Sister Mary Soledad Perpiñan (born 1937) is a Good Shepherd nun who has worked for the rights of abused women and children, Aids victims, exploited laborers, indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups for more than 30 years. Working mainly with exploited and abused women and children in urban communities, she founded the Third World Movement Against the Exploitation of Women (TW-MAE-W) on December 10, 1980. After 25 years, TW-MAE-W has seven drop-in centers and four growth homes nationwide, helping abused women and children reconstruct their lives to become springs of hope in society.

Mary Soledad Perpiñan is a Good Shepherd Sister by vocation, an educator and writer by profession and a social activist by conviction. For over three decades, she has worked on trafficking and violence against women (providing direct services for affected women and children), women and peace, gender and development, ecofeminism and spirituality. A graduate of Journalism and Humanities, Sister Sol has undertaken commissioned research for the United Nations (UN) and has presented papers in international fora, putting forward the Third World feminist perspective on peace, development, environment, equality and spirituality. Mary Soledad Perpiñan has edited several publications, including the Philippine Report for the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, has served as an expert for UN bodies on women’s issues, and participated in most of the major UN world conferences in the 1980s and 1990s. Sister Sol’s most visible initiative is the Third World Movement Against the Exploitation of Women (TW-MAE-W), an NGO that takes care of exploited and abused women and children in urban communities in the Philippines. In 1987, she started TW-MAE-W direct services with drop-in centers in areas known for sex tourism, military and ship prostitution, “development” prostitution, street prostitution, and slum prostitution. Between 1990 and 2002, TW-MAE-W established renewal and training centers, hostels for growth home graduates involved in alternative jobs, and a home for HIV positive women and children suffering from Aids. Apart from being President and CEO of TW-MAE-W, Sister Sol is Secretary General of the Asia-Pacific Peace Research Association (Appra) and a Council Member of the International Peace Research Association (Ipra). In 2000, Sister Sol was one of the women activists of the 20th century cited in the “Roll of Honor” of the United Nations General Assembly.

Third World Movement Against the Exploitation of Women (TW-MAE-W) Asia Pacific Peace Research Association (Appra) International Peace Research Association (Ipra)

Southeastern Asia | Philippines