Note 52 — Chapter XIII · (continued 2)

Of the position of woman in the Philippines and its cause, LeRoy says (Philippine Life, pp. 49, 50), although perhaps a trifle too strongly, as woman in the Philippines seems always to have enjoyed a certain amount of freedom, as compared to her sisters in other oriental countries: “The position of woman in the Philippines is not that typical of the Orient. If we may not say that the Philippines are not at all oriental in this respect, at any rate it is perfectly safe to say that in no other part of the Orient have women relatively so much freedom or do they play so large a part in the control of the family or in social and even industrial affairs. It is a common remark that Filipino women, both of the privileged and of the lower classes, are possessed of more character, and often too of more enterprise, than the men. There seems every reason for ascribing this relative improvement in the position of woman in the Philippines as compared with surrounding countries in the Orient to the influence of the Christian religion and the position which they have assumed under the teaching of the Church and the directorship of the friars.” ↑