Women and Legislative Advocacy Although the SARILAYA and UN Women activities were independent of each other, a common thread was the need for clearer articulations and framing of concepts of “women’s empowerment” and “gender equality” in the women’s movement, vis-à-vis the current socio-cultural and political landscape, even before it begins to craft a national women’s political and legislative agenda. Crafting a national legislative agenda is a challenging task given the complex interconnection of issues and factors that maintain women’s marginalized and subordinate position in Philippine society. The challenge seem to lie in the reductionist character of the endeavour: which issues should be prioritized for Congressional lobbying, and what should be the basis of this prioritization? The diversity of women’s gender identities, political leanings, and analyses of their reality and how to achieve gender equality makes the prioritization approach to legislative advocacy an almost impossible task without risking the fragmentation of women’s voices. Another layer to the challenges in using legislative advocacy, is how the very ideas of women’s empowerment and gender equality, can be compromised, if not derailed in the long run, to accommodate conceptualizations more palatable to the status quo, in order for a bill to find “champions” in Congress, and hopefully, enacted. The experience in lobbying for a law against abuse of women in intimate relationships is a case to point. The then bill drew reactions ranging from full support to outright hostility, both sides invoking the concept of gender equality: while feminists argued for substantive equality and addressing patriarchal power relations between women and men (where the former is at an disadvantage), other groups invoked equal or same protection for all who are victimized by intimate partner violence i.e., what about the men? A middle ground was eventually found in the inclusion of children and the change of the bill’s title from “anti-abuse of women in intimate relationships” to “anti-violence against women and their children”.6 At the operational level, women’s victories secured through law such as gender mainstreaming, gender and development (GAD) budget, and gender quotas have also been diluted through their piece-meal, short-sighted implementation, that their potential as channels for gender equality are reduced to mere legal compliance, if these were not reinterpreted by State institutions and actors to be “optional”, at that. Nevertheless, the legal and legislative sphere remain to be a strategic arena for realizing women’s human rights. The post-Martial Law years saw the flourishing of women and feminist organizations engaged in welfare, education and organizing work across various sectors – and transforming women’s political, socio-cultural and economic landscape through policy and the law were crucial to secure the continuity of the work and to strengthen its outcomes. The 1987 Philippine Constitution is explicit on the role of women in nation-building, (Article II, Section 14), its prioritization of their health needs (Article From Princess Nemenzo’s, presentation, “Women’s Legislative Lobbying: The SIBOL Experience”, at the Leadership, Representation and Gender Justice: A Caucus on Women’s Legislative and Political Agenda for the 18th Congress, Quezon City, 02-03 December 2019. 6