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13 - Work, Retirement and the Gender Divide in the Philippines
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- By Josefina N. Natividad, University of the Philippines, Yasuhiko Saito, Nihon University, Grace T. Cruz, University of the Philippines
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- Book:
- Gender and Ageing
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 21 October 2015
- Print publication:
- 20 August 2014, pp 315-338
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
The two most common concerns of nearly all people as they reach the elderly years are their health and their economic security. These concerns are intrinsically interrelated; health problems are generally more common at advanced ages, as is diminished earning capacity resulting from retirement and the cessation of productive activity. Specifically, when health problems increase in old age, the costs incurred in seeking healthcare become a greater concern for an elderly person since the individual would more likely have to rely on savings to meet this need. In developed countries, formal support systems in the form of retirement benefits and pension plans ensure that most people who exit from the labour force in their elderly years are assured of economic sustenance, while health insurance systems take care of much of the financial burden of healthcare. In developing countries like the Philippines, formal support systems are still underdeveloped. As such, the majority of older people still rely on the traditional and informal sources of support provide kin when they themselves are not able to ensure their own economic and health needs (World Bank 1994). One indicator of the lack of an adequate formal support system for older individuals is the higher rate of labour force participation at these ages compared with countries with formal retirement systems (United Nations 2007; United Nations 2002). Typically, in the absence of such a formal system, there is no fixed and mandatory retirement age and people continue economic activity as long as they are physically and mentally able to do so. This period can be fraught with economic uncertainty if failing health threatens the older person's capacity to continue to provide for his/her own needs and that of his/her dependents.
Another common concern is the gender dimension of work and retirement. Much of the literature plays up the potential for unequal vulnerability to adverse economic and health outcomes between men and women.
12 - Gender and Economic Well-being among Older Filipinos
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- By Grace T. Cruz, University of the Philippines, Anna Melissa C. Lavares, Demographic Research and Development Foundation, Maria Paz N. Marquez, University of the Philippines, Josefina N. Natividad, University of the Philippines, Yasuhiko Saito, Nihon University
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- Book:
- Gender and Ageing
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 21 October 2015
- Print publication:
- 20 August 2014, pp 288-314
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- Chapter
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Summary
INTRODUCTION
Older women are often perceived as more vulnerable to social, economic, and health disadvantages. It is often surmised that gender discrimination is the main cause for the disadvantages they face. In situations where social structures reinforce such gender biases, particularly in education and employment opportunities, the cumulative effect of earlier life experiences render older women generally poorer than men. There are those who argue that the perceived disadvantaged position of older women may be an oversimplified global generalization which ignores the substantial variations in the relative situations of older men and women (Ofstedal, Reidy, and Knodel 2004; Knodel and Ofstedal 2003). In the Philippines, for example, the legal framework affirms equality for all citizens regardless of gender, which has helped ensure a relatively high degree of protection of its women. This is not to say that gender equality has been fully achieved, given the discrimination against women that continues to prevail in some sectors in the Philippines. It is thus important to understand the gender situation, particularly on the economic front among the older cohort, most of whom come from the generations that preceded the enactment of policies and programmes that have protected the rights and privileges of women in the country.
This chapter aims to provide an empirical analysis of the economic well-being of older Filipinos highlighting differences across gender and marital status groups. It explores the levels and differentials in economic status of older people using various objective and subjective indicators of economic well-being. The extent to which subjective and objective indicators of economic well-being interrelate with each other is likewise examined so as to generate a more appropriate measure for assessing the economic well-being of older Filipinos. This analysis is of importance in a low-income country such as the Philippines where a third of the country's population is currently living in poverty (UN OCHA, n.d.), with the older sector expected to be more vulnerable to economic liabilities.
12 - Overseas Labour Migration and Well-being of Older Filipinos
- from PART IV - AGEING, MIGRATION, AND DEVELOPMENT
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- By Grace T. Cruz, University of the Philippines, Elma P. Laguna, Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences, Bremen, Germany
- Edited by Evi Nurvidya Arifin, Aris Ananta Ananta
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- Book:
- Older Persons in Southeast Asia
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 21 October 2015
- Print publication:
- 06 August 2009, pp 314-334
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Summary
Filipinos are remarkably dispersed worldwide. This is the result of a long history of international labour migration which has been underway for several decades now. Filipino workers started finding their way to the sugar plantations of Hawaii as early as the 1920s (Morada 2001). The pattern heightened through time, particularly in the 1970s, when droves of Filipino workers were drawn by the high labour demand of the petrodollar economies in the Middle Eastern countries. The labour export was then viewed as the government' temporary solution to worsening economic problems arising from the oil crisis. However, the opening of new labour markets in other regions and the lack of sustained economic growth and continued political instability in the country made migration a viable alternative for Filipino workers. Thus the Filipino Diaspora continues to this day with approximately 8 million Filipinos or about a tenth of the country' population living and or working abroad to date.
The unabated trend of Filipino overseas labour migration has impinged significantly on the economic and social life of the country. The nonnegligible fraction of households in the Philippines having one or more members working overseas at any one time (Yang 2004) translates to millions of households who receive financial support from family members working overseas. Monthly remittances from overseas Filipino workers were officially recorded at US$1.4 billion as of March 2008, representing about 10.0 per cent of the Philippines’ GDP. This makes the Philippines the world' third highest net remittance recipient after India and Mexico (Pernia 2006). Such massive financial influx has contributed significantly to ease the unemployment situation, alleviate poverty, and help keep the country' economy afloat. No doubt the migrant workers are then considered as the country' “modern-day heroes”.
On the flipside of the remittances are the social costs of international labour migration, which among others, include the rising numbers of transnational families, or families with members located in different locations (Asis 2004). The forced family separation resulting from international labour migration has been shown to have impacted on the welfare of the family as an institution, and on the individuals, particularly young children and older persons. This is not to discount the direct costs on the migrant workers themselves, especially women who are likely to bear an emotional burden resulting from their separation from their children and spouses.