analysis

Violence against women in the Philippines is still a problem because it is being treated as a technical issue instead of an adaptive challenge. The current laws and programs are reactive and do not focus on prevention. Adaptive leadership is needed to challenge and change societal norms and find solutions. By taking an adaptive approach, society can continuously adapt and address the unintended consequences of current legislation. The government and individuals need to take the adaptive leap to solve this wicked problem. Violence against women is still happening despite the existing legislation and programs against it, because it is being treated as a technical problem instead of an adaptive challenge. According to Heifetz, technical problems are problems that cannot be solved solely by the technical know-how of authorities. But violence against women is not a technical problem as it is caused by a plethora of interconnected reasons, the majority of which involve institutional and societal influences that cannot be solved solely by technical expertise. This technical treatment of violence against women is apparent in the current laws and programs of the Philippines against the issue. These laws and programs are mostly reactive as an offense has to be committed to activate them. And if there are provisions with the semblance of proactive prevention, they appear suggestive since the implementation is not strict and their violation holds less weight than the commitment of the actual grant. This shows its technical nature as these supposed interventions provide remedies instead of preventing them. These interventions and programs do not promote overall welfare since a victim is created before these interventions provide their protection. An adaptive leadership approach is vital in solving this wicked problem. Heifetz describes adaptive leadership as the influencing of society to experiment, adjust, challenge their views and values, and change their behavior to discover adaptive solutions to address adaptive problems, or in this case, the wicked problem. Adaptive leadership is needed to solve violence against women since institutional influences and societal influences need to be challenged and changed if the wicked problem is to be solved. This leadership approach transfers the accountability to address a problem from the authorities, like government, police, to society. In influencing society to take the adaptive leap, potential perpetrators and potential victims become part of the solution, promoting the creation of relevant preventive solutions that can be added to existing legislation and changes to institutional and societal norms. As society takes on the responsibility of solving the wicked problem, the compliance mentality of people is drop and they transcend to doing what is right because it is the right thing to do. In addressing the issue through an adaptive approach, society continuously adapts to challenge the wicked problem and creates opportunities to find solutions to the unintended consequences of current legislation, whereby false victims weaponize laws to further their agenda and create a vicious cycle of doubt whenever actual victims invoke the law. In taking inspiration from HIVED's adaptive leadership approach, the government, through its legislation and programs, and individuals through self-leadership, can take the adaptive leap in solving violence against women as the wicked problem in the Philippines.