A Study on the Feminization of Housing Rights Movement as Evidenced by the Contribution of National Democratic Women Activists in the Occupy Bulacan Movement

Abstract

The study highlights the active participation of women in the housing rights movement, showing that women are able to juggle political and social responsibilities with their domestic and economic role to their families. This aims to break away from the masculinist narratives of social transformation. Through a Marxist-Feminist lens with which the accounts are to be analyzed, the study accentuates the liberating role of women where, first and foremost, they struggle for the liberation of their class base which will ultimately liberate them from gender oppression. Moreover, literature on the Philippine housing movement, including the insurgent housing practices conducted by activists from the urban poor sector, are lacking and are not documented enough. Additionally, the Occupy Bulacan Movement has been a transformative event for the housing resistance, yet there is also a significant lack in literature about it. Media coverage and state propaganda also paint a pejorative image on the occupation and to the members of the urban poor sector who participated in it, especially on the National Democratic Mass Organization (NDMO) KADAMAY that led the resistance. Data produced from this study address all these.