Some disadvantages of women

In line with National Women’s Month, let me recall some experiences that most impressed me about the disadvantages of being a woman.

In some countries, the women may not eat until the men are finished. Long ago, at an international meeting in Bangkok, probably at lunchtime, I was surprised when a South Asian lady asked me, “Mahar, is it true that, in the Philippines, the women have their meals together with the men?” This lady was newly arrived, from either India or Bangladesh, on her very first posting abroad. She explained that in her country, the men and boys are served first, and only after they are through eating do the women and girls take their meal.

What shocked me was her saying that, furthermore, all the food cooked for the family’s meal must be placed on the dining table together, with nothing reserved in the kitchen. This means that the womenfolk depend on what food the menfolk remember to leave behind for them when it’s their turn to eat. (How hard it is to be a male guest for a meal, and not knowing how many women are waiting to eat! I suppose the guest should eat as little as good manners allow.)

A woman is a riskier investment for advanced training abroad. When I was a very young and single economics faculty member at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD), I was once with our dean, José “Pepe” Encarnación Jr., having coffee in the lounge, where he was brooding over whether to allot a foreign scholarship grant to a woman. I myself was in line for such a grant, but he said he wasn’t worried about me, whatever my plans about getting married (which I did, just before leaving for foreign studies).

It takes four to five years to do an economics Ph.D. abroad, which is quite expensive in terms of both time and money. In such a long absence, there’s no guarantee that a scholar won’t get married, and perhaps get married to a foreigner! (Pepe himself had returned with an American wife from his studies at Princeton University.) If she gets married, he pointed out, that brings the husband—possibly a foreigner—into the decision-making process about the wife’s finishing the designated study program successfully and then coming back to render the agreed service of two years on the UP faculty for every one year abroad. Even though the money comes from an American foundation, UP needs a good track record to maintain its scholarship program.

I don’t know if Pepe had to refuse a foreign scholarship to any women candidates, but in my time—I got my Ph.D. in 1970, and stayed with the UP faculty until 1981—there were many more men than women who got them. Thanks to its faculty buildup, UP began producing its own economics PhDs in 1975 (the first graduate was a woman, by the way). Brain drain doesn’t seem to be as big an issue as before. The main economics building in UPD is named after Pepe; there’s no doubt he did an outstanding job as its dean for nine years.

Women’s natural disadvantage is in their participation in the labor force. Women naturally take time off for childbearing, and then for child-raising. In the Social Weather Surveys, the joblessness rate among female adults can easily be double that of male adults. Joblessness in Social Weather Stations (SWS) surveys literally means having no job (“walang trabaho”) but at the same time looking for one; those not looking for work are not part of the labor force.

The mere fact of having a job or being at work is not an indicator of women’s well-being; it’s just part of life. How much one’s work is enjoyed for its own sake is another matter, that is researchable and measurable.

In the Philippines, the state of women’s well-being is not far from that of men. As of last November, the percentage of women saying their personal quality of life (QOL) got better from the year before was 31, while that saying it got worse was 36, or a net-gainers score of -5. For men, the corresponding percentages were 28 and 36, or net -8, or slightly less than that for women.

The percentage of women expecting their personal QOL to get better in the next year (optimists) was 45, while the percentage expecting it to get worse (pessimists) was only 6, or a net-optimists score of +39. For men, the corresponding percentages were 44 and 10, or net +34, or slightly less than that for women.

The SWS surveys also track expectations about the progress of the economy as a whole. When sorted by gender, the women’s scores are likewise a little better than those of men.

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mahar.mangahas@sws.org.ph.

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