condemned the Department Order by the Department of Labor and Employment as a move to detract from fulfilling the true call of movements and organizations fighting against contractualization: to end labor contractualization unconditionally.