by Stephanie Edora Manrilla
The Los Baños Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO) spearheaded 2017’s first Gender Sensitivity Training (GST) for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and solo parent on March 18, 2017, 2pm at the Los Baños Municipal Building.
Fifty-one officers from the Federation of Solo Parents and Federation of PWDs in Los Baños were invited to participate in the GST. The training was also open to registered solo parents and PWDs in the municipality of Los Baños.
Nancy Quiñones and Madeline Trinidad, Project Development Officer II from Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in region IV-A CALABARZON, served as the trainers for the GST.
During the training, the participants formed groups of groups of three, namely Group Masipag, Matatag, Mahusay. The GST started with levelling of expectations and a dance exercise as ice breaker. A three-hour lecture was allotted for the GST. According to Quiñones, the lecture sessions provided an overview of the modules, namely:
- Module 1: Usaping Sex at Gender
- Module 2: Isyung Pangkasarian
- Module 3: Pagsasapanlipunan ng mga Gampaning Pangkasarian (Social Institutions that Affect Gender Role Socialization)
Group activities such as listing everyday activities that later on pointed out gender biases at home were done between modules.
Pro-active. Group 2 Masipag team up to list their everyday household routine as part of the GST Module 1 activity last March 18 at the LB Municipal Hall Activity Area. (Photo taken by Micki Alcasid)
Leoncio Dechitan, PWD Staff from MSWDO explained that there is currently a thousand registered PWDs in Los Baños, who need to be aware of their gender sensitivity rights that they need to impose on offenders.
Lydia Mercado, PWD President in Tadlac, agrees that these trainings are helpful especially for those who were not able to attend school. On the other hand, Anicia Manggale, a solo parent, suggests that attendees could share what they learned to those who were not able to come that afternoon since participants were either a solo parent or a PWD.
The GST ended with a “Pagsasabuhay”, which allowed participants to reflect on what they have learned through writing a letter to someone they want to apologize to or inform about gender sensitivity.
Roderick Abad, PWD President in Batong Malake, said that although he had already attended a GST training before, there were still new ideas that he learned, specifically “pakikisalamuha”.
According to MSWDO Head Hanna Erika Laviña, MSWDO plans to conduct another GST on October as part of the National Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week Celebration.