Representative Emmi A. De Jesus of the Gabriela Women’s Party would have been a physicist had she not been roused to activism by the fascism of the Martial Law era. She has been an advocate for women’s rights and the genuine emancipation of the Filipino people from exploitation and oppression for over three decades now. She was among the 10,000 women who, in April 1984, participated in the demonstration in Manila to defy then Filipino dictator President Marcos’ decree against the people’s exercise of their civil and political rights.
