the most powerful woman in the world...

not marian rivera for heaven and hell's sake...

i am talking about amaya the character in the gma epicserye. i wish it should have been played by angel locsin instead who looks more filipina than the half spanish, marian rivera. nonetheless, it was a great move by gma to unearth pre-spanish history for the filipino to watch so i am buying this dvd. i just hope more shows such as amaya will be created.

for years, we have been duped into believing our history textbooks that our country has only been visited by foreigners when in fact, it was more than just visits. we had civilizations which catholicism destroyed and one of the hallmarks of those civilizations were warrior women like amaya and urduja. pre-spanish history can be traced via the filipino martial art called, "kali" or "arnis". it was during those times that women have the responsibility to protect the home while the men are away to hunt food so all women should be knowledgeable in handling bladed weapons. the spaniards despised this idea so they tamed the women immediately thru religion as soon as they were able to learn the language. the "maria clara" is the epitome of a woman back then. until now, you still hear the old people saying that what a woman should be is a maria clara, someone who follows her father and her husband and someone who should always stay indoors to take care of the children and do household chores. not someone who travels alone, earns double phd's, knows how to fight, and contests with men.

with the advent of industrialization, manpower -- in the literal sense of man power -- wherein the use of body skills are lessened as machines took over most of the jobs, more mind-based workers are needed and these type of jobs were more appealing to women. more women became workers as the university opened its doors to women thereby, in the world we have now, we have more women fussing over the streets of manila to go to work. we have different urdujas and amayas now but the greatest question is, will the church be conquered by women soon? will there be priestesses? will they let women run religion? this is definitely something worth witnessing. i just hope i am still alive by then.