OXFAM Pilipinas’ campaign addressing gender norms on unpaid care work and women’s breadwinning during Covid-19 received the top award at the recently held 20th Philippine Quill Awards.
The “HomesquadPH” campaign, which sheds light on unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) in Filipino homes, especially among urban millennials, received an Award of Excellence in communication management under the community relations Category.
Representatives from Oxfam Pilipinas and OCI Communications Group received the award on Tuesday night, January 23, 2024, in Pasay City.
“We are honored and grateful for this recognition, which strengthens our commitment to valuing women’s care work and overcoming barriers to women’s economic empowerment. It is high time that we make the invisible care work visible and recognize that it’s the work that makes all work possible,” Oxfam Pilipinas Executive Director Erika Geronimo said in a statement.
The 14-month campaign, supported by Investing in Women, helped build a community of millennials and influencers who pushed for positive gender norms on unpaid care and domestic work and breadwinning during the height of the pandemic.
The campaign also led to the development of the action research with the Women and Gender Institute of Miriam College, which showed that Filipino women are still bearing the brunt of unpaid care work or housework, resulting in many of them juggling full-time work and a “second shift” at home such as caring for family members and household chores.
The research also found that breadwinning is still a responsibility mostly taken up by men. At the same time, women continue to be held against very high standards, especially when seeking to apply for traditional male roles.
Unpaid care and domestic work encompass all unpaid services provided within communities, including direct and indirect care of individuals, housework, and voluntary community work.
Latest data showed that women and girls often bear the overwhelming burden of unpaid care and domestic work, spending at least 13 hours a day, compared to only eight hours for men.
Oxfam Pilipinas is currently supporting the development of a national policy on unpaid care and domestic work in the Philippines in partnership with the Philippine Commission on Women. It has also supported 28 local government units across the country for enacting ordinances on unpaid care, manifesting their commitment to addressing UCDW through investment in care-related services and collection of relevant data on UCDW that the government can use for planning programs and for increasing public awareness on gender equality.
The 20th Philippine Quill Awards is the country’s most prestigious awards program in the field of business communication.
In 2017, Oxfam Pilipinas also won an Award of Merit at the Philippine Quill Awards for its Inclusive and Affordable Financial Facilities for Resilient and Developed Filipinos (IAFFORD) Project, which aims to build community resilience and improve disaster preparedness and recovery. (PR)