CHAPTER 14:
Rizal’s Legacy to Young
Filipino Women
Rizal’s Letter to the Young Women of Malolos
 This letter was written in Tagalog, while Rizal was in London, upon the request
of Marcelo H. del Pilar.
 On December 12, 1888, a group of twenty women of Malolos petitioned
Governor-General Weyler for permission to open a night school so that they
may study Spanish under Teodoro Sandiko.
 Father Felipe Garcia objected resulting into the turning down of the petition by
the governor general.
 Alberta Ui Tangcoy, Teresa and Natia Tontoco, Merced, Agapita, Basilia, Paz and
Feliciana Tiongson, Eugenia and Aurea Tangchangco, Leoncia and Olympia Reyes
and Maria de los Reyes presented a petition to Governor Weyler.
Rizal’s Letter to the Young Women of Malolos
 In the end they triumphed and were granted permission on condition that
Señorita Guadalupe Reyes should be their teacher.
 The letter Rizal transmitted to the young women of Malolos focused on the
following salient points:
1. The rejection of the spiritual authority of the friars
2. The defense of private judgment
3. Qualities Filipino mothers need to possess
4. Duties and responsibilities of Filipino mothers to their children
5. Duties and responsibilities of a wife to her husband
6. Counsel to young women n their choice of a lifetime partner
Rizal’s Message to Filipino Women
 Based from the foregoing part pf Rizal’s letter, it appears that Rizal’s ultimate
desire was to afford Filipino women with the same opportunities enjoyed by
men in education.
 Moreover, he urged women to be vigilant over their rights and not be docile
and passive in their attitude towards many injustices forced upon them.
Responsibilities of Filipino Mothers to their
Children
 According to Rizal, youth is a flower-bed that is to bear rich fruit and must
accumulate wealth for its descendants.
 Rizal was very certain as to the duties mothers should fulfill to their children
are:
1. To raise children close to the image of God;
2. To awaken and prepare the mind of the child for every good and desirable
idea;
3. To teach children to prefer death with honor to life with dishonor.
Qualities Mothers Have To Possess
 The Filipino mother has to be a noble wife
 She has to rear her children in the service of the state.
 A wife has to set standards of behavior for men around her
Aid her husband, share his perils; refrain from causing him worry; and sweeten his
moments affliction
 There are three basic things a wife must install in the mind of her husband
1. activity and industry
2. noble behavior
3. worthy sentiments
Rizal’s Advice to Unmarried Men and Women
 In choosing a lifetime partner, do not consider physical beauty nor the
sweetness of disposition of a woman, but rather give priority to firmness of
character and lofty ideas.
 On the other hand, Rizal counselled young women not to surrender their
womanhood to a weak and timid heart. There are three things that a young
woman must look for a man she is going to marry:
- a noble and honored name
- a manly heart
- a high spirit incapable of being satisfied with engendering slaves.
Rizal’s Reminders on Equality, Self-Respect
and True Spirit of Religion
1. The tyranny of some is possible only through cowardice and negligence on
the part of others.
2. What makes one compatible is lack of dignity and abject fear of one who
holds one in contempt.
3. Ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks, so he s; a man who does not
think for himself and allows himself to be guided by the thought of another is
like beast led by a halter.
4. He who loves his independence must first aid his fellowman, because he who
refuses protection to others will find himself without it.
Rizal’s Reminders on Equality, Self-Respect
and True Spirit of Religion
5. If the Filipina will not change her ode of being, let her rear no more children,
let her merely give birth to them. She must cease to be the mistress of the
home, otherwise she will unconsciously betray husband, child, native land
and all.
6. All men are born equal, naked, without bonds. God did not create man to be
slave; nor did he endow him with intelligence to have him hoodwinked or
adorn him with reason to have him deceived by others.
7. Consider well what kind of religion they are teaching you. See whether it is
the will of God or according to the teachings of Christ that he poor be
succored and those who suffer alleviated.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING