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NEVER MIND RUNNING THE COUNTY - IS SHE DOING HER HAIR RIGHT? FILIPINOS WONDER.
ADAM BROWN, Associated Press Writer Wednesday, March 7, 2001
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(03-07) 00:39 PST MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- When Philippine journalists grilled
their new president following her sudden ascent to power, not all questions
focused on poverty, corruption and separatist rebellions.
No, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo answered, she will never remove the beauty mark
beside her nose. She doesn't consider herself particularly pretty. And she calls
her husband ``dreamboat.''
Along with the daunting task of running a country of 76 million with enormous
social problems and a fragile democracy, the 53-year-old president faces the
extra challenge of asserting herself in a society where women can get out of
the kitchen -- but cannot stray too far from it.
Halfway through his six-year term, mass protests ousted Joseph Estrada on Jan.
20 over corruption allegations. Arroyo, elected vice president on an opposition
platform, was sworn in to replace him.
Perceptions of her performance will affect the future of women in a nation which,
while ahead of some of its neighbors on women's rights issues, still has far
to go, said Nelia Sancho, who heads the Manila office of the Asian Women's Human
Rights Council.
``She must answer these questions and show that she is traditionally feminine
even if she really thinks it's only important to say she's strong and can rule,''
she said.
While the Philippines has pushed a handful of strong women in prominence, its
male-dominated society still wants reassurance they will stay faithful to traditional
feminine roles, Sancho said. This limits their political diversity, she says,
meaning a woman is unlikely to be defense secretary of national police chief
any time soon.
Arroyo, she said, ``will have to make concessions. Even I have to wear a skirt
to many meetings to be respected.''
Most unemployed are women, and girls are nearly twice as likely to suffer malnutrition
as boys, government data shows.
Women earn 35 percent of what men get for similar work in a country, according
to Gabriela, a women's rights organization. The average annual family income
is less than $3,000, and with the economy pounded by months of political instability,
Gabriela says, the situation may get worse, forcing women who already are struggling
to raise families to peddle cigarettes in the streets or take other odd jobs.
Despite a growing women's rights movement, only 24 of the 216 members of the
most recent Congress were women, little changed since 1986, when Corazon Aquino
became the country's first female president.
Much like other recent Cabinets, Arroyo's includes three women. Only two of
her 13 candidates for the powerful Senate in May 14 elections are women.
Gabriela leader Liza Maza says most women in politics got there on the coattails
of their husbands or fathers.
Arroyo is the daughter of Diosdado Macapagal, president in the late 1960s. Aquino
was a housewife forced into the political arena following the murder of her
husband, Benigno Aquino Jr., an opposition leader. Imelda Marcos, wife of the
late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, twice ran for president and failed.
Imelda Marcos is now best remembered for her extravagance, particularly her
shoe collection which she says now surpasses 3,000 pairs.
She apparently reveled in her reputation last month as she inaugurated the nation's
first shoe museum, featuring 220 of the 1,200 pairs of shoes she left behind.
Luisa Ejercito, Estrada's wife and a political neophyte, is running for the
Senate but has said her main goal is to clear her husband's name and continue
his anti-poverty work.
Never mind that Arroyo is a former economics professor who went to school at
Georgetown University in Washington with former President Clinton. What most
concerned some newspapers was her dress sense.
They slammed her gray business suit as unflattering and suggested bright colors
with a traditionally feminine flair. Reporters also grilled her about what she
would give her husband on Valentine's Day (Her ``personal presence,'' she revealed).
While local media published sketches of how she would look with a variety of
hairstyles, dresses, jewelry and makeup colors, Arroyo faced high expectations
from a scandal-weary populace.
In one of her first moves to counter criticism that she comes from the moneyed
elite, and to bolster her promises to clean up corruption, she ordered the sale
of luxury cars that Estrada gave to senior bureaucrats.