ILOILO City – Monthly salary for plain housewives?
The militant women’s group Gabriela-Panay is not all that excited.
“Do you think she needs to be paid sa iya pagka-housewife?” asked Gabriela-Panay regional coordinator Lucy Francisco.
Stay-at-home wives love their families and thus sacrifice a lot for them, she said, but they should not be abused or neglected.
What housewives want – and women in general – is to be empowered in every aspect of life, said Francisco.
“Giving them livelihood is the better way to empower women. Let them participate economic production and not just in human reproduction, and they must be equitable compensated. If a woman is a mother, help her by providing childcare to her children. Make healthcare more accessible to her, too,” said Francisco.
She was reacting to Albay congressman Joey Salceda’s proposed House Bill 8875 or the Housewives Compensation Bill that legislates a salary for stay-at-home mothers.
House Bill 8875 recognizes the job of being a housewife as a “valuable economic activity.” It sets a monthly salary of P2,000 to women with at least one child under 12 years old and living below the poverty line.
The compensation will continue until the family graduates from poverty or no longer have children under 12 years old.
According to Francisco, such proposal was “nice to hear” but “what we really want is for the government to ensure that women do not get abused at home or in the workplace. They must be accorded respect and social services, most especially on their reproductive health. The government must make food affordable to households, too, she added./PN
