Underneath the satirical image of mothers that comedians and the media often paint for us is a person who struggles against economic marginalization and patriarchal values which shackle her to a life of domestic servitude through her unpaid care work.
Unpaid care work is any form of work, tasks, or activities which ensure the health and welfare of members of a household or community and which can allow these members to engage in other aspects of socioeconomic life such as education and paid work.
Though it is an issue that most women face, it is mothers from urban poor and rural communities who are among the most marginalized because of unpaid care work, hence the term “motherhood penalty,” which denotes how women with children are further disadvantaged economically than women without children (for example, women with children have lower income than childless women).
The motherhood penalty comes in stark contrast with the fatherhood premium, where men with wives and children tend to enjoy more economic advantages in the workplace when it is known that they are “in possession” of a socially-approved, heterosexual household.
Mothers in service
A series of focus group discussions (FGDs) with urban poor women and women from rural communities uncovered some of the realities that they face in relation to their burden of unpaid care work. Most of the participants found contentment in being able to ensure the health and welfare of their children. However, this sense of contentment is often mired by their struggle with poverty and economic marginalization.
“Morning until, perhaps 12 hours, even in the evening…I really do the laundry, especially if I will go to the office. And then I will take care of my parents who are old. So tired. No income, no days off.” — FGD Participant
A study conducted by Oxfam found that Filipino women spend up to 13 hours a day on unpaid care work, where more than half of that time is spent multitasking on care activities. The FGDs found that child care is among the tasks which make unpaid care work more burdensome for women. Child care is not just borne by mothers but by grandmothers, older sisters, aunts, and other relatives. However, the expectation falls heavily on the mother if she is present.
Unpaid care work deepens the economic marginalization of women and is among the biggest factors for the feminization of poverty — a phenomenon describing the overrepresentation of women among the world’s poor. The world of work is structured in such a way that it does not accommodate mothers and women who have unpaid care responsibilities. This leaves such women who are in need of an income with no choice but to seek vulnerable and low-paying jobs in the informal sector. Due to the informal nature of the sector, such work does not provide sustainable income and decent wages and is often unsupported by government policies and programs.
Women’s unpaid care work also contributes to further instances of gender-based violence for women. When women are perceived to be unable to keep up with the burden of her socially-imposed responsibilities (for example, when there is no food at a specific time), she is often met with physical, social, economic, and other forms of violence at the hands of her partner, her family, and even her community. Her inability to earn enough income for her own needs makes it difficult for her to leave abusive partners and households.
Unrecognized and undervalued
“That is what hurts — we are not recognized. When they ask my children or my partner what I do, [they answer] “She is just at home.” But the truth is that there is no end to the work that we women do.” — FGD Participant
Though it has proven to be economically significant, families, communities, and society have failed to recognize women’s unpaid care work. Fulfilling her unpaid care responsibilities at home is often misconstrued by children and partners as their mothers “just” being at home. There is little recognition for the work that they do, rendering women’s unpaid care work and contributions to the economy invisible. It is unaccounted for in government and other relevant literature and data and is often undervalued.
Though there is a lack of recognition for women’s unpaid care work, recent estimates by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) suggest that it is worth trillions of pesos if valued in the Philippine economy. This means that women subsidise the Philippine economy by trillions of pesos through their unrecognised, undervalued, and unsupported unpaid care work and are economically marginalised for her contributions.
Women’s unpaid care work is unsupported
“He just gives his wages, he does not think about whether or not it will be enough, we (women) are really the ones who find a way to borrow money, we are the ones who are bothered by how to make the [budget] fit [our daily needs].” — FGD Participant
It is mothers and the women in the household who are often burdened by the herculean task of ensuring their family survives every day amidst low wages and poverty. Participants of the FGDs shared how their husbands often work throughout the day and hand over their wages without worrying about whether it will be enough to meet their families needs for the day. More often than not, it is not enough to sustain their needs, and so, on top of her unpaid care work, the mother has to find a way to ensure that her family’s basic needs are met. She seeks any form of work in the informal economy as a vendor, cook, domestic worker, and so on, and when it is not enough to sustain her family, she is the one who incurs debt to ensure that they have enough funds for their survival.
“Because the price of water has been increasing, I use a well…when I do the laundry. I just put in chlorine so that the t-shirt does not smell because well water sometimes emits a certain odor. Sometimes I need to carry the water from the well 100 times using a 1 gallon container for paint every time I do the laundry. I do this every day so that I don’t have to pay a high price for water. I wash the laundry using my hands to avoid paying for the high price of electricity.” — FGD Participant
Women’s unpaid care work is highly influenced by economic factors such as the increasing price of water, electricity, and basic goods. It is also affected by the structures of a community which either allow or deny them access to water, health and social services, daycare facilities, education, and transportation services. In most municipalities in the Philippines, such services and basic goods for survival are often far from the reach of poor and marginalized communities, most of whom are women.
There has been growing recognition of the significance of supporting unpaid care work to uplift the economy and, more importantly, to ensure equality for women, girls, and all unpaid care workers. However, there is still a significant lack of data to be able to formulate effective policies to support such work. Once more resources and attention are given towards this end, great change can occur in the lives of women, girls, and all people in the country. – Rappler.com
Meggy Katigbak is a feminist researcher and gender specialist. She works as a consultant in the international development sector. Her research interests involve tax and gender justice, the care economy, women in mining, and institutional trauma and violence against women and their children.