Rep. Janette Garin of the first district of Iloilo has chided some of her colleagues in Congress for their incorrect interpretation of the provisions of the Magna Carta of Women regarding pregnant unwed students in campuses.
Garin, deputy majority leader of the House of Representatives and a known advocate of women’s rights, said to deny access to education to single female students who get pregnant is highly discriminatory. She stressed that the right of academic institutions ends when the impingement on the human rights of individuals begins.
In keeping with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the state condemns discrimination against women in all forms.
Denying women of their right to education and employment on the account that they got pregnant out of wedlock is a clear discrimination against women.
Garin said she is against all forms of discrimination against women and the 1987 Constitution affirms that the state recognizes the role of women in nation building and shall provide women rights and opportunities equal to those of men.
“Why should we then expel or deny enrollment to female students and refuse employment to female teachers who are single parents? What equality are we talking about when these Catholic schools only expel the pregnant women and not impose the same to the men who fathered them?†she asked.
Garin said in the Magna Carta of Women, the issue is not about violating the academic freedom of schools but the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
The very reason why it was passed was instances like these that encourage the society to look down on women just because their decisions do not conform with what is said to be morally upright by some sectors in the country, she noted.
Garin asked, is it not a Catholic teaching to forgive and allow these women and young girls to obtain a better future for the sake of the child they are carrying?
The Ilonggo lawmaker lamented that it is hypocritical for these schools to say that they teach Catholic morals when they do not have the morality to allow these women to start anew by acquiring formal education and and thus decent jobs. (PNA)
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Topic: Discrimination of Pregnant Students in Schools? (Read 1192 times)