The Gaps in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law in Addressing the Discrimination Against Peasant Women in Their Access to and Control of Resources
NOT REAPING THE BENEFITS:
The Gaps in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law in Addressing the Discrimination Against Peasant Women in their Access to and Control of Resources
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I. Agrarian Reform and the Peasant Woman
A. Introduction
Despite the recognition of various laws on the roles and contributions of women in rural development, it seems that women in the Philippine agricultural sector remain economically poor, unrecognized, and underrepresented. In broad strokes, there are two reasons for this: first, the policies are lacking or at least silent on rural women, and second, where the laws recognize women’s rights and welfare, the implementation of these policies is usually lacking. Hence, twelve years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action (BPA), the observation appears the same, “the plight of women living in rural and remote areas deserves special attention given the stagnation of development in such areas.”
Focusing on the case of peasant women in agrarian reform, this paper aims to discuss the compliance of Philippine laws with international human rights instruments. Specifically, the query that this paper wishes to answer is, “how do the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) comply with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in regard to the recognition, protection, and enforcement of peasant women’s rights?” The objective of this paper is to review, analyze, and thereupon submit recommendations on improving the domestic legal and policy environment affecting peasant women so these could meet the terms of international human rights instruments and thus improve the plight of rural women in the country. In conducting the research, this paper uses three data gathering methods: document review, key
The Gaps in the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law in Addressing the Discrimination Against Peasant Women in their Access to and Control of Resources
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Agrarian Reform and the Peasant Woman
A. Introduction
Despite the recognition of various laws on the roles and contributions of women in rural development, it seems that women in the Philippine agricultural sector remain economically poor, unrecognized, and underrepresented. In broad strokes, there are two reasons for this: first, the policies are lacking or at least silent on rural women, and second, where the laws recognize women’s rights and welfare, the implementation of these policies is usually lacking. Hence, twelve years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action (BPA), the observation appears the same, “the plight of women living in rural and remote areas deserves special attention given the stagnation of development in such areas.”
Focusing on the case of peasant women in agrarian reform, this paper aims to discuss the compliance of Philippine laws with international human rights instruments. Specifically, the query that this paper wishes to answer is, “how do the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law (CARL) and the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) comply with the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in regard to the recognition, protection, and enforcement of peasant women’s rights?” The objective of this paper is to review, analyze, and thereupon submit recommendations on improving the domestic legal and policy environment affecting peasant women so these could meet the terms of international human rights instruments and thus improve the plight of rural women in the country. In conducting the research, this paper uses three data gathering methods: document review, key