Sunday, May 29, 2005

I am a Filipina!

Vonjobi's effort to change search engine's mining of Filipina is gradually paying off. It now even has a logo contributed by Jonas Diego.



I am partly embarrassed by this whole discussion. For one, I don't refer to myself as a Filipina but a Filipino especially when I achieve a feat that is truly a first, regardless of gender. I guess I have to refer to myself more as a Filipino/Filipina hereon.

Perhaps, the reason for that attitude as well is that the feat achieved had nothing to do with me being a Filipina or woman. As I become more gender sensitive, perhaps my outlook will change in the long run.

Monday, May 23, 2005

What is a Filipina?

In the iBlog site, there's a great appeal ongoing that encourages each and every blogger to populate their blog as to what a Filipina is all about. This is to populate search engines results with relevant content that truly depicts what a Filipina is all about.

A Filipina is a Filipino lady or woman. More than half of the country's population is composed of Filipinas. You can find her in almost every profession. Overseas, she can also be found working in various services industry.

A young Filipina lady is often assumed to be having her own career or take care of her family as she reaches maturity. This mindset has left many Filipinas unprepared to take on the challenge of possibly becoming an entrepreneur. However, I hope this will change in the near future as more and more schools are integrating entrepreneurship in their courses.

As the Philippines is very much gender neutral, every Philippine resident, regardless of gender is often referred to as a Filipino. I noticed that a lady is only referred to as a Filipina whenever she gets featured or recognized in events, publications, and awards.

Perhaps this is the reason why there's not much content specifically referring to Filipinas. This is also where women publications in the country should take the challenge of taking their content online and populate search engines as to what Filipinas are truly all about. More than just mail-order brides and the likes... ayayay!

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day experience this year was quite special. We all went to mass and the church called on all mothers to be given the priest's prayers and blessings. Afterwards, we were given a small pink note that reminded us of our role as a mother.

I'm glad our community church made an extra effort this year to make Mother's Day more meaningful for those of us who were attending mass then.

How about you? How did your mother's day go? (If you have a blog about it, post the url here.)