Dr. Macario Jusayan, the chief gender and development specialist of the Philippine Commission on Women’s sectoral coordination division, spoke on care work at the online forum “Family or Career: Why not both?” that was hosted by Oxfam Pilipinas last April 24. He discussed ways by which, as the forum put it, one can succeed at home and in life (“Pag-usapan natin paano sumakses sa bahay at buhay”) and titled his presentation “Shared care, shared success: Why unpaid care matters for everyone.” 

Care work is “invisible work” or work that “is not given value,” Jusayan said, adding: “But it is important because it lets other family members go to work. Without care work, nothing in the home will function. Unpaid care and domestic work are barriers to gender equality.”

The other speaker at the online forum was Prof. Rowena Laguilles-Timog, associate professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman and deputy director of the UP Center for Women’s and Gender Studies-Research and Publication. She presented her research, “The Weight of Care: Insights from Mothers’ Unpaid Care Work during the Covid-19 Pandemic in the Philippines.”

The forum is part of Oxfam Pilipinas’ campaign “EmpowerHer: Embedding Gender Equality in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Business Practices in the Philippines.” The campaign is aimed at addressing care work at home and its limiting effect on women’s work opportunities, and advocating for equal distribution of care work among household members. “EmpowerHer” is supported by Investing in Women, an initiative of the Australian government.

Gender gap

Jusayan said unpaid care work is a dire situation in the Philippines, preventing one in four women from taking on a paying job.

He said marriage worsens the situation, as many women don’t work at professions and become dependent on their spouses. Comparably, he said, women wearing the hats of a professional and a housewife/mother face the predicament of added stress and burnout, which, he pointed out, hampers a person’s overall growth.

Laguilles-Timog supplemented Jusayan’s statements, saying that marriage is the turning point in the assumption that women are always a family’s care worker. This belief is, in turn, interlaced with men’s sense of entitlement: Because they work at jobs outside the home, they’re considered free from doing care work and their leisure time is prioritized over it.

Studies on gender parity indicate the widening gender gap vis-á-vis care work in the Philippines. The 2024 Global Gender Gap index showed that the country had slid to 25th place from 6th. Women couldn’t join the workforce because they were performing more and longer hours of care work (oxfam.org.ph).

The 2024 study of the National Economic and Development Authority reflected similar findings—women were unable to join the labor force because of marriage and childbearing. Gender role assumptions were also prevalent in Filipino households, with women and men taking on the traditional roles of homemaker and provider, respectively. Statistically, only 0.8% (21.9 million) of women were in the labor force compared to 76% (30 million) of men (oxfam.org.ph).

And an Oxfam Pilipinas 2021 study indicated that women spent on average 6.5 hours daily on care work—three times more than men—and were exposed more to injury, illness, etc. Girls were reported to spend longer time on care work and total work than boys in the same age group. Alarmingly, the study revealed that the respondents (both men and women) found beating and yelling at women and shaming men doing housework acceptable (oxfam.org.ph).

Reinforced by pandemic

Laguilles-Timog’s research on care work in a better post-Covid 19 reality showed that the pandemic reinforced the gender inequality in care work. She said the chief contributing factor was the view that care work is a default role of women, with mothers doing all the hard work of caring with little to no help. Care work became oppressive for women when remote education was implemented.

“[Women] stepped up for the family, especially for the children’s [future] and community [because] the performance of care during the pandemic was a matter of survival,” Laguilles-Timog said. 

Women living with their in-laws faced the extra pressure of doing care work to avoid embarrassing the in-laws, she said.

Care work combined with isolation, or confinement, exacted a toll on the women’s mental health: They struggled and were overwhelmed, Laguilles-Timog said. She argued that it was unreasonable to expect mothers, or care workers, to sustain care work in private spaces alone because care work runs the gamut of physical, emotional, mental, social, and cultural factors.

To cope, mothers and carers engaged in active self-care (such as trips to the salon), searched for social support and networks, and reached out for help, Laguilles-Timog said.

The two forum speakers were unanimous in their stand that care work at home should be distributed. Laguilles-Timog advised parents to start teaching their children about it as early as possible; Jusayan suggested sensitivity to the carers’ condition and taking steps to alleviate their burden. 

Jusayan’s counsel is not just empty words. He said members of his family have care work duties beyond their office jobs, with the division of chores discussed over dinner. He mentioned volunteering to do the laundry and wash the dishes on weekends. (The arrangement is not new to him, having grown up in a household with 10 siblings doing care work.)

But care work is not merely a home issue, Jusayan asserted. He said it’s a national issue affecting the productivity of working parents. Simply put, if care work is not shared, carers would suffer from burnout and stress, and there would be less time for paid work or skill-building, which translates to fewer job opportunities and less income.

Laguilles–Timog said acknowledging care work regardless of gender is critical. Equally critical, she said, is challenging the belief about mothers being the sacrificial model, and accepting that men can do their part and not be ashamed of care work. She emphasized that “care work is learned [and] shouldn’t be taken for granted.”

Breaking gender norms

Jusayan underscored the importance of breaking gender norms. “Men can and should do care work at home,” he declared. “It’s an important contribution to have women pursue their careers and develop themselves. Women can thrive and contribute to economic prosperity if care work is distributed equally.”

If men do half of the work at home, women can participate in more economic activities, he said, adding that there would be better family communications and children could be taught early about gender equality. 

He also said redistributed care work would improve work-life balance and mental health, strengthen families and communities, sustain social systems, and spur economic growth.  

But many men are in fact engaged in care work, Jusayan pointed out. He cited men whose wives are working abroad and “have come to a realization about care work distribution because they’re facing it.”

Similarly, he cited a company that has shifted its mindset on care work, resulting in benefits for everyone. He quoted the human resources manager of a technology cooperative in Davao as writing: “We used to think care issues were personal. But once we adjusted our schedules for working parents, productivity went up. People were happier and more focused.”

Thinking that care work is solely unimportant women’s work is ideological atavism. But it’s a fact that care work is still dismissed as inconsequential, and women are burdened with more care work than men. Oxfam Pilipinas’ “EmpowerHer” campaign is an opportune step in correcting the misconception and serves as an invitation to men to share care work with their partners. 

Standing with Oxfam Pilipinas in this mission, Jusayan recommended that Philippine MSMEs implement shared care responsibilities, practice workplace flexibility, provide public care services, encourage a culture of equality and respect by valuing care work, support carers to prevent burnout, and institute care work policies.

He said individuals can do their part by discussing care responsibilities at home, supporting women coworkers juggling care and work, encouraging care-aware workplace practices, and joining conversations on care.

The bottom line: Women shouldn’t be forced to sacrifice their careers and dreams for their families. Having a family doesn’t preclude a career, and vice versa. Jusayan summed it up well: Care work is all about sharing because shared care is shared growth.

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