Filipino women are still bearing the brunt of unpaid care work, resulting in many of them juggling full-time work and a "second shift" at home tending to household chores and caring for family members, according to a study conducted by Oxfam Pilipinas and The Women and Gender Institute (WAGI) of Miriam College.
"Finding from the research, which involved 232 respondents, confirm that traditional gender norms or stereotypes surrounding unpaid care work and breadwinning still persist in this day and age," said Leah Payud, Oxfam Pilipinas Resilience Portfolio Manager.
Payud said women are still pressured to do more household chores and care work even while working full-time, meanwhile, she furthered, men are still expected to be primary breadwinners of households.
"Nevertheless, there's a lot of potential for positive changes to occur among urban millennials. Also, due to high rate of women unemployed in BPOs , the industry is a promising area to begin shifting gender norms for the better," she added.
Of the 232 respondents, all were full-time BPO employees and nearly half were households heads.
"We've seen through the study that more women are taking on breadwinning roles. Other family members are also now contributing to unpaid care work to help their parents," Payud said.
The study also suggested to "mainstream unpaid care and domestic work" through workplace gender equality program, including allowing flexible working hours for both men and women employees and extending parental leaves.
"Hopefully through our joint work with the government and other organizations, we can raise awareness about the burden of unpaid care work -- how it should be recognized as real work and how those who take on the task should be supported by their families and society," Payud added.
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