University of San Carlos

Political Science Department

Law Bldg., Pelaez Corner Sanciangko St., Cebu City, 6000 Cebu

Duterte Language, Dirty Language

Duterte’s Sexism and Misogyny in public engagements

Joeddin Niño Olayvar

MAPS
Abstract

“Sexist language is language that expresses bias in favor of one sex and thus treats the other sex

in a discriminatory manner. In most cases, the bias is in favor of men and against women” (Lei,

2006). Within the first year of the Duterte administration, and even during his bid for presidency

in the 2016 National Elections, several observations coming from women’s organizations, media,

and ordinary citizens were raised towards the President’s sexist remarks made in public during

his speeches or media forums. The Commission on Human Rights even declared that Duterte

violated the Magna Carta for Women when he gave a comment about the rape case of an

Australian Missionary during a visit in prison in Davao City while Rodrigo Duterte while still

the mayor (Sabillo, K. 2016). Gender sensitivity among other key issues such as human rights

and independent foreign policy under the Duterte administration, is highly debated among

gender and human rights advocates. Duterte has asserted a gender-sensitive government during

his campaign period and by the time he took power. Amidst increasing criticisms on his various

‘sexist remarks’, Duterte reiterated that he is committed to a gender-sensitive government during

a speech on the celebration of the International Women’s Day (Gita, R. 2017). This paper intends

to qualify president Duterte’s gender-sensitivity through language. It will look into the speeches,

comments, and statements of the President that involves women and/or in addressing women.

The paper will dwell on the use of ‘power over’ under the empowerment approach of gender

studies to analyze the power-entitlement of Duterte as the president. Critical theory will also be

utilized to examine structural impact of the resulting pattern and the subsequent class component

of the involved structure(s). The paper will tackle the nature of Duterte’s power over women in

general specifically in the manner he depicts and addresses them in his public speeches and
argues his sexist attributes in language. At the end argues the critical points of Duterte’s so called

unique populism vis-à-vis his anti-feminist and sexist rhetoric.

Introduction

The scope of influence of a Philippine president is undoubtedly wide especially in the first years

of one’s term. President Rodrigo Duterte’s popularity and influence as a president is reflected in

the 2016 National elections when he won an overwhelming victory against 4 other major

presidential candidates with 16.6 million votes (Aljazeera, 2016) One of the key factors for this

victory was the widespread use of social media and the mobilization of what is referred to as

‘keyboard army’ (Bueno, A. 2017). It was through this that Duterte sustained his (supposed)

popularity as reflected by the results of the online poll conducted by Time Magazine on the top

most influential personalities, as consistently being stressed by his supporters and fan pages

online (Bolando, A. 2017). It is in the realm of social media that the statements and comments of

the President is being widely scrutinized by the public (and re-echoed by supporters).

This paper is a case study on Duterte’s major sexist/misogynist remarks towards women in

public engagements. It tries to validate the assumption of Duterte’s misogyny based on the use of

language. This will look into how Duterte qualifies as a misogynist and sexist president, and how

such situation will have an impact towards the scope of his influence as a president.
Statement of the Problem/Topic

The Philippine Commission on Women (PCW)formerly known as the National Commission on

the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW) focuses on mainstreaming women's concerns in policy

making, planning and programming of all government agencies after the change in

administration from the Marcos regime. This mandate resulted to various efforts for Gender and

Development from the government including the formulation of long term women in

development plan and the mandatory 5% GAD budget allocation for all government agencies

(http://www.pcw.gov.ph). In accordance to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of

Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Magna Carta for Women as an integral law

expanding the role of PCW, aims to combat gender discrimination towards women in different

variety including the use of sexist language. Chapter III, Section 5 of the Magna Carta of

Women states:

“The State, as the primary duty-bearer, shall: (a) Refrain from discriminating against women

and violating their rights; (b) Protect women against discrimination and from violation of their

rights by private corporations, entities, and individuals; and (c) Promote and fulfill the rights of

women in all spheres, including their rights to substantive equality and non-discrimination.”

(Magna Carta of Women, 2009).

Amidst Duterte’s promise of a gender-sensitive administration during his campaign for

presidency, he was also consistently criticized especially by gender advocates and women’s

groups for harassing women and untoward acts toward women observed and witnessed by the

public. As the most influential person in the bureaucracy and the entire nation, Duterte’s sexist

acts and regard towards women, is detrimental to the supposed mandate of the state to protect

women’s rights.

In response to this, my paper intends to examine the frequency of Duterte’s use of sexist

language in his usual public engagements. It aims to look into the major public engagements,

speeches, statements, and comments made by the President that addresses women in general and

women’s concerns in particular. The paper suggests an alarming state of sexism under the

Duterte administration starting with the extent of ‘domination’ and ‘power over’ in his choice of

words in addressing women in his public engagements. If it is possible, the paper will try to

locate the ramifications of such ideology towards the immediate and entire community

influenced by Duterte as a President. It will try to develop resolutions to be incorporated in the

recommendations for existing Gender and Development initiatives such as the Magna Carta for

Women.
Review of Related Literature

Much has been written about gender and development in the context of Filipino society,

particularly on the developed notions of gender and gender roles. Sexism in the Filipino

Language has also been a subject matter for most feminist scholars and gender advocate-

academics. According to Fisk and Glicke in “The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating

Hostile and Benevolent Sexism”, Sexism can be viewed as a multidimensional construct that

encompasses two sets of sexist attitudes: hostile and benevolent sexism. Hostile Sexism refers to

the direct attack, discrimination, and restriction towards the opposite sex (Fisk & Glicke, 1996).

This study focuses on the hostile sexism manifested in the language. Not only in Filipino

language in general, but in particular, its use by the highest official and most influential person in

the country, the Philippine president.

In looking into the impacts of Duterte’s sexist approach in public engagements, a study by

Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnel – Ginet titled “New generalizations and explanations in

language and gender research” suggests a development of language, including sexist language

within a specific ‘Community of practice’ as earlier defined by Lave & Wenger 1991. In this

research, the Community of practice can be as local as the family, the workplace, sports

organization, and fraternities, or as large as academic fields, religion, and nationality. This
influences the general direction of the individual and the entire ‘Community of Practice’. As the

study states:

“Participants come to each CofP with a history and a trajectory, a host of social and linguistic

expectations from other sources, and a set of abilities. The extent and ways in which these are

transformed depends on the nature of their engagement in the new CofP. Styles and frameworks

developed in a CofP, which have been experientially very important to individuals in their

previous histories, may be carried into interactions with strangers, or into communities of

practice new to them.”(Eckert & McConnel-Ginet, 1999)

This is a form of social-constructionist approach in analyzing the development of gender

concepts and gender roles in different levels. The emphasis of Community of Practice in GAD is

on the local-level formation of gender concept. The relationship of this local-level social

construction into the wider structures and relations is relevant to the discourse of Sexism in

Duterte’s language-use during public engagements.

As the head of a very huge community of practice i.e. the state, how is Duterte’s sexist language

affecting the rest of the bureaucracy and to a full extent, the Filipino population especially those

who claim full support to his administration.

The closes academic literature that tried to focus on the discriminatory treatment of Duterte

towards women in various public engagements is the article written by Alvin M. Narboada titled

“CASE STUDY ON THE PROSPECT OF GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT(GAD)

INITIATIVESUNDERTHE DUTERTE ADMINISTRATION”. The article argued primarily

tackles the irony and juxtaposition of Duterte’s attitude towards women and the supposed key

role of the state/government to ensure the protection and promotion of Women’s rights as

reaffirmed and strengthened in various legislations such as the Magna Carta for Women

(Narboada, 2016).

Critical theory as a framework for this analysis focuses on the power-relationship in the structure

that is the state. To elevate the discourse of the said article to the theoretical level from a mere

policy reflection, I would like to refer to what Max Horkheimer views as present in structures of

class society: Authority. Horkheimer classifies authority in two opposing types to which it is

dependent on the actual social conditions that we derive the type of authority that is present

between the two:

“Authority is the ground for a blind and slavish submission which originates subjectively in

psychic inertia and inability to make one's own decisions and which contributes objectively to

the continuation of constraining and unworthy conditions of life. But authority is also the ground

for consciously accepted and disciplined toil in a flourishing society”

In the context of a dominantly patriarchal and conservative society as the Philippines, we focus

on the first type of authority. This was further developed by Erich Fromm as the first to apply

critical theory to analyze gender gaps in societies. Here he establishes the concept of male

domination over women. It is a foundational approach on the sources and impacts of the use of

‘power-over’.
These are the frameworks to which this paper shall operate. With the hope of providing an

outline on the supposed trajectory of this administration as far as Gender and Development and

Gender mainstreaming is concerned.

Discussion in relation to the problem or Topics

Due to the efforts made by gender and women’s rights advocates, the Philippines have already

reached a higher level of articulation of Gender and Development. This is greatly manifested

with it being a signatory of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination

Against Women (CEDAW) and the creation into law of the Magna Carta for Women as

CEDAW’s localization. As part of its policy implementation, directives were even given to all

agencies to adopt a gender-sensitive environment and in all transactions, use gender-fair

language.

This is why many from the ranks of the gender rights advocates question the observable attitude

of President Duterte towards Women especially even during Public engagements. Pro-Duterte

groups and supposed women’s rights advocates have asserted the pro-women leadership of

Duterte as reflected in his track record as a mayor where it was awarded as a model city for the

protection of Women’s rights (Petalcorin, 2015). This does not, however, justify the misogynist

and sexist approach towards women. We enumerate major instances where he delivered

misogynist remarks to women or a woman during his speech:

1. During a Campaign rally, he admits publicly he has 2 wives and 2 girlfriends and that he

is a womanizer (GMA News online, 2015).

 2. In a Press Conference, President Duterte catcalls, GMA 7 News Reporter, Mariz Umali

(Esmaquel, P. 2016).

3. In a campaign rally, Duterte jokes about wanting to be the first one to rape the Australian

Missionary back in the 80’s. (Ranada, P. 2016)

4. During a program for the 3rd year anniversary of the Typhoon Yolanda tragedy in

Tacloban, Duterte told the public how he and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez ogled

on Vice President Leni Robredo’s knees in their meetings. (Pazzibungan, D. Salaverria,L.

2016)

5. In an Alumni Homecoming speech, Duterte casually tells the audience how he spanks

female police officers when he is ill-tempered (Inquirer, 2016)

6. In a Speech tackling his War on Drugs, Duterte jokes about congratulating a rapist if he

can rape a beauty queen (Al jazeera, 2017)

7. As part of his speech in defending his decision to declare Martial Law in Mindanao,

Duterte reassures his soldiers that they are safe even if they commit abuses such as rape.

(The Guardian, 2017)

8. While delivering a speech, He joked about being distracted by the legs of a senior official

of the Department of Agriculture. (abs-cbn, 2017)

These are just the major/most controversial ones that can be quickly found trough online search

engine platforms. These are the ones covering sexist approaches via the use of language or

through public speeches. Not covered here are actual incidents deemed sexist by stakeholders

such as the use of women in political campaigns and activities, Duterte’s physical acts towards

women such as kissing them in public among others. Also not covered are efforts by Duterte and
his administration that is discriminatory to women and an actual violation of their rights such as

the use of the alleged sex tape and other public-shaming efforts using misogyny.

Duterte’s former Chief of Staff, Patmei Ruivivar, who is also a women’s rights advocate referred

to Duterte as a “Benevolent Sexist” as she emphasizes Duterte’s good track record when it

comes to the promotion and protection of women’s rights (Ranada, P. 2017). According to Glick

and Fiske 1996, Benevolent sexism is defined “as a set of interrelated attitudes toward women

that are sexist in terms of viewing women stereotypitally and in restricted roles but that are

subjectively positive in feeling tone (for the perceiver) and also tend to elicit behaviors typically

categorized as prosocial (e.g., helping) or intimacyseeking(e.g., self-disclosure)”. Within the

context of the study which focuses on language, the message that is being delivered and the

choice of words of Duterte does not fall under Benevolent Sexism in the use of language.

Though there are several times when Duterte claims support and encourages women

participation and empowerment (See: March 9, 2017 headlines of Philstar), and if in these

instances the speeches are benevolently sexist, it is still bad. We do not consider benevolent

sexism a good thing, for despite the positive feelings it may indicate for the perceiver, its

underpinnings lie in traditional stereotyping and masculine dominance (e.g., the man as the

provider and woman as his dependent), and its consequences are often damaging (Glick & Fiske,

1996).

This phenomenon normalizes sexism in language towards the public. One cannot argue to set

aside the jokes as it is not the main message of the president. One cannot claim that the words
used are sexist but rather, the entire speeches (or at least the segments that contain sexism) are

sexist (Badoiu, Z. 2015)

The supposed community of practice that Duterte belongs to is assumed to be established to trace

the reasons for Duterte’s glaring misogynist attributes. It can be traced in terms of generational

classification. The older the person, the more conservative and traditional they are in viewing

gender roles and issues. It can also be in terms of work and work experience. Most of his years

were spent as a politician and with politicians. It is an open-secret that many of our elected

officials are known womanizers, adulterers, etc. These can be delved into by other researchers,

but for this specific academic pursuit, we focus on the Duterte’s impact on the communities of

practice to which he is very much influential: The Bureaucracy and the Population.

The antifeminist trend of the administration which was established back when he was still

running for the presidency may have a considerable effect on the psyche on the people in the

bureaucracy especially to those who have pledged allegiance to the administration from the start,

or those who have jumped from the other parties. This is evident in the succeeding instances of

misogynist remarks among public officials aligned with the president. Not only did House

Speaker Alvarez for instance, defend the remarks of the president stated above, he himself

followed the same public attitude of the President.

The concept of domination based on Erich Fromm’s argument is evident in this development. In

fact we can consider the interplay of power within state structures at a given period to influence

the restructuring of gender concepts the public and the people in bureaucracy has developed. The
structure dominated by wealthy men will impose an elite and patriarchal culture. Usually, laws

are the ultimate translation for fundamental class interests. In the context of gender

knowledge/consciousness, it is the language. Thus the domino effect it had amongst elected

public officials:

 Senator Sotto joking about Judy Taguiwalo’s single parenthood referring to it as “Na-ano

lang”

 Congress using supposed sex scandal as public evidence for congressional trial of Leila

de lima despite the existence of laws protecting women’s rights in instances like this such

as the anti-voyeurism law

 House Speaker Pantaleon alvarez admits to committing adultery

Note that there are no official complaints or even a statement critical to these overwhelming

sexist remarks of the president coming from the primary agencies. Perhaps this maintains the

assumption of critical theory in the role of structures and institutions within an existing system to

be part of the machinery to advance the interest in maintaining that system. If the system does

not allow change, then supposed institutional functionalities for change are deemed inutile.

On the part of the public, the noise comes primarily from social media where the listed instances

of misogynist messages were reaffirmed. In the first year, there is a relatively strong social media

presence for Duterte supporters. Some are labeled as “Dutertards” – those who are not capable of

looking at the bad side of Duterte even to the extent of not only defending, but applauding the
Presidents’ full-on misogyny. Later on, it is proven that most of them are products of social

media engineering by online trolls (Bradshaw,S. Howard, P. 2017).

Conclusion

Based on the theory of “community of practice” in part of the social constructionist approach, the

trend undertaken by Duterte with regards the welfare of women, particularly in the language of

his public engagements have great impact on the mindset of those involved or covered by the

community of practice to which Duterte is most influential.

The use of “power over” by powerful institutions and structures does not necessitate intentional

to be operational. Being head of the institution or structure which is the state, the position to

which collective power is concentrated is in the office of the President. Whatever language he

uses and message he relays translate the consciousness of the leaders that may be a huge factor in

the consequent consciousness development or reconstruction. This is in fact detrimental to

whatever level of consciousness our nation has achieved via the institutional reforms and

intervention by the state through the institutionalization of Women’s Welfare legislations such as

the Magna Carta for Women and Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children.
Recommendation

Based on this, the researcher recommends a holistic review of the Magna Carta for Women by

all agencies of the government most especially the Office of the President. Develop a more

specific mechanics on the use of proper i.e. gender fair language for agencies.

There is a need for more studies specifically elaborating on the application of sexism in language

in modern Philippine politics.

On the theoretical side, there should be more extensive studies pertaining to Community of

Practice as part of social constructivism as this paper has tried at some point. The study of

community of practice focuses on explaining the sources of gender discrimination at a local level

of practice. It can be developed as a tool to explain the scope of impact of a certain actor in that

COfP to a larger COfp such as in this case, Duterte’s impact on large community of Practice

which is the bureaucracy and the entire Filipino population.

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