Beyond Labels

"Babae Ako, Hindi Babae Lang"

        This phrase has taken a toll on me ever since I encountered it. A phrase so simple, yet it lingers deep. An echo of voices that refuse to weep. For too long, we've been cast aside, seen as fragile, as if we hide. They call us weak, soft, and small, a flower that bends, a voice too small. But have they seen the storms we bear? The battles we've fought, the weight we wear? We are more than shadows behind great men, more than muses with inkless pens. We are thinkers, builders, warriors too, breaking the chains, they thought we outgrew. Yet still, they silence, they suppress, they bind, trapping our worth in an outdated mind. Are we just women? Is that what anyone only see? A delicate frame with no destiny?

A world that sees us as merely there,

For service, for silence—how is that fair?

             Yet, several women's hands have built, their voice has led, their words have sparked what history said. Women are not men's shadow, not their pawn, not made to serve, then be withdrawn. Women dream, they fight, they carve their space, unbound by limits anyone dare to place.

        A man speaks, and the world listens. A woman speaks, and doubt thickens. Why must we prove again and again that we can stand tall as men?  To the women who fought, who bled, who spoke when silence was all they were fed. They proved they were more than nothing at all. They paved the road with strength and might, for us to claim what is ours by right. 

Why must our rights be up for debate?

Why must our dreams bear extra weight?

        Equality will never be more than a dream, if women are drowned in society’s scheme. How can women rise when walls remain, when progress is slow, when shackles remain? Equality is not a favor to request, but a right that should have never been withheld. It is the right to walk unchained, to speak, to lead, to not be restrained. For women are not just women, and until the world learns what we mean, equality will remain just a dream.

We are more than skin and bone, more than a title the world has thrown.

REFERENCES:

Blogger: <http://www.blogger.com>

Hent. (2022, April 3). Benguet celebrates Women’s Month: ‘Babae ako, hindi babae lang.’ HERALD EXPRESS | News in Cordillera and Northern Luzon. https://baguioheraldexpressonline.com/benguet-celebrates-womens-month-babae-ako-hindi-babae-lang/

M, A. (2024, February 20). Empowering Women: The role and impact of women Empowerment clubs. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/empowering-women-role-impact-empowerment-clubs-aishwarya-m-depzc