83% of Filipinos see a woman’s role as home, family — SWS

A vast majority of Filipinos believe a woman’s role is to look after the home and family, according to a survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS).

SWS results released Wednesday showed that 83% agreed with the statement, “A man’s job is to earn money; a woman’s job is to look after the home and family.”

About 8% disagreed, while 9% were undecided.

SWS said this translates to a net agreement score of +75, classified as “extremely strong,” up by six points from +69 (78% agree, 9% disagree) in September 2021.

Four out of five Filipinos (81%) also agreed that “Being a housewife is just as fulfilling as working for pay,” while 11% disagreed and 7% were undecided.

Meanwhile, 75% agreed with the statement, “A job is all right, but what most women really want is a home and children,” while 14% disagreed and 10% were undecided. This yielded a net agreement score of +60, which SWS described as “extremely strong.”

Most Filipinos (71%) also agreed that “A working mother can establish just as warm and secure a relationship with her children as a mother who does not work,” for a net agreement score of +53, also classified as “extremely strong.”

However, 63% agreed that “A pre-school child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works,” while 27% disagreed and 9% were undecided, resulting in a “very strong” net agreement score of +37.

On the statement, “All in all, family life suffers when the woman has a full-time job,” 51% agreed, 36% disagreed, and 12% were undecided, equivalent to a “moderately strong” net agreement score of +16.

Women posted higher net agreement than men on several statements, including views on being a housewife and the impact of a mother’s work on preschool children and family life.

On the view that “Being a housewife is just as fulfilling as working for pay,” net agreement among women was +74, compared with +67 among men.

Among women, net agreement reached +64 on the belief that “A pre-school child is likely to suffer if his or her mother works,” while men registered a “moderately strong” +28.

For the statement “Family life suffers when a woman has a full-time job,” women’s net agreement remained steady at +26 to +27, while men’s fell from +16 to +4.

Men and women, however, showed similar levels of agreement on a woman’s role in the family, women’s aspirations, and the impact of working mothers on their children.

Agreement with the statement “A man’s job is to earn money; a woman’s job is to look after the home and family” remained very strong among both men (+77, up from +70) and women (+73, up from +69).

Agreement was also “extremely strong” on the statement “A job is all right, but what women really want is a home and children,” at +60 for both women (up from +56) and men (up from +51).

Meanwhile, agreement rose from “very strong” to “extremely strong” on the statement “A working mother can have just as warm and secure a relationship with her children,” increasing to +55 (from +49) among women and +51 (from +47) among men.

The survey was conducted through face-to-face interviews from November 24 to 30, 2025, among 1,200 adult respondents nationwide.

SWS has tracked Filipinos’ views on the role of women in family life from 1994 to 2025.

The survey had sampling error margins of ±3% for national results and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.—MCG, GMA Integrated News