MANILA, Philippines – Addressing poverty and hunger, as well as the creation of jobs, were among the top concerns of women in vote-rich communities in Metro Manila, according to a new survey released days before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s third State of the Nation Address (SONA).

In a survey conducted by the Center for Women’s Resources (CWR) from June 15 to July 12, women aged 18 and above from mostly low-income households said they wanted the government to focus on their issues that directly impacted their lives.

The following are what they thought the government should prioritize:

• Addressing poverty and hunger – 22.8%
• Job creation – 20%
• Controlling high prices of goods and services, including utilities – 15.5%
• Support for healthcare, education, and housing – 10.1%
• Higher wages – 6.8%

The CWR presented the results in a media forum on Friday, July 19.

The 897 surveyed women were mostly between the ages of 35 and 54, with around 41% representation. The 25 to 34 age group came as the second largest group at 18.3% representation.

The respondents who worked earned P15,000 or less, while 32.9% of them were unemployed. Most were self-employed at 35.5%, while just 7.2% worked in formal establishments.

Lack of awareness, favor for charter change

CWR also asked the respondents about their views on charter change (Cha-Cha), which the Marcos government, like previous administrations, has tried to push. Most of the respondents did not fully understand it.

While majority, or 59.1% had heard of charter change mostly from conventional media sources, only 14.5% were able to give a brief description of charter change.

Around half did not know or could not concretely explain how charter change might affect them and their families. Around 23% meanwhile said that changing the Constitution “will only worsen their already poor economic conditions with the loss of jobs, lesser income, and higher prices of goods and utilities that it might entail.”

Just 3.6% said that charter change could potentially change their lives for the better.

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The opinions of the Metro Manila women were similar to another Pulse Asia survey about Filipinos’ most urgent national concerns. It was conducted in a similar time period, from June 17 to 24.

The most urgent concern in the Pulse Asia survey was controlling inflation, followed by increasing workers’ pay, reducing poverty, creating more jobs, and fighting graft and corruption.

According to CWR research coordinator Brenda Yasay, while there are some similarities with the mixed-gender Pulse Asia survey, some unique concerns from the all-women respondents that surfaced were social issues like the divorce bill, and the bill seeking to penalize discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression (SOGIE).

They also wanted the government to address issues like farmers’ welfare and violence against women.

Yasay said that the survey question was open-ended in asking what the women’s most pressing concerns were, and the overwhelming response was poverty, which ranked third in the Pulse Asia survey.

“Diretso talaga, kapag tinatanong sila, ‘Ano sa tingin ninyo ang dapat ina-address?’ ‘Kahirapan.’ At tingin namin ay dahil…below poverty threshold ang karamihan, at walang trabaho,” she said.

(We ask them straight, “What issues do you think should be addressed?” They answer, “Poverty.” And we think this is because most of the respondents are below the poverty threshold and are unemployed.)

During the Friday forum, Babae Para sa Inangbayan convenor and former Kabataan representative Sarah Elago said that the survey results showed a “large gap” between what politicians were concerned about and the realities on the ground, especially for women.

“Ang resulta ng pag-aaral na ito ay dapat maging hudyat para sa pamahalaan na muling suriin ang kanilang mga prayoridad. Sana sa SONA, sa halip na ituon ang atensyon sa Cha-Cha, dapat bigyang-pansin ang mga agarang hakbang para matugunan ang pangunahing suliranin ng mamamayan tulad ng kahirapan, kawalan ng trabaho, at pagtaas ng presyo ng mga bilihin,” said Elago.

(The results of this study should send a signal to the government to reexamine its priorities. In the SONA, instead of focusing attention on Cha-Cha, we must pay attention to immediate steps to resolve the primary concerns of citizens such as poverty, job losses, and inflation.)

The President will deliver his third SONA on Monday, July 22. – Rappler.com