Gender and development, according to Ameerah D. Milano
Ameerah D. Milano started working on gender and development (GAD) at Far Eastern University (FEU) two years after the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier she had joined the roster of faculty in the Department of Language and Literature of the Institute of Arts and Sciences.
“A coordinator’s advocacy of GAD must be clear. Indicators and outputs should be transparent,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino. Before, said Milano, one’s passion for GAD may have been enough. Now, such passion must be accompanied by a sense of purpose.
Advocates for GAD should follow a predictable trajectory, she said. “What do you want to achieve in five years? Will your vision be the same—not just for yourself but also for your community?”
Even this vision must be based on research, said Milano. “It can’t be that just because we like doing something, we do it.” For instance, FEU’s support of diversity and policy on inclusion developed after years of study.
“As a development framework, GAD seeks to achieve gender equality by transforming unequal power relations between men and women and recognizing both as active agents of development,” said the Commission on Audit.
Milano added, “You don’t just focus on gender itself, but also the intersections of gender. For example, how can you fight for the rights of a member of the LGBT community who is part of the indigenous people?”
Security Policy Fellowship
“Eighteen of us were closely mentored at the Geneva Center for Security Policy [GCSP] although we attended other classes. We investigated the intersections of gender, race, and nation in our positionality,” said Milano, who is on a fellowship at GCSP—"an international foundation serving a global community of individuals and organizations. Its mission is to advance peace, security and international cooperation.”
She said they also examined how they can work more with the people. They asked themselves: “how can we create negotiations and dialogues?”
“It is a one-year fellowship, but I have just come home from a monthlong study leave in Geneva. I will be going back to Switzerland next year to present the results of my research [participatory],” said Milano. She is conducting a study about the women in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), specifically looking into their financial inclusion in program and policy.
Resuming her fellowship next year will be exciting for Milano. Around 2.393 million voters were expected to take part in parliamentary elections last Sept. 14 in Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao del Norte, and Maguindanao del Sur. “During the early 2026 voter registration push leading up to the election, new registration applications in BARMM tracked almost perfectly down the middle, with a nearly even gender distribution [42,404 female applicants vs. 42,455 male applicants],” reported Christine Boton for The Philippine STAR.
Highlights, vision
“In the coming years I hope to see GAD as a focal point system mainstreamed in the university—mainstreamed with both teaching and non-teaching personnel,” said Milano. “It should become part of our FEU identity.”
Milano said FEU’s advantage is “we practice what we preach,” so to speak. One day, she said, she hopes to see other institutions use GAD at FEU as their benchmark.
Then Netherlands Ambassador to the Philippines, H.E. Marielle Geraedts, applauded the university’s collaboration with champions for inclusion and equality during the launch of “Rainbow Report Card” in 2023. She added that it was a delight to witness this important event at the “beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive FEU campus.”
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