Imee wants 'an ordinary mom' to sit at IATF

Senator Imee Marcos on Sunday urged the government to seriously consider appointing a mother who is an ordinary homemaker to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID), to asses COVID-19's impact on women.

In a statement, she particularly cited the possible impact on families of the blended education, which is also  a challenge to the country's school systems.

“These new modes of blended education are a challenge to both the school system and families. Mothers are struggling at the center of it all. The pandemic is impacting women in myriad and cruel ways,” Marcos said.

“We need simple, commonsensical ways for mothers to cope. A lending program for tablets, or one that supports purchases by installment, would be in place if a mom was sitting in the IATF,” she pointed out.

Further, she said the pandemic has amplified the hidden discrimination against women and the lack of policies that benefit them.

“The toll on health workers, 70% of whom are female, has been immeasurable, ” the senator said, adding that women even take on the role of “default caregivers who are usually uncompensated” when a family member becomes disabled or seriously ill.

Longer, not shorter, market hours and more rolling stores would give women, especially single moms, the breathing space to juggle work, household chores, and childcare, Marcos added.

A mother in the IATF would be more critical of official reports concerning her fellow women, Marcos also said, citing Philippine National Police findings that violence against women and children has gone down.

“Domestic violence is likely unreported,” Marcos pointed out, adding that the Philippines has yet to shake off its reputation in the United Nations as the global epicenter of child pornography online.

“Women are outnumbered in the IATF. Poor Secretary Briones is overwhelmed by the demands of new learning modes, Secretary Berna is struggling with her tourism sector. We need a commonsensical but compassionate homemaker in policy making,” Marcos said. —LBG, GMA News