International Women's Day!

March is Women's History Month
March 8th is International Women's Day.

"Women's history is the primary tool for women's emancipation" Gerda Lerner*
"History isn't simply what has happened, it's a judgement on what has happened." Cynthia Ozick**
"History's like a story: it depends on who's telling it." Dorothy Salisbury Davies**
"If we do not know our own history, we are doomed to live as though it were our private fate."Hannah Arendt**

March is International Women's Month

MANY great and the powerful men in history extolled women. Here are some of their paeans to women:

Next to God, we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then making it worth living – Christian Nestell Bovee

The test of civilization is the estimate of women – George William Curtis

The future of society is in the hands of mothers – Louis de Beaufort

Purity of heart is the noblest inheritance and love the fairest ornament of women – Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome

In his "Letter to the Women of Malolos," Dr. Jose P. Rizal said the woman who is respected by men is one who inspires them to overcome their weaknesses and pursue lofty goals in life, who is firm in conviction, who knows what is right and wrong, and, above all, inculcates in her family love of fellowmen, love of country, and love of God Almighty.

The pages of Philippine history are full of names of women who earned the undying respect of men – the warrior-princesses of Pangasinan, exemplified by Princess Urduja; Bohol's Princess Bugbung Humayanun who captured men with just one look at them; the Babaylan priestesses who personified the high respect women enjoyed in precolonial times; Clarita Rubio de Celis of the 1872 Cavite Mutiny, Maria Luz Rosario Villareal, Gregoria de Jesus, Marina Dizon, Rosa Sevilla de Alvero, Doña Teodora Alonso, Melchora Aquino, Teresa Magbanua, Agueda Kahabangan, Hilaria del Rosario-Aguinaldo, Marcela Marino-Agoncillo, etc. The list of great Filipino women is a long one.

The ancient Tagalogs had a saying: "Kasunod ni Bathala ang Babae" (Next to God is Woman).

In our observance of March as Women's Month, let us honor the Filipina, the foundation and future of the Filipino race.

We laud the women of the Philippines for their selflessness and many sacrifices for the country. We join in the celebration of womanhood.