Women's Empowerment through the Arts

Happy Women's Day! Filiology is an advocate for women's empowerment by supporting their livelihood through our products. 

Did you know that there are numerous studies around the world connecting the importance of arts & crafts in women's empowerment? There are 4 ways arts & crafts empower women: financial independence, enhancing a sense of community as they raise their children, creating a support system and acting as a method of therapy & relaxation.

  

When you walk into a weaving community, you will either find a big open space with a bunch of looms and weavers under one roof or walk through a neighborhood where each house has a loom.

Spend a little time with them, and you will find that they tend to weave silently. For us, it was pretty hypnotic watching them move the shuttle/shuttles through the threads with ease - their arms and feet as if they were dancing. And there's this sense of satisfaction as we watched some of the patterns come to life with each thread that was woven. 

We also saw how the neighbors still knew each other and how the kids still ran around carefree.

Children would ask if they could help bead so that maybe they could earn a little extra and help out. When the women took breaks, they would gather and talk, casually feeding the dog or cat that came by with whatever they were eating: coffee, crackers, soda bought from the "sari sari" store (A small neighborhood store usually run by a family and built on the perimeter of their house. You can buy a variety of things from candy, soda, beer, snacks, toiletries and some of the local food home-cooked by the family). 

In some places, some of the women preferred to have the looms in their home and share them with their neighbors so that they could all make a living and still take care of their children. "Work from home", in a way, isn't a new concept. It once was part of everyday life and still continues in indigenous communities today.

Some of the top companies in the world offer work-from-home options and/or make an effort to have onsite daycare in an attempt to retain talented women as they raise their children in this high-tech world. This makes us wonder if indigenous communities were on the right track all along. 

International Guests - Shop here for products by the weavers in Luzon that we featured here. 

Philippine Residents - Shop here for products (FREE NATIONWIDE SHIPPING)