page_title: Women in the Philippines
section_title: Archaic epoch
hierarchical_section_title: Women in the Philippines / History / Archaic epoch
caption_attribution_description: English: Cagayan Valley Woman from the Boxer Codex
context_page_description: The role of women in the Philippines is explained based on the context of Filipino culture, standards, and mindsets. The Philippines is described to be a nation of strong women, who directly and indirectly run the family unit, businesses, government agencies and haciendas.
  Although they generally define themselves in the milieu of a male-dominated post-colonial society, Filipino women live in a culture that is focused on the community, with the family as the main unit of society, but not always as this is a stereotype. It is in this framework of Philippine hierarchical structure, class differences, religious justifications, and living in a globally developing nation wherein Filipino women struggle for respect. Compared to other parts of Southeast Asia, women in Philippine society have always enjoyed a greater share of equality.
context_section_description: Some pre-colonial social structures of the Philippines gave equal importance to maternal and paternal lineage. This bilateral kinship system accorded Philippine women enormous power within a clan.  They were entitled to property, engage in a trade and could exercise their right to divorce her husband.  They could also become village chiefs in the absence of a male heir.  Before the arrival of the Spaniards, Filipino women could also achieve status as medicine women or high-priestesses and astrologers.
caption: A cagayan woman. Boxer Codex
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