In what seems to be a deviation from the Western perspective of the status of women in developing countries, there was an abundance of female broadcast journalists on Philippine television when I was growing up.
Women occupied a wide range of positions on television news, from field reporters to news bulletin readers, to even anchors of their own current affairs shows. These women weren't just sent to do "soft news" stories, but many of them reported on site during events such natural calamities, rebellions and even war.
Image credit: ABS-CBN
As a child in a country where female journalists were household names not just for their good looks, but for their journalistic skills, my first responses to "What do you want to be when you grow up?" was a given. I wanted to be a broadcast journalist, and I wanted to be as good as the women I always saw on television: Loren Legarda, Korina Sanchez, Ces Drilon, and my favourite from around the age of 7 or 8, Karen Davila.
Karen Davila started her career in television news on the GMA Network in 1995. At the age of 25, she was appointed as the co-anchor of the brand new, early evening news bulletin Saksi (Tagalog for "Witness"). The 15-minute bulletin was such a success that the following year, its duration was extended to 30 minutes. Davila's stint as a journalist for GMA's various news and current affairs offerings ended in 2000, where she transferred to the ABS-CBN Network.
To the masses, she is best known as the anchor of ABS-CBN's primetime news bulletin TV Patrol and a reporter for several investigative news shows. Davila is currently a co-host of ABS-CBN's late night news show, Bandila (Tagalog for "Flag") with fellow journalism heavyweights Cecilia Oreña-Drilon and Julius Babao.
Image credit: iamkarendavila's Instagram
Davila is an internationally-recognised journalist. She was awarded the UNICEF Child Rights Award for her coverage of Filipino juvenile delinquents on The Correspondents. She also won a silver medal from the 2007 New York Film Festival for her story on children suffering from substance abuse.
Her crowning achievement was undoubtedly her selection as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2010, for which she received an opportunity to study a short course in Global Leadership & Public Policy at Harvard University.
Her passion for exposing injustices inflicted upon the country's most vulnerable showing through her journalism, Karen Davila has become one of the leading advocates for women and children's rights in the Philippines. She is a Goodwill Ambassador for World Vision and an ambassador and active volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.
Davila is the public face of Sagip Kapamilya, the ABS-CBN Network's volunteer organisation that is collecting and packing relief goods for the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan.
Image credit: iamkarendavila's Instagram
In October, Davila received a Rotary Golden Wheel Award for Broadcast Journalist of the Year in the Philippines.
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