Tucked within the narrow streets and cluster of houses in Brgy. Balingasa, Quezon City, is a community of women leading a movement redefining what it means to fight for labor rights. Among them are Alicia Priol, 60, and Primar Jardeleza, 69, who have long advocated for the rights and protection of women in informal work.

Across the Philippines, an estimated 6.6 million women work in the informal sector, comprising self-employed individuals, those in family-owned farms or businesses, and domestic workers. These women shoulder multiple burdens, often working longer hours than men due to the overlapping demands of reproductive, productive, and community roles. This unequal division of labor, particularly the disproportionate share of unpaid care work such as child-rearing and household chores, pushes women like Priol to opt for flexible yet unprotected work arrangements that often go undervalued. 

Despite their essential contributions to the economy, women in informal employment face heightened vulnerabilities due to limited social protections, precarious working conditions, and gender-based inequalities. Addressing these concerns requires immediate and inclusive reforms that recognize the realities of informal work and confront the structural barriers hindering gender equity in labor rights.

A Balancing Act

Sewing was a skill Priol learned as a student. Eventually, this skill became essential in providing for her three children. With her late husband struggling to land a regular job at a tannery and her sewing projects not enough to cover home expenses, the couple also sold fish for extra income. Caregiving also fell largely on her shoulders, leading her to balance vending and child rearing with little support. 

Like many in the informal sector, Priol juggled paid work with unpaid care duties–a burden shared by women globally. Women perform three times more unpaid labor than men, according to the Progress of the World’s Women 2019-2020 report. 

Jardeleza, a pioneer member of the Pambansang Tagapag-ugnay ng Manggagawa sa Bahay, the national network for home-based workers, found it disheartening that many women, especially mothers, saw unpaid care work as merely supporting their husbands rather than legitimate labor deserving recognition. Jardaleza pointed out that among the main issues of the informal sector are the lack of voice and legal representation, social protection, and access to productive resources. 

Jardeleza enumerates the struggles faced by informal workers, which became the foundations of their advocacy in PATAMABA. (Lemuel Pabalan/Philippine Collegian)

PATAMABA traces its roots to when Jardeleza and other women in Balingasa noticed the invisibility of informal workers in labor statistics and social security. In 2017, an estimated 8.3 million, or 69% of all women workers in the Philippines, had no social security or health insurance. These numbers remain inaccurate as many informal workers remain unregistered. 

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to home-based workers like Priol, who lost customers during the lockdowns. In response, she and other network members created initiatives, officially launching the Purple Market Depot in 2020. This online platform not only helped small-scale vendors continue selling from home, but also became a vital support system for many home-based workers across the Philippines during the crisis. Purple Market allowed many mothers to find flexible jobs post-pandemic that permitted them to continue working while caring for their children. 

Priol shows a sample of the products they sell at Purple Market: a tote bag made from recycled jeans that were donated to them. (Lemuel Pabalan/Philippine Collegian) 

Sewers in the community prepare products to sell for their online shop and bazaars. (Lemuel Pabalan/Philippine Collegian) 

But creating spaces for women presents a challenge. With the network’s initiative to empower women, many husbands were against their wives participating in their seminars and community activities, believing they were taught to rebel against men, shared Jardeleza. 

Priol faced the same challenge with her late husband, who believed she should prioritize caring for their children over attending seminars. It was not until Priol became a member of PATAMABA that she learned her rights as a worker, mother, and woman. This pressure, a shared experience among mothers, made her feel guilty for leaving her children at home when she attended training sessions. 

“Ganun ang nagiging burden minsan sa mothers, sa pag-unlad namin sa buhay. [Kapag iniwan mo sila] iniisip mo pa rin ano na kaya nangyayari o kaya minsan nahihiya ka doon sa pinag-iwanan mo,” said Priol. 

Overworked and Underpaid

Such dismissal of women’s self-determination only serves to exacerbate gender disparities within the informal economy, with women facing limited opportunities for financial stability and career growth. While there are policies that recognize the right of informal workers to economic advancement, they often fail to address their needs, particularly those of mothers. 

Many women face domestic violence from partners who are indifferent to their wives pursuing work, said Jardeleza. While policies like the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act provide benefits for victim-survivors, these remain underutilized. Because women in informal work lack regular employment and paid leaves, they are not given the chance to avail of these supposed benefits, as explained by Joms Salvador of GABRIELA Philippines in a 2024 forum. 

Without stable jobs, informal women workers struggle to take leave for health or safety. Many informal workers still lack access to social services, and even with PATAMABA’s help in enrolling members in the Social Security System, sustaining monthly contributions becomes a struggle due to irregular incomes.

This prompted PATAMABA to mobilize communities by engaging with both wives and husbands, inviting them to trainings that promoted shared responsibilities and support for women’s empowerment. While this fostered greater understanding, structural issues remain. 

Inside the PATAMABA Balingasa office, volunteers hold meetings and prepare trainings for their members.(Lemuel Pabalan/Philippine Collegian) 

Empowering Generations of Women 

Jardeleza expressed deep concern over the absence of policies that account for the unique struggles of informal workers, particularly women. The government must make more concerted efforts to gather accurate data by investing sufficient funding and research resources to examine the needs of those in the informal sector carefully. She also emphasizes the need to enforce labor standards that provide stronger protections for individuals in informal work. Globally, some countries have made significant strides in ensuring social protection for informal workers. 

Countries like Bolivia, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Nepal have implemented government-funded universal schemes that provide social protections to both formal and informal workers, regardless of their contributions, according to the Philippine Commission on Women. India’s Unorganized Workers’ Social Security Act covers informal workers, who are 88% of its workforce, offering benefits like injury compensation, housing, education, skills training, and old-age homes. 

This could ensure that informal workers, especially women, do not have to choose between financial stability and familial duties. More than that, it would recognize the jobs of women like Priol and Jardeleza as valuable and deserving of institutional support. 

From the streets of Brgy. Balingasa, Priol, Jardeleza, and the women of Pambansang Tagapag-ugnay ng Manggagawa sa Bahay have built more than just livelihoods. They have built a movement that demands dignity, recognition, and rights for all women, no matter where their work takes place. ●