The Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) conducted two webinars in celebration of National Women’s Month: “Mental Health in the Workplace” on March 7 and “Use of Gender-Fair Language” on March 14.
Dan Paolo R. Yema, a staunch mental health advocate and trained clinical psychologist who works in several parts of Luzon, was the resource person for the Mental Health in the Workplace webinar. Part of his advocacy is organizing and facilitating training programs and activities on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, Psychological First Aid, Mental Health, Self-Care, and Well-being and Crisis Management and Traumatology.
Attended by 76 participants from different PCAARRD divisions, the webinar highlighted facing and managing anxiety and stress-associated concerns of employees related to their return to regular reporting to office after pandemic-related restrictions were eased. Yema shared that anxiety is a normal response to stress and an expected part of life. He also enumerated some reminders on how to deal with stress and anxiety such as being mindful of others, being kind to oneself and others, and acknowledging one’s feeling of anxiety, among others.
Towards the latter part of his talk, Yema introduced exercises to manage anxiety and stress such as keeping a self-esteem log, starting an anxiety-inducing project, and practicing positive self-talk in the face of failure, all of which he left for the participants to practice at their own time. The webinar was well-received by the PCAARRD staff due to its timeliness. A participant mentioned that the discussions will surely help in navigating the constant changes in the workplace brought by the pandemic.
This was followed by a webinar on the Use of Gender-Fair Language on March 14, which was attended by 111 participants from the different divisions of PCAARRD. The webinar aimed to increase the knowledge and appreciation of the staff for various GAD concepts, specifically the use of gender-fair language.
Mary Barby Badayos-Jover, a certified member of the Philippine Commission on Women’s Gender and Development (GAD) Resource Pool and Director of the University of the Philippines Visayas’ GAD Program from 2013-2020, served as resource person for this webinar. She introduced some basic gender concepts and the importance of using gender-fair language and ran-through some policy imperatives of gender mainstreaming, as well as some related policies on the use of gender-fair language.
Badayos-Jover emphasized that the use of gender-fair language aims to neutralize a language to avoid bias in the interpretation of the masculine linguistic forms and will allow the readers to focus on the subject instead of the identity of the subject. She ended her discussion with a reminder to everyone to examine one’s language to reduce or eliminate choices that silence, stereotype, or constrain others. The staff felt enlightened with the information introduced by the webinar and also appreciated the speaker for being articulate and attentive to the participants.
The webinars are part of a series of webinars organized by the Gender and Development and Special Projects Unit (GADSPU) of the Socio-Economics Research Division for the 2022 National Women’s Month Celebration. The two other webinars will focus on the Safe Spaces Act (RA No. 11313) and Use of Harmonized Gender and Development Guidelines (HGDG) and Enhanced Gender Mainstreaming Evaluation Framework (GMEF).