The UP Office of the President together with the UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies (CWGS) and UP constituent unit’s Gender and Development (GAD) offices conducted an online Gender Sensitivity Training (GST) session for its respective campuses.
The training session was held online via video conference on April 7 and was attended by over 90 participants.
Three resource persons were invited to speak during the event.
Dr. Nathalie Africa Verceles, a faculty member and director of the UP CWGS presented the topic on Gender Concepts and Gender Development in which she discussed sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, as well as sex characteristics.
She also covered discussions on the different types of masculinity, patriarchy, and violence against women.
The second speaker, Dr. Excelsa C. Tongson, deputy director for training and outreach of the UP CWGS, discussed gender fair language and LGBTQ empowerment.
Tongson talked about sexism in language especially in the workplace and shared examples on how to create an inclusive culture by empowering women, LGBTQ employees, and clients, and elaborated on what it means to be an ally.
Digging deeper into issues in gender inequality, Leo D. Battad, faculty member at the UP College of Law, discussed gender responsive laws and UP policies. She cited examples of existing laws that showed inequality, discrimination, as well as how they put women at a disadvantage.
Ms. Emmeline “Miyen” Verzosa, former executive director of the Philippines Commission on Women, also gave an overview on Gender and Development Planning and Budgeting for UP on which a separate seminar workshop will be organized soon by the UPCWGS.
The Gender Sensitivity Training is in compliance with the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Magna Carta of Women of 2009 (R.A. 9710); Guidelines on Promoting Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality in the University of the Philippines or the UP Gender Guidelines; and the Memorandum from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Regional Director, No. 27, series of 2020 on “Conduct of On-Line Gender Sensitivity Training (GST) among Top Officials of the Institution.” (KEAraguas)
(This article, written by KEAraguas, was first published in the UPLB Website on April 23, 2021)