By Liezel Longboan
March – Women’s History Month – has been an amazing month for us at Tinig UK.
On March 7th, we attended a forum organised by the Filipino Women’s Association (FWA) to look at how Filipino women have been constructed over the decades in Britain. Towards the end of her discussion, Dr Cristina Juan, head of the Philippine Studies Program at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), praised Tinig UK’s work in helping change the representation of Filipino women in the UK. Alongside Kalayaan, Kanlungan and Filipino Domestic Workers Association UK, our work was cited for challenging stereotypes and offering a more diverse representation of Filipino women in Britain.
We were certainly energised and inspired by Dr Juan’s acknowledgement of our emergent work in this area. Now as we end this observance, I feel a great sense of accomplishment having launched two projects for Tinig UK.
First, we created a series of feature articles, Britain’s Inspiring Filipino Women, to put a spotlight on Filipinas who are making a difference in the UK.
From a young academic and a climate activist to the founder of Filipino Domestic Workers’ Association UK, a mixed-race science communicator to an award-winning nurse advocate for international nurses, we featured nine outstanding women from diverse personal and professional backgrounds who are speaking up and making a stand for themselves as migrant Filipinas here in Britain.
Second, we launched a parenting column, “Keep Kalmado and Mother On,” to tackle topics that are relevant for Filipino parents. Catherine Wigley, founder of Filipino Mothers UK which has some 5,000 members, will be writing on issues that concern many Filipino mums. Cat said that she will drawing from the collective experience and knowledge of the forum members in her column.
In her first column, Cat bravely shared how she suffered from postnatal depression as a first time mum. With the support of her husband and a health visitor, Cat found ways to conquer her social anxiety and now runs her own play group in North Wales. We hope that her column could be an avenue to discuss Filipinos’ mental health.
For many of the women we featured, they say that moving to the UK and starting a new life for themselves has been one of their most challenging experiences. Separated from their families and uprooted from the culture they know, they have to learn new ways of communicating and interacting at the same time as navigating the complex processes of settling in as immigrants in their adopted country.
But if there’s one thing that all the women we featured have in common, it is their determination to follow their passion and find a way how they can make a difference in their community.
To quote Angela Davis, ““I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”
Mabuhay ka, Filipina!
