RIZAL’S LEGACY TO YOUNG FILIPINO WOMEN

Prepared by:San Juan, Ara I.Cruz, Elain V.Mistica, Romela Gene A.

On December 12, 1888, a group of twenty women of Malolos petitioned Governor-General Weyler for permission to open a night school so that they may study Spanish under Teodoro Sandiko.

Father Felipe Garcia

Alberta Ui Tangcoy, Teresa and Natia Tontoco, Merced, Agapita, Basilia, Paz and Feliciana Tiongson, Eugenia and Aurea Tangchangco, Leoncia and Olympia Reyes and Maria de los Reyes

Rizal’s Letter to Young Women Of Malolos

February 22, 1889The rejection of the spiritual authority of the friars;The defense of private judgment;Qualities Filipino mothers need to possess;Duties and responsibilities of Filipino mothers to their

children;Duties and responsibilities of a wife to her husband;Counsel to young women n their choice of a lifetime

partner.

Rizal’s message to Filipino women:

“Now that you have responded to our vehement of clamor for public welfare; now that you have shown a good example to fellow young women, who, like you, desire to have their eyes opened and to be lifted from their prostration, our hope s roused, now we are confident of victory. The Filipino woman no longer bows her head and bends her knees; her hope in the future is revived; gone is the mother who helps to keep her daughter in the dark; who educates her in self-contempt and moral annihilation.

It is no longer the highest wisdom to bow the head to every unjust order, the highest goodness to smile at an insult, to seek solace in humble tears, etc…etc.

God gave each one his own mind and his own conscience so that he can distinguish between right and wrong. All men are born without chains, free and no one can subject the will and spirit of another. Why would you submit to another your noble and free thought? It is cowardice and an error to believe that blind obedience is piety and it is arrogance to think and reflect. Ignorance is ignorance and not goodness and honor.

God, Fountain of Wisdom, does not expect man, created in Hiss image, to allow himself to be fooled and blinded. The gift of reason with which we are endowed must be brightened and utilized.

we shall not falter if you help us. God will help us to dispel the mist for He is the God of truth; and the former brilliance of the Filipino woman will be restored undiminished. She lacks nothing but a free mind for she has an excess of goodness.”

RESPONSIBILITIES OF FILIPINO MOTHERS TO THEIR CHILDREN

“youth is a flower-bed that is to bear rich fruit and must accumulate wealth for its descendants.”

To raise children close to the image of God;To awaken and prepare the mind of the

child for every good and desirable idea;To teach children to prefer death with

honor to life with dishonor.

QUALITIES MOTHERS HAVE TO POSSESS

The Filipino mother has to be a noble wifeShe has to rear her children in the service of the state.A wife has o set standards of behaviour for men around

her3 basic things a wife must install in the mind of her

husband-activity and industry-noble behaviour-worthy sentiments

Aid her husband, share his perils; refrain from causing him worry; and sweeten his moments affliction.

Rizal’s Advice to Unmarried Men and Women

In choosing a lifetime partner, do not consider physical beauty nor the sweetness of disposition of a woman, but rather give priority to firmness of character and lofty ideas.

On the other hand, Rizal counselled young women not to surrender their womanhood to a weak and timid heart. There are three things that a young woman must look for a man she is going to marry:

- a noble and honoured name- a manly heart- a high spirit incapable of being satisfied with

engendering slaves.

Rizal’s reminders on Equality, Self- Respect and the true Spirit of Religion

1. The tyranny of some is possible only through cowardice and negligence on the part of others.

2. What makes one compatible is lack of dignity and abject fear of one who holds one in contempt.

3. Ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks, so he s; a man who does not think for himself and allows himself to be guided by the thought of another is like beast led by a halter,

4. He who loves his independence must first aid his fellowman, because he who refuses protection to others will find himself without it.

5. If the Filipina will not change her ode of being, let her rear no more children, let her merely give birth to them. She must cease to be the mistress of the home, otherwise she will unconsciously betray husband, child, native land and all.

6. All men are born equal, naked, without bonds. God did not create man to be slave; nor did he endow him with intelligence to have him hoodwinked or adorn him with reason to have him deceived by others.

7. Consider well what kind of religion they are teaching you. See whether it is the will of God or according to the teachings of Christ that he poor be succored and those who suffer alleviated.

Thank you for listening