Women's vote in the rural areas of the Philippines

Abstract

The research aims to answer if the concept of women's vote, or the behavior of women as a voting bloc, exists in the rural areas of the Philippines. It adopts the standpoint theory as the framework for analysis, with the event of gaining the women's right to vote as the starting point of the women5s experience in the electoral process. The conceptual framework draws political socialization, presence of pro-women policies of the state, and the presence of nongovernmental organizations as the independent variables responsible for the development of the concept. The perception of respondents from rural areas regarding the concept of women's vote and their acceptance that a women's vote is needed serve as the intervening variables of the study. Women's vote developed from a type of democracy that the American regime implanted on the country. Women then begun to have the access to the electoral process. The Western theoretical discourses on women5s vote claims that it stops there. Women's vote exists when women's issues are addressed by the government. However, the progressive view contests the idea, saying that legal standards are still patriarchal in nature and the involvement of women in the political arena must go beyond voting before it can be considered as gender equality. After the enumeration of standards for the development of the women's vote, a case study was conducted to test the perception of women of the concept. It was found that they are perceptive but the concept fails to be operationalized due to the hindrances posed by limited political participation and a cynical view towards politics. The research then analyzes why the women's vote, as claimed by all key informants, does not exist. The researcher then finds through similar case studies that the matenal condition of women, being tied to economic issues and the gender role, makes the progressive idea on women's vote possible but can only be achieved through intense electoral education.