Feminism and the Women's Movement in the Philippines: Struggles, Advances, and Challenges 1992 7192 7322 7600 Women in Development and Nation Building Act provided the legal basis for equal opportunities for women and men Act increasing maternity benefits in favor of women workers in the private sector Rooming-in and Breast-Feeding Act that provides incentives to all government and private health institutions with rooming-in and breastfeeding practices It is worth emphasizing that Republic Act(RA) 7192 or the Women in Development and Nation-Building Act of 1992 provided the legal basis for equal opportunity for women and men in political and civic life. It specifically mandated the formulation of a Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development(PPGD) 1995-2025. Designed to continue the initiatives under PDPW, the PPGD provided development strategies that would guide government investment and expenditures, and laid the foundation for the establishment of a Gender and Development(GAD) Budget to address gender inequality within the bureaucracy and in various government programs and services. The period following the overthrow of the dictator showed how feminists found spaces for feminist articulation with state and civil society; thus, political democratization was also about feminists trying to push the bounds of patriarchal liberal democracy. Feminist organizations flourished and became more productive when they were no longer hindered by the dominant Left movement that prioritized national and class-based agenda. The post-Marcos transition enabled feminists to conduct their activism independent from other movements and gave them space for more creative and innovative actions(Sobritchea 2004b: 49). While some groups continued to use class and ethnic concepts as the main analytical tools to understand the manifestations and reproduction of patriarchy, others, especially the young feminists, explored other equally important issues such as sexual and identity politics, and the inscription of sexism in language, communication, discourse, and the production of knowledge(Sobritchea, 2000 cited in Sobritchea, 2004b: 48). Indeed, the feminist movement has evolved, yet the legacy of history(both political and ideological) and the feminist activists' contemporaneous responses to the unfolding of history continue to generate tensions that prevent'strategic unity' of key feminist groups even as substantive gains have been made. 7