GAD Planning Workshop

I got to participate in the city's Gender and Development planning meeting, where different government departments discussed possible projects to improve the lives of the women in the city. I learned a lot about Philippine laws and policies relating to gender. Such as, 1) disusing family planing is illegal in most of the Philippines, 2) abortion is illegal, 3) couples have to be separated for 7 years before they can get divorced, 4) women are automatically responsible for custody and finances of children under 7 years old, 5) the father of a child can not have his name on the birth certificate if the father is under 18 years old, and 6) there is no official child support because even when paternity is known men can choose not to be on their children's birth certificates.