The World Was Not Always Patriarchal; Pre-hispanic Philippines' Matriarchy
When I read accounts of the past, the first thing that comes to mind is that men ruled. Men have the final say on everything. Men are in control, or so? For the rest of the world, it may be yes, but for the pre-hispanic Filipino people, patriarchy was not always the thing. Women and men were treated equally; men respected women; women had their own stand in the community; women's roles were not limited to giving birth alone or serving men in their homes; women did far more than what was expected of them.  The way women were treated during the pre-Hispanic period paved the way for the rights of women today. They played critical roles both inside and outside the organization. Before it was even colonized, women were already active in business, politics, and even religion. In Volume 2 of the Kasaysayan series, families during the precolonial period were much more eager for the birth of a daughter than a son. This is due to the fact that during marriage, grooms give dowries to parents and relatives of the bride as a form of compensation for her loss. The groom is expected to work for the family before marriage. After marriage, Filipino women retained their names and the husband's usually took the bride's name if she came from a family with large connections and merits. Pre-hispanic Filipinos have so-called binukot, a practice that secludes a young woman from her parents at the age of 3 or 4, where no man is allowed to see her until she is ready for marriage at the age of 13 or 14, when she is treated as a princess. Binukots belonged to the elite class and were esteemed as equal to the rank of the datu, or ruler, for they were desired by the datus as their wives. Datus held the highest power in the community, but, of course, one cannot rule out the existence of female datus. The Babaylans (Visayans) and Catalonans (Tagalog) are the only people who can compete with the datus' power. The reason why babaylans were highly esteemed is due to their ability to negate the dark magic of the datus, heal the sick, ensure a safe pregnancy and child birth, and lead rituals with offerings to the various divinities. This social order came to an end when the Philippines was colonized by the Spaniards.
Resources:
Philippines Prehistoric Culture - Philippine History - Pinoy Edition. (n.d.). Www.pinoyedition.com. Retrieved September 10, 2022, from https://www.pinoyedition.com/history/philippines-prehistoric-culture/
BINUKOT: Women Secluded and Veiled in Philippine History • THE ASWANG PROJECT. (2017, December 8). THE ASWANG PROJECT. https://www.aswangproject.com/binukot/
LIMOS , M. (2019, March 18). The Fall of the Babaylan. Esquire. Retrieved September 10, 2022, from https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/the-fall-of-the-babaylan-a2017-20190318
