Care Work in the Time of COVID-19: Addressing Gender Norms in the Philippine BPO Industry
Summary
This baseline research is designed to surface gender norms or the narratives of unpaid care work and women’s breadwinning among urban millennials in the BPO sector while coping with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This study reveals how persistent gender norms still surround unpaid care work (UCW) and breadwinning. It also highlights potential positive deviances from the traditional gender norms that can pave the way towards more equal sharing of UCW. The research also identifies possible recommendations or strategies to support shared responsibilities and women’s breadwinning, particularly in relation to Oxfam’s campaign on unpaid care work.
Data were generated through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, through a self-administered survey and the conduct of focus group discussions with identified BPO employees. The survey captured responses from 232 respondents — BPO workers aged 23-38 years or those within the same age bracket who have worked in a BPO in the last two years. The Investing in Women (IW) Norms Framework was used in analysing the results, to identify potential positive deviances.
This report was developed by Oxfam Pilipinas with support from IW. It was originally published on the Oxfam Pilipinas website.
Highlights
Some key findings of the research are:
- Research participants perceive that traditional gender norms within households do not dominate their daily lives. They also think household and childcare responsibilities should be shared within their households. But in practice, the data clearly indicate that women still take on much of these responsibilities.
- Respondents believe in equality between males and females outside of the family, particularly in terms of income earning and performance in the workplace. They do not think that that earning the family’s income is the sole responsibility of men. Yet in most households they know, breadwinning or income earning is a responsibility that is still mostly taken up by men.
- While there is no drastic shift in terms of respondents’ contribution to household and childcare responsibilities before and during the pandemic, various changes were noted particularly as an effect of the work from home setup. For most FGD respondents, balancing work responsibilities with unpaid care and domestic responsibilities had been difficult.
- While there is no drastic shift in terms of respondents’ contribution to household and childcare responsibilities before and during the pandemic, various changes were noted particularly as an effect of the work from home setup. For most FGD respondents, balancing work responsibilities with unpaid care and domestic responsibilities had been difficult.
