In a series of sessions, the DSWD Field Office IV-A has trained all Municipal Links on Gender and Sensitivity and Gender Analysis. The said training equipped the Municipal Links with knowledge on gender sensitivity and helped them identify and address gender issues evident among Pantawid Pamilya beneficiaries.
The Municipal Links are field staff of the DSWD handling beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilya program. They are assigned in every city or municipality covered by the program and are tasked to monitor beneficiaries, facilitate Family Development Sessions and provide necessary interventions to help these beneficiaries improve their living condition.
According to Philip Amiel Lopez, Gender and Development focal person of the Pantawid Pamilya in DSWD IV-A, it is important that the staff handling the beneficiaries know how to provide and promote equal opportunities for both men and women.
In the workshops conducted during the training, the Municipal Links analyzed the gender roles in Pantawid Pamilya households. Observations of the staff are majority of men are into physical labor such as farming, fishing and construction to earn for their families. Women, on the other hand, are into paid care work such as housekeeping and laundry services.
Further, men usually work full-time while women have limited time for work and are often designated to perform household tasks such as taking care of the children, doing laundry and cooking.
Lopez shared that these observations mean that in most of the Pantawid Pamilya households, there’s still no gender equality, particularly on labor roles.
“It is important that both men and women become empowered to take any role to help in improving their quality of life. Hence, we are providing technical assistance to our field staff, especially on how they can promote equal sharing of tasks among beneficiaries,” Lopez said.
The Pantawid Pamilya is a program of the national government that supports the health and education of children age zero to 18 through the provision of conditional cash grants to qualified poor families.
To date, there are 326,646 registered household-beneficiaries in the CALABARZON Region.# with reports from PALopez