Iris Marion Young’s Faces of Oppression and the Oppression of Women in the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012

Abstract

In this paper, I wish to argue that it is necessary to have an earnest understanding of the plight of women before crafting laws that directly impact their lives. Against the backdrop of my discussion is the notion of “oppression” offered by Iris Marion Young in her book Justice and Politics of Difference. I recount Young’s description of the “faces of oppression” and use her notion of oppression to show that the process of policy-making in the Philippines is mired by the oppressive dominance of patriarchal bias. In her book, The RH Bill Story: Contentions and Compromises, Marilen J. Dañguilan provides the most comprehensive study of the role that Filipina women played during the drafting of the 1987 Philippine Constitution and The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012. I draw on the work of Dañguilan in order to cite instances of oppression of women in policy making.