Philippine Women's University

The Philippine Women's University is a non-stock, non-profit, non-sectarian educational institution for men and women from elementary to college level.PWU's Basic Education is catered by the Jose Abad Santos Memorial School in Manila and Quezon City.HistoryHigher education for Filipino womenA group of women in the Philippines in 1919 sought to further empower women of the country by allowing them access to education. Under the American administrative oversight from 1900 to July 4, 1946, education and democracy were the core of America's goal in "developing" the Philippines. Among the first, and perhaps more important, American legacy is the recognition of equality of women in the Philippine islands (years before mainland America embraced the concept).Seven women who were prominent members of then Manila's social elite — Clara Aragon, Concepcion Aragon, Francisca Tirona Benitez, Paz Marquez Benitez, Carolina Ocampo Palma, Mercedes Rivera and Socorro Marquez Zaballero — founded the Philippine Women's College (PWC) with the assistance of the prominent lawyer, José Abad Santos, who drafted the university's papers: its constitution and by-laws. (Abad Santos was appointed by President Manuel L. Quezon to the Supreme Court of the Philippines just before the Japanese occupation as the fifth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.)