Wazzup Pilipinas!?
As the nation hurtles toward becoming an aging society, the invisible labor sustaining millions of homes—and the women performing it—stands at a crossroads between recognition and continued exploitation
PASAY CITY — In a conference hall at the Philippine International Convention Center, Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) Chairperson Ermelita V. Valdeavilla posed a question that hung in the air like an unspoken truth finally given voice: "What would happen if women stopped working for a week and let the men do the domestic work?"
The answer, though unspoken, resonated through the plenary session: the nation would grind to a halt.
It was a provocative challenge delivered during the Philippine Conference on Women, Peace & Security on October 29, but behind it lay a sobering statistical reality. The Philippines is racing against time—by 2030, just five years away, the country will officially become an aging society. And when that threshold is crossed, the already invisible army of caregivers, domestic workers, and unpaid family members who hold the fabric of Filipino life together will face unprecedented strain.
The Invisible Economy That Powers a Nation
The numbers are staggering. According to the International Labor Organization, an estimated 16.5 billion person-hours of care work are performed globally each day—the equivalent of 2.5 billion full-time workers. In the Philippines, this massive economic engine runs almost entirely on the backs of women, yet remains largely unrecognized, uncompensated, and undervalued.
"Make no mistake about care work," Valdeavilla declared to the assembled delegates. "Care work is not dispensable."
The statement underscored a fundamental paradox: the work that sustains life itself—feeding families, raising children, tending to the elderly and sick—is treated as economically worthless when performed within the home. Meanwhile, when the same labor enters the formal economy, it occupies the lowest rungs of the wage ladder.
Consider the landscape of care in the Philippines today:
Unpaid care workers spend their prime years managing households, raising children, and caring for aging relatives—with no retirement benefits, no social security, no recognition in GDP calculations. Their labor is essential, yet economically invisible.
Paid care workers—nurses, caregivers, domestic helpers—form the backbone of both household and institutional care, yet consistently rank among the lowest-paid professionals despite their critical role.
Community care workers, including barangay health workers, serve on the frontlines during disasters and health emergencies, often without compensation or formal recognition for their contributions.
A Colonial Legacy of Devaluation
Valdeavilla traced the roots of this systemic devaluation through history, noting that the Philippines endured 377 years of Spanish colonization from 1521 to 1898—a period that, she argued, ingrained patterns of brutality and violence into the social fabric. These colonial structures left lasting imprints on how Filipino society views labor, gender, and value.
"Discrimination is injustice, and injustice is a violation of human rights, which is prohibited in the Philippines," she emphasized, connecting the historical marginalization of care work to broader questions of human rights and social justice.
The Demographic Time Bomb
The urgency of addressing this crisis cannot be overstated. As the Philippines transitions to an aging society by 2030, demand for care work will explode. An aging population means more elderly citizens requiring daily assistance, more chronic health conditions demanding attention, and more families struggling to balance work with caregiving responsibilities.
"This means it would require more domestic work and care work," Valdeavilla warned, noting that "the best time of women is spent in care work."
Yet the systems to support this increased demand remain woefully inadequate. Without significant intervention, the burden will continue to fall disproportionately on women—perpetuating cycles of poverty, limiting women's economic participation, and undermining efforts toward gender equality.
A Call for Recognition and Reform
The conference session, which commemorated the 25th anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security, positioned investment in the care economy as inseparable from achieving lasting peace and gender equality.
Under the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 5, the international community has mandated the achievement of gender equality—a goal that remains impossible without fundamentally reimagining how society values and supports care work.
Valdeavilla revealed that PCW is campaigning in the 20th Congress to expand the commission's mandate and resources, recognizing that policy change at the highest levels is essential to transform the care economy.
Care as a Pathway to Peace
The session's central thesis—that investing in the care economy is a pathway to peace, security, and gender equality—reflects a growing international recognition that care work is not merely a women's issue or a family matter, but a foundational element of social stability.
When care work is devalued and unsupported, entire communities suffer. Families face impossible choices between earning income and caring for loved ones. Women are trapped in cycles of unpaid labor that prevent economic advancement. Children and elderly receive inadequate care. Social tensions mount.
Conversely, when societies invest in care—through living wages for care workers, social support systems for family caregivers, universal childcare and eldercare services, and cultural recognition of care's value—everyone benefits.
As the conference attendees rose in unison to chant, "Care for people. Care for peace," they embodied a vision of a Philippines where care work is recognized not as a burden borne by women in silence, but as essential labor deserving of dignity, compensation, and national priority.
The Challenge Ahead
With just five years remaining before the Philippines crosses the threshold into an aging society, the window for meaningful action is closing rapidly. The question Chairperson Valdeavilla posed—what would happen if women stopped working—demands an answer not in hypothetical terms, but in concrete policy, investment, and cultural transformation.
"Care is everyone's work," Valdeavilla declared, offering a vision of shared responsibility that challenges deeply entrenched gender roles and economic structures.
The path forward requires courage, resources, and political will. It demands that the Philippines stop treating care as free labor to be exploited and start recognizing it as the foundation upon which all other economic and social activity rests.
The demographic clock is ticking. The question is no longer whether the Philippines will become an aging society—it's whether the nation will enter that future with a care economy that values human dignity, or continue with systems that perpetuate inequality and injustice.
The answer to that question will shape not just the lives of millions of Filipino women, but the future of the nation itself.
This article is based on proceedings from the Philippine Conference on Women, Peace & Security held at the Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City, on October 29, 2025.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
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