National Women’s Month Spotlight: Cristina Batalla

In line with National Women’s Month, we aim to spotlight the partners we’ve worked with⏤to share their perspectives on women empowerment within their respective sectors and industries. Our goal is to amplify women’s voices, experiences, and narratives.

One of the emerging women leaders we work with is Cristina Batalla, a cyclist and collective impact organizer for active transport policies in the Philippines. She leads the Make It Safer Movement (MISMO), a community of over 300 cyclists, commuters, and vulnerable road users advocating for safer streets in Metro Manila. She also works with the Move As One Coalition, a youth and queer-led multi-sectoral group, as its Active Transport Sector Lead. As a movement, they continue to fight for safe, humane, and inclusive mobility in the country.

In the hope of paving the way for more women’s stories to be heard, we asked her about what she thinks about women empowerment in the transport and mobility sector.

This is what she had to say…

Currently, what does women empowerment look like in your sector?

Women empowerment takes many forms. I have been so privileged to witness and experience that throughout my journey so far in the advocacy space, especially within the transport and mobility sector. This is how it manifests in my work with WeSolve Foundation, and how I envision it across all organizations in the Philippines.

1. Women are trusted and encouraged to lead, represent, and speak for the sector not primarily because of the titles or positions we hold, but because of our knowledge rooted in lived experiences. The stories we embody are universal yet unique from the experiences of cis-males, and ought to be valued equally, because our gendered truths are often an afterthought in development plans and policies.
2. Women create, and are provided, safe spaces and networks for care, companionship, and mentorship. Accepting that our colleagues are human beings before leaders or workers, we recognize that systems of genuine support are what truly bring out the best in each other. It isn’t perfect, but this has changed a lot of us learning to outgrow workaholism and burnout culture.
3. Women actively connect peers to income, educational, and network opportunities, especially those from sectors who significantly have less access to social capital and financial resources (i.e. those who have multiple care and breadwinning responsibilities, those who come from lesser-known and progressive schools, those who live in provinces and cities far from Metro Manila and have limited access to transportation and internet).
4. Women have access to transparent information on colleagues’ salaries. It is important to know how others are compensated in order to promote fairer rates, since women are more likely to lowball themselves out of fear of being judged as “too much”.
5. Women have access to health insurance that enables mental, sexual, and reproductive well-being. “Women are born with pain built in,” goes a character from the show Fleabag. We experience fluctuating hormones and have yet to resist the stigma of being in touch with our bodies’ changes. We need a healthcare system that supports that.
6. Women are surrounded by men who are sensitive to mansplaining or giving unsolicited advice. Enough said.

MISMO’s protest ride in San Juan to protest the removal of bollards that serve as protection for the bicycle lanes along Ortigas Avenue

How do you see the work that you do making an impact for other women in your sector?

• I hope that the courage I strive to bear will also inspire courage in others; to not be afraid to ask the difficult but important questions, especially in a room filled with men who think the same, conventional ways.
• I hope that girls will find the will to dream, take up space, and pursue opportunities while overcoming the fear of being “underqualified”.
• I hope that women will be empowered to hold men accountable when they fail to deliver the same amount of invisible work — at home, in transit, in school, and in every workplace.
• I hope that people see the world not just from a gendered lens but with an intersectional one, such that we recognize and make space for all forms of oppression that limit human flourishing. This means it’s not just important to have women in power; what we need is feminist power that lifts up sectors at the edges and bottom of our society.

But most of all, I hope that our work results in having men take necessary steps to level the playing field; and for everyone to realize the importance of having women’s stories and voices made known in every decision-making table and conversation — not for purposes of tokenistic participation, but with the goal of ensuring their problems are met with solutions.

Cristina Batalla is the organizer of Make It Safer Movement (MISMO), a community of over 300 cyclists, commuters, and vulnerable road users advocating for safer streets in Metro Manila. She also works with the Move As One Coalition, a youth and queer-led multi-sectoral group, as its Active Transport Sector Lead.