Institute of Women’s Studies (IWS)

Trainers’ Training Course.  A capability building course designed for women leaders and staff of non-government and people’s organizations which underscores the need for a gender perspective not only in the women, but also in their organizations and in advocacy work as a whole. It covers pedagogical and facilitative skills needed to be able to conduct alternative education for women. 

InterCultural Course on Women and Society. A two-month course which gathers women from Asia, Pacific and Africa who share experiences and ideas on issues that affect women’s situation and participation in community life. Like the Trainers’ Training, the course includes exposure visits to women’s communities and groups, action-research presentations, and intensive curricular studies on subjects like Feminist Theories, Gender and Development, Women and Religion, Feminist Research, and Feminist Processes in Education.

Short-term courses are also offered, including:

Basic Women’s Orientation (3 day).  The Basic Women’s Orientation, is a three day course that introduces gender as a social construct and a way to define unequal power relations between men and women. It clarifies the concepts of sex and gender, enabling participants to reflect on how these two concepts became interchangeable and synonymous to them. It explores how gender is socially constructed from birth, through attires, toys and activities that have been exclusive to girls and boys. It also goes through the three major institutions of socialization — Religion, Mass Media, and the Educational System. It culminates with an analysis of the effects of socialized gender inequality in private and public life as well.

Women as Leaders.   The Women as Leaders Training is a 5 day course that focuses on the current issues of women, gender and socialization, and women’s alternatives.  It  discusses current leadership styles and crises and at the same time gives special attention to the summary of leadership theories, consequently its effect on women and then defines feminist values in leadership, and explores how it can be translated into concrete and specific measures for women’s empowerment inside organizations/companies

Women and Ecology (5 days). The Women and Ecology Training is a five day course that tackles the basic understanding of the women’s situation and ecological crisis in the Philippine context. It aims to make women conscious of their place in the ecological system and incorporate a gender perspective with concern for the environment at the personal and professional/institutional level. It explores alternative lifestyle that is gender sensitive, sustainable and ecologically sound. The training also includes hands-on farming and composting and where time is available, visits to nearby organic farms. 

Women’s Spirituality Retreat Seminar (3 day retreat seminar). The Women’s Spirituality Retreat Seminar is the Institute’s contribution to efforts toward providing care for the caregivers.  It aims to gather women from different schools, grassroots women’s organization, religious congregations, and non-government organizations that hardly have the time to rest and reflect.  The retreat seminar has two themes:  Ecofeminist Spirituality that explore the teachings of Creation Centered Spirituality as well as that of Feminist Spirituality and how it contributes to enhancing women’s spirituality, creativity and artistic expression in its activities and exercises. 

Gender Fair Education (5 days). The Gender Fair Education is a five day course that seeks to provide a venue for educators and school administrators to reflect on their experiences, individually and collectively, for a deeper understanding of their own experiences and situations as women and men belonging to learning institutions (schools) where they help shape the lives of the younger generation. It also seeks to provide a venue for sharing strategies towards mainstreaming the gender perspective within the classrooms and schools, and practicing gender fairness in their respective spheres of work.

Gender Studies for Men (3 days) .  The GSM training is a three day course that aims to develop competent and capable men  to effectively integrate gender consciousness in their respective communities and setting. The participants are expected to understand that gender inequality does not benefit anyone — least of all themselves, and leads only to mistrust, insecurity and disharmony within the family and society.

At the end of the course, the participants are also expected to show personal commitment to gender equality. They are expected to challenge patriarchy by starting a process of change within their personal relations, domestic lives and sexuality. The “empowered man” that the Institute hopes to motivate through a GSM training has a more flexible approach to relationships, work and power. He is strong but tender, and respectful of the needs of women as well as men.