#GirlDefenders

Juanday Esmael, (Maguindanao Alliance of Youth Advocates) MAYA president, fixes the Child Early and Forced Marriage info material before the session in Guindulungan, Maguindanao. MAYA is supported by the The Creating Spaces Project, which is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Oxfam Pilipinas, United Youth of the Philippines-Women (UnYPhil-Women), Al-Mujadilah Women’s Association (AMWA) and other partner organizations. (Photo: Princess Taroza/Oxfam)

The Future of BARMM: Students stand up against child marriage

Juanday and Farhana are childhood best friends who grew up in Guindulungan, Maguindanao. They were classmates from elementary until college, and both were student leaders. Since grade school, Juanday and Farhana witnessed early child and forced marriages and violence against women in their...

A portrait of Asma Lumenda, an active member of the “Girl Defenders” Alliance working to end child marriage in the Philippines, in Muti, Guindulungan, Maguindanao. The Girl Defenders Alliance is part of the Creating Spaces Project, which provides livelihood for young mothers. It is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada and implemented by Oxfam Pilipinas, United Youth of the Philippines-Women (UnYPhil-Women), Al-Mujadilah Women’s Association (AMWA) and other partner organizations.

Lifelong lessons of early marriage

Asma chose to be married at the age of 15, but her mother did not allow her. According to her, she decided to marry her current husband because of love.  "Early marriage is legal to us Muslims. However, I realized that it is difficult to marry and become a mother at an early age, especially if my...

Farhana Ganoy, a MAYA youth leader, teaches young people in her community about the impacts of child, early, and forced marriage in Guindulungan, Maguindanao. (Photo: Princess Taroza/Oxfam)

Oxfam welcomes HOR’s 2nd reading approval of bill banning child marriage in PH

International humanitarian and development organization Oxfam on Tuesday lauded the House of Representatives for approving on 2nd reading House Bill 9943, which seeks to end child marriage in the country.

Oxfam lauds House committee’s move to approve in principle bill ending child marriage

International humanitarian and development organization Oxfam on Wednesday welcomed the House of Representatives Committee on Women and Gender Equality’s (CWGE) decision to approve in principle a proposed bill seeking to end child marriage in the country.

Public hearing on child, early, and forced marriage (Photo: Rina Fulo/Oxfam)

Ending child marriage is our shared responsibility

In January 2020, Oxfam joined the Philippine Legislators' Committee on Population and Development Foundation, children’s networks, government agencies, and other development partners in this year’s first public hearing set by the Senate Committee on Women, Family Relations, and Gender Equality. We...

Girl Defenders (Photo: Linding Ko Kalombayan/AMDF)

‘Girl defenders’ call for urgent passage of house bill ending child marriage in the Philippines

In celebration of Women’s Month, women’s and children’s rights activists, dubbed ‘girl defenders’ across the Philippines called on the House of Representatives to immediately pass the bill prohibiting and declaring child marriage as illegal.

Pasya Advocazine (Issue 1)

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations and groups working in SRHR in the Philippines have sounded the alarm on the possible negative effects the pandemic will have on people’s SRHR. This article was originally published on wgnrr.org.

“The strength of my resolve to champion the rights of young women and girls is far greater than any fear of challenging long-held cultural practices or beliefs. If we will not stand up for our human rights, who else will?”, said campaigner Sittie Mohamad of Al-Mujadilah Development Foundation, a women’s rights organization based in Lanao del Sur campaigning to end child marriage in the Philippines. (Photo was taken in March 2020, before the Covid-19 lockdown) Photo Credit: Vina Salazar/Oxfam

Girls Not Brides – weaving the ‘evidence quilt’ for gender transformative law reform

Girls have been given much reason to hope in the Philippines. This November, a historic first, the Senate unanimously approved the Girls Not Brides bill, which proposes to criminalize child marriage .

Tanumbay, 22, from Maguindanao got married at age 10 to a man 20 years older than her. ‘I didn’t want to marry, but I had no choice. It was my father’s wish before he died,’ she said. Tanumbay was 12 years old when she gave birth to her eldest son. Now, she has five children. Tanumbay never experienced going to school because of poverty. Photo: April Abello-Bulanadi/Oxfam

Intersecting Injustices: The links between social norms, access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, and violence against women and girls

In the Philippines, poor sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of women and girls is a grave public health challenge: one in five girls is a mother by age 19, two-thirds of women are not using any form of birth control, and more than a third of women’s pregnancies are unwanted.

‘Girl Defenders’ laud Senate declaration of child marriage as a public crime

In a historic and unanimous vote among Senators, Senate Bill 1373, also known as the ‘Girls Not Brides Act’ has passed the third and final reading on Monday, November 9.

The future is equal