Filipino women work longer hours

BY FELIPE F. SALVOSA II, Sub-Editor/BusinessWorld ILO study asks how Pinays are able to balance work and family Filipinos are defying the global pattern of men suffering longer working hours than women, a "role reversal" cited as an exceptional case in a 50-country study released Thursday by the International Labor Organization (ILO). In the Philippines, women in paid jobs work an average of 41.3 hours a week while men log 40.4 hours, the ILO report said, citing data gathered in 2002. This is being driven by the services sector, where nearly half of all workers are employed. "Average weekly hours in this sector are quite long, particularly in certain of its subsectors, such as the wholesale and retail trade (48.8 hours/week) and hotels and restaurants (48.6 hours /week). In fact, almost half of all those workers in the country who are working more than 40 hours per week are in the service sector, which has grown substantially in the last decade," said the study, titled "Working Time Around the World." "All of this raises an important question: given the long hours of paid work of many Filipino women, how are they able to balance work and family?," it asked. The study pointed to a "gender gap": Worldwide, women have to do more "unpaid" work, bearing the primary responsibility of managing households and providing care for family members. Men thus tend to work longer average hours than women, with women working shorter hours in almost every country studied, the sole exception being the Philippines, where more women are working overtime. But in the Philippines, even working mothers put in slightly longer hours than men. On the average, women with children work 45.6 hours a week, against 45.4 hours for men. The biggest gender gap was found in Australia, where working mothers work only part-time, at 29.3 hours, versus 45.8 hours for men. Prof. Rene Ofreneo of the School of Labor and Industrial Relations of the University of the Philippines said the ILO study confirms the phenomenon of more Filipino women becoming breadwinners. "Industries that are coming up, such as in services, are women-dominated. The labor market favors women," he told BusinessWorld. This is true in the call center, business process outsourcing, and garments industries, he added. The findings also point to the "reality" of more men becoming "house-husbands," Mr. Ofreneo added. "The problem is that because of the traditional role [of women taking care of the family], women bear a double, even triple burden," he said. Surprisingly, more Filipino men complain of being overworked, finding it more difficult to get a paid leave or take a holiday to be with family, and being unable to go to work late or leave early without losing pay. Interestingly, the data showed that Filipino men find it easier to manage the work-family balance. But Filipino workers, particularly in manufacturing, are among those working the longest hours worldwide, exceeding the ILO standard of 48 hours a week. The ILO study found that one in five workers around the world, an estimated 614.2 million people, are working "excessively" long hours or more than 48 hours a week, "often merely to make ends meet." Peru topped the list of countries with the highest incidence of long working hours for 2004 to 2005, at 50.9% of workers, followed by South Korea at 49.5%, Thailand at 46.7%, and Pakistan at 44.4%. In developed countries, where working hours are typically shorter, the United Kingdom stood at 25.7%, Israel at 25.5%, Australia at 20.4%, Switzerland at 19.2%, and the United States at 18.1%. No percentage was given for the Philippines but the report places on the country on the same footing as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Peru, Thailand, and Turkey, where average weekly working hours often exceed 48 hours. Mr. Ofreneo pointed out that workers with low pay usually find it necessary to work overtime to earn more. The report cited a 2005 study on the Philippines indicating that "low hourly pay and long working hours are significantly correlated," and that "long hours of work are a reasonably good indicator of low-hourly pay for time-rated wage and salary workers." The ILO study said long working hours should be reduced to "lessen the risk of occupational injuries and illnesses, and their associated costs to workers, employers, and society as a whole." Also, countries should adopt "family-friendly working time measures" such as allowing flexible times, emergency family leaves, and part-time work. There should be more high-quality part-time work and "reasonable statutory hours" while helping companies increase productivity "to help break the ’vicious cycle’ of long working hours and low pay."