When I was in college, one of the main gripes I heard from my female professors was how their male counterparts never really discussed women’s and/or queer issues, or if they did, they both wouldn’t do it properly and would relegate it to a small section in the syllabus. Feminist philosophy, for instance, would become “philo of woman,” as opposed to, I guess, the philosophy of man. Schools, even if they’re big universities, typically aren’t the most sensitive when it comes to topics like these. (Professor and co-editor of Trans Pilipinas Mikee Inton-Campbell once shared to us that she was tired of cis and het students emailing her to find respondents to talk about the ✨trans experience✨.)
The UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, which focuses on social justice, sexuality and women empowerment, among other topics, is a center set up to address that kind of problem. They have their own training and outreach program that “focuses on building the capacity of the faculty to integrate women’s/gender theories and topics into their regular courses, aside from providing technical expertise on gender mainstreaming and gender sensitivity projects.” Its “target recipients of the program are the UP constituent units as well as other state universities and colleges, government, non-government, and civil society groups.”
Because of the pandemic, the center’s been forced to cancel their lined up events, but in lieu of that, they’re now going to offer their “gender responsive training courses” online.
The center hasn’t revealed much aside from that, but their Facebook page does say to get in touch with Vince Hermoso through his email address, fmhermoso1@up.edu.ph, or through his mobile number, 0995-3422151, for more information and updates.
Photo courtesy of Sergey Zolkin on Unsplash
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