OGC to Spearhead Women’s Month Celebration at UP Open University

UP Open University (UPOU) is joining in National Women’s Month celebration this 1-31 March 2023. The Office of Gender Concerns (OGC), led by Dr. Finaflor F. Taylan as Director, spearheads this celebration, with month-long activities to be done in coordination with various UPOU units and offices.

UPOU’s celebration carries the theme “ UPOU Advancing Gender Equality, Sustainability, and Inclusive Society through and in the context of Open and Distance e-Learning (ODeL).” This is drawn from the theme of International Women’s Day 2023 by the United Nations (UN) “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” and the 2023 National Women’s Month Celebration “WE for gender equality and inclusive society.”

UPOU’s women’s month celebration will feature the university’s initiatives and plans for innovation and technology for gender equality. This will include the framework of the university on the university of the future, SDG, MOOC framework, etc., and the various initiatives of the university, past and present on improving access to education, gender equality, and inclusivity like the iPinay project and other public service projects we had in the past plus our MOOC on Gender Sensitivity and our degree programs on gender.

The celebration will kick off with the International Women’s Day Forum on 8 March 2023, and the presentation of the Gender Sensitivity MOOC, UPOU’s participation in the One Billion Rising Campaign against Violence Against Women. The BUKAS Lab: Exhibit of Undergraduate Student Outputs from the Wearable Futures Hackathon, by the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS) is ongoing at the UPOU Oblation Hall. The exhibit was formally opened on 2 March 2023, during the UPOU 28th Anniversary celebration.

Open Educational Resources on Women/Gender will also be featured at the UPOU Networks in coordination with the Multimedia Center. Also, OGC is coordinating with the Faculty of Education (FEd) for the Panel Session on Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). 

The Faculty of Management and Development Studies (FMDS) will have an online exhibit on Women Social Workers Doing Social Action. This is a product of the Master of Social Work students taking Social Work 231, and will also be held in celebration of the Social Work Day held every 21 March. An Open Talk episode with an Indigenous People (IP) Women Leader on Permaculture and Health will also be conducted. Ms. Nenieveh “Weng” Glinoga, Permaculture Designer and Owner of Glinoga Integrated Farm, is the resource person. A round table discussion on  Women Technopreneurs is also scheduled on 22 March 2023.

In tandem with the Women’s Month celebration, FMDS is also celebrating the International Day of the Forest where a ceremonial tree planting will be done, the Los Baños Flower and Garden Show will be held (21 -31 March 2023), and three talks will be conducted on the topics of Permaculture, Indigenous Trees, Horticulture and Integrating Women/Gender.

The Women’s month celebration will close with a forum on Gender Equality, Disability, and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) organized by students conducting their Field Instruction at OGC. 

The UPOU Office of Gender Concerns, with the UPOU Gender Focal Point System (GFPS), was established to institutionalize UPOU’s commitment to gender mainstreaming by specifically engendering its teaching, research, and public service activities, with the end view of upholding equality in women and men and fulfilling and promoting women’s human rights and development. The OGC and GFPS work with all UPOU stakeholders toward more gender-responsive governance in UPOU.

Written by  Anna Cañas-Llamas

Edited by Myra C. Almodiel

Details and Graphics from the UPOU Office of Gender Concerns