Filipinas
are careful spenders, and think first of their families. However, only one out
of five surveyed, save for their and their family’s future needs.
This was among the results gathered from
Insular Life’s (InLife) InLife Sheroes Landmark Study on Women, which involved
two phases: A qualitative study that consisted of interviews done on pairs of
women from different socio-economic classes, and a quantitative study which
surveyed women from various regions around the country.
“Of those surveyed, 34% are single while
44% are married women. The rest are either widowed, separated, or are in a
domestic partnership. Broken down further, 49% are married with children, while
30% are single mothers.
The results of the Study indicated that 6
in 10 Filipinas manage their own money or are entrusted with their household’s
budget. Most of these are spent on current needs such as food and beverage,
household bills and utilities, personal care products, and other items related
to children’s schooling.
However, only 21% are able to include
savings in their budget and of those who save, they are able to allocate 3% of
their budget to savings.
More alarming is that while life insurance
awareness is 30%, ownership is at a very low 4%. These are not enough to cover
future emergencies, especially in the event that the family’s breadwinner,
which could be the woman herself, or the husband, meets an unfortunate
incident.”said InLife Executive Vice president and Insular Health Care
President Noemi G. Azura in a press briefing during the presentation of the
study results at the Filipi-now: Realities, Challenges, and Solutions for the
Filipino Women of Today held at the Insular Life Building in Makati City.
The Study, undertaken by Philippine
Survey and Research Center (PSRC) and which was conducted as part of the InLife
Sheroes Movement launched in March, was commissioned in order to have a deeper
understanding of the Filipinas: their attitudes, knowledge, awareness and
practices with regard to finances and health.
Results of the study indicate that
Filipinos practice healthy living by controlling their intake of food, keeping
a healthy diet, getting enough sleep, rest, and avoiding vices, and keeping
themselves hydrated at all times.
Some take vitamins and engage in physical
activities and sports. However, only 23% avail of health and wellness services,
while only 12% do regular consultations with doctors.
When asked for their definition of
health, their answer was basic.
Health for them was merely the absence of
sickness, and that as long as one feels strong, and is not physically sick, one
is healthy. As a result, eight in ten Filipinas believe they are healthy
because they have access to healthy living, and that their families motivate
them to be healthy.
“In our culture, Filipino women take on
the default role of taking care of the sick family member. They are expected to
care for and nurture the sick, and this holds true, whether the women work full
time, or stay at home to take care of the family. But when asked about future
concerns on health, these women said they are more concerned with
cardiovascular diseases, followed by diabetes and cancer,” Azura said.
The Philippine Statistics Authority cited
five top causes of mortality among Filipinos now as: cancer, cardiovascular
diseases, pneumonia, cerebrovascular diseases, and diabetes.
Azura added, “It is important for us to
know the Filipinos’ views on health because InLife Sheroes is about economic
empowerment and that women’s issues on health and well-being can become
barriers to their full economic participation.”
Azura said that the study on women has
given InLife an opportunity to plan the next set of actions through the four focus
areas of Sheroes: Financial Education, Health and Wellness, Connection to
Business and Social Networks, and Women-Specific Solutions.
“In financial education, we are
intensifying our efforts by developing our own financial education course for
women, which is co-branded with the Philippine Business Coalition on Women
Empowerment or PBCWE. This will consider the Filipina’s needs and priorities at
every life stage. We have also partnered with PLDT and Smart’s Gabay Guro
Foundation to deliver the financial education module to about 20,000 teachers
who are part of their Foundation,” Azura said.
On health and wellness education, InLife
Sheroes engaged the services of Dr. Cheryll Sibayan, an OB Gynecologist and
specialist on women’s health who designed a holistic approach to women’s
health. It has also forged partnerships with organizations that have the same
advocacies such as Google’s Digiskarteng Pinay,k where InLife Sheroes is now a
content provider for their YouTube channel, and the Mu Sigma Phi Sorority of
the UP College of Medicine.
Azura added, “The third focus area is on
connecting women to social and business networks. To this end, we want to help
our women entrepreneurs grow their businesses by connecting them to providers
of SME loans through our partnership with UnionBank of the Philippines. Lastly,
we are creating customized solutions for women as a result of this study,
through two products we launched: the She Cares and the Entrepinay. We are
confident that InLife can make a difference in the lives of the Filipina women
by providing solutions to their various concerns.”
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