I. INTRODUCTION Society assigns gender-specific roles to its peoples resulting to gendered professions and activities.

Although strict gender role assignments are often considered as the norm and such assignments are seen to function fairly properly in society, the practice is highly susceptible to gender discrimination where certain privileges, opportunities, treatment and even respect are withheld and restricted for both males and females. The 21st century however, has been more considerate and lenient on gender roles, becoming more gender sensitive. Nowadays, society seeks for gender equality and establishes strict provisions that strive to debunk gender discrimination. These liberal actions in turn result in gender role reversal which brings light to more opportunities for both said parties. Despite this, there are still certain fields in which gender role reversal is not totally accepted. Even though roles are offered to the opposite sex, limitations are still set; thus prohibiting one from working in full capability and restricting expectations. Furthermore, those who oppose role reversal consider the act of offering roles to another is a threat to ones power and dominance. Such phenomena of roleshifting is best exhibited in husband-wife household roles considered to have great discourse on gender role perception since familial hierarchy is greatly exhibited in these units of society. Household roles are said to be very gender sensitive. Gender stereotypes depict husbands as breadwinners, working and earning for the family while their spouses as domesticated and doting housewives who are the main caregivers and housemakers. Intention or desperation however, leads to a shift in husband-wife roles --husbands become househusbands* while housewives become breadwinners. Stereotypical notions on the matter are more targeted on men rather than women since males, depicted by society, are the ones that should bear the more power establishing a more dominating role in the household. Thus, assuming the position of a less dominating female questions the power moreover, the masculinity of househusbands. The concept of a househusband is well defined in the Western world. In fact, it is considered as a growing trend in America (Wentworth and Chell 2001) where in 2007 the number of stay at home dads tripled to 2.7% since 1997 from the number of stay-at-home parents (www.washingtonpost.com). In the Philippines, the number of househusbands is beginning to rise due to the increasing number of families with only wives involved in the labor force (www.gmanews.tv). Despite this finding, minimal studies have been conducted on the househusbandry and knowledge is limited in relation to Philippine context; thus there is a need to inform the public on the matter and also address socio-economic and socio-political problems surfacing from the issue. This study then aims to determine first why the phenomenon of husband-wife role reversal occurs and the parameters or factors that led to it. We then turn the discussion on perception and opinions on househubandry from societys feedback whether or not it is an accepted practice. Finally, we dwell on the subject of masculinity, power and dominance focusing on the husbands perception on the matter, on himself, and acceptance.
*We define househusbands, housebands, or stay-at-home dads similar to that formulated by Wentworth and Chell (2001). A houseband is a male that is legally married with a female spouse having at least one child. He is the primary housemaker, caregiver and manages most of the chores. He could have a business or could be working but the primary and majority of the income comes from the wife.

II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Approximately 20 years ago the concept of house husbandry was introduced to the Philippine context due to the practical way of living needed in changing times. In an article by Manila, the Philippine houseband is called ginoong mom, mister mom or lalaking maybahay. This was due to the openness of fields such as military, engineering, technical fields and business to women and to the rise of the demand for OFWs. In a market research survey by ACNielson company, 7% of households are run by males. Housebands were classified into three categories: 41% chose to become housebands because

it was more practical for the family even if the man has the capacity to work, 45% of housebands were only forced into being housebands and 14% had a very high standard for home making. Although there are few/limited studies performed about househusbands in the Philippines, public awareness is slowly rising primarily due to media since there is an increasing frequency of news articles regarding the matter, film documentaries and even a movie, My Househusband: Ikaw Na!, encapsulating the concept of househusbandry soon to be released as an official entry to the 2011 Metro Manila Film Festival. Doherty, Kouneski, & Erickson (1998) first introduced the concept of responsible fatherhood, a father- child relationship characterized by acknowledged paternity, presence in a childs life, economic support, and active involvement with the child. They reinforce the construction of father as a financial provider. Reasons of househusbandry according to Wentowrth and Chell (2001) can be either be by choice or desperation. One of the primary causes for househusbandry in the Philippines according to POEA (www.gmanews.tv) is to compensate for OFW mothers leaving their children and husbands having difficulty in applying for work as well. According to DOLE, 72% of those leaving the Philippines are women, 65% of which are called skilled women. Thus, the issue on the increasing number of stay-athome fathers is an alarm to Philippine employment/unemployment rates since Filipinos need to seek opportunities elsewhere to earn a living. Wentworth & Chell (2001)studied how college students, the ones to assume the role in the future, view the roles of househusbands and housewives and found that women are more concerned with the structure than men and a general negative perception on househusbands exist. A 51-item survey was administered to 526 college students. Latshaw (2011) questioned the societys definition of stay-athome fatherhood and how they are not considered a part of the labor force. It served as a reminder for all scholars to analyze, assess and analyze implications of how to measure and conceptualize diverse social constructions of fatherhood. Rosenwasser, Gonzales, and Adams (1985) examined the effects of gender on college students perceptions of housespouses. As hypothesized, househus- bands were perceived less positively and homemakers of either gender were viewed more positively when their role included paid work in addition to their childcare and housekeeping activities. From existing literature, it has been found that there sociopolitical and socio-economic issues. While it may make financial sense for an unemployed father to mind the children, emotions are less easily directed. Where househusbands are reluctant, and working mothers guilty or jealous, resentment quickly follows. Evolution in family structure is a sensitive business and changes that are hard to debate calmly in public. There are still strong notions of stereotypes of the gender roles that men and women are supposed to play, yet it is challenged by this new phenomenon. Societys acceptance is still in question, more so, is the self-acceptance of househusbands and their general wellbeing. The recession is reshaping our domestic landscape. (Hinsliff, 2010) The critical mass of workingwomen has started to change the culture, but has proved weaker on structural inequalities such as the pay gap. We hypothesize that the changing times in our current generation is more inclined to accept the gender role reversal of both men and women in society particularly husband-wife roles in a household.. Men assume the stereotyped role of women in becoming househusbands, doing the domestic household chores and responsibilities. Women assume the role of men as the primary breadwinners of their families and take on the financial burden. We propose that this role reversal empower women in decision making amongst couples and pursuing a more active role in the general workforce of society. But because of this, we would like to assume that this set up would detriment the overall masculinity of men and how they view themselves in comparison to their female partners. III. METHOD The ethnographers conducted an interview for the househusbands and a survey questionnaire for the perception of college students on the phenomenon of role reversal. Each subsection pertains to the two parts of the research method used. Participants There were five respondents for the househusbands interview. The participants ages ranged from

33 to 54 years of age. All of the respondents have finished undergraduate courses. Only one has no work experience prior to his role of becoming a househusband. These individuals fit the operational definition of househusbands as being the primary doer of household chores and primary caretaker of the children with their wives being the primary source of income for their families. All the participants in the college students surveyed were UP Diliman undergraduate students. A total of 175 students participated in this study. The sample comprised of 76 males (43%) and 91 females (52%). Eight participants (5%) did not indicate their sex. The participants ages ranges from 17 to 22 years of age. Young adults begin forming and establishing their long-term relationships which leads to establishing a family of their own during the undergraduate student years of their lives. Thus, they may assume the immediate role of househusbands or housewives in the near future. Sampling Procedure and Data Collection The sampling procedure that was used to get hold the house husbands respondents was convenience sampling, a type of non-probability sampling technique. This technique was used because it is difficult to find actual respondents in the Philippine context for this study. Guide questions were used to interview the respondents. The respondents that were not easily accessible were sent the guide questions via e-mail and were given a week to respond. The other respondents were interviewed in their respective homes through house visits. The sampling procedure we implemented for the college students survey was also convenience sampling. We used this because the population is simply too large that it is impossible to survey every undergraduate student in the UP Diliman community. The method of data collection that we used was through surveying with a use of a questionnaire. On the basis of our related literature, the questionnaire was designed to assess the participants perception of the role reversal of househusbands and housewives and their overall implications on the empowerment of each gender, if women were perceived to take on the primary breadwinner role and if men were perceived to accept a domestic role. The questionnaire is composed of 31 questions, each of which was designed to answer a particular category of our hypothesis. The items were scaled with a Likert-Scale response scale consisting of (1) Strong Agree, (2) Agree, (3) Disagree and (4) Strongly Disagree. The testing procedure used was to test this survey online by giving it individually to select UP students via Google Survey which would immediately encode their responses in our data base. Bias The respondents for the househusband interview all belong to the middle to upper income socioeconomic class. All the respondents are Filipinos and are also college graduates. Only one of the respondents has no prior work experience. This might undermine the dichotomization of the study because it does not give an overall representation of the target population of househusbands in Metro Manila. The trends and results that this study might be overgeneralized and produce findings that is only true to this sample alone. The respondents for the college students survey all are undergraduate students of the UP Diliman. Their ages range from 17 to 22 years of age. Again, this sample might overgeneralize the results that this study will produce because convenience sampling was used, it does not give an overall representation of the target population of college students. Limitations This study focused mainly on the househusbands. The study does not include the families of the househusbands, thus overlooking the possible implications that this kind of set up has on the family. Also, findings and analysis may only hold true for this specific study per se due to the limited number of houseband respondents. In terms of societys views regarding househusbands, the study did not focus on the separate views of males and females regarding the subject. The perceptions were all in general terms of both sexes. Also, societal perception is only limited to a certain group and may not be comparable to society in general. Given more time and more resources, this study could further discuss the aspects that were overlooked thus providing a deeper and more concrete analysis of its findings. Furthermore with more time, the sampling design could be improved to get more respondents in order to achieve a sample that is a representative of the entire target population and thus, get the true characteristics of the variables of interest making this study credible and valid. IV. FINDINGS

Survey Findings Using the software SPSS, data gathered from the 175 respondents are summarized below.
Descriptive Statistics Questions 1. Men are good at homemaking (doing household chores, taking care of the needs of his children) 2. Women are better than men at homemaking 3. Men would choose to become homemakers over becoming breadwinners of their families 4. Women can be better than men at being breadwinners of the family 5. Women would choose to become breadwinners of their families over becoming house-makers 6. Women become breadwinners of their families are taking over the roles of men of providing for their families 7. Men can never truly express their macho-ness if they just settle at becoming homemakers 8. Female breadwinners will, in general, earn less than male breadwinners 9. Men will get bored if they become stay-at-home-dads 10. Being a househusband is a respectable profession 11. Men who become househusbands are those who are not successful with their careers 12. Househusbands are not real men 13. Families would prefer to have a nanny to take care of the children over a househusband do the job 14. Families would prefer to have a maid do all the house chores over a househusband do the job 15. It is embarrassing for a women to have a spouse who is a househusband 16. It is okay for women to become housewives 17. It is acceptable for men to assume the role of homemaking 18. There is a complete gender role reversal of males and females if women become breadwinners and men become homemakers Mean 2.17 1.82 3.21 2.17 2.41 2.42 2.91 3.06 2.41 1.92 2.93 3.57 2.54 2.26 3.09 1.78 2.03 2.49

19. Men can never be contented at just being househusbands 20. Women are empowered if they become the breadwinners of the family 21. A househusband is different than a housewife (not only in terms of sex) 22. Men will lose self-confidence (belief in your abilities) if they settle for being a househusband 23. Women are more nurturing than men, thus, should be the primary caregiver of their children and become housewives 24. Men will lose self-esteem (how much you like and see yourself) if they settle for being a househusband 25. Women who have househusbands should still function as a housewife when they have no work 26. Men should still get the final say in the household even if they are the househusbands 27. The reversal of roles of men being househusbands and women being breadwinners empower men in a way that they achieve more equality in good parenting 28. Being a housewife is a respectable occupation 29. Women who work as breadwinners are not real women 30. It is important for women to have a career of their own aside from homemaking 31. Couples should decide together if they want the female to become the breadwinner and the male to become the homemaker

2.24 1.94 2.37 2.51 2.17 2.49 1.82 2.34 2.14

1.55 3.59 1.72 1.68

Table 1 | Means of the responses of the 175 respondents using the Likert-Scale response scale consisting of (1) Strong Agree, (2) Agree, (3) Disagree and (4) Strongly Disagree.

The questions were divided into three categories, namely: (1) acceptance of role reversal by other people; (2) empowerment of women; and (3) perception towards masculinity (detriment of overall masculinity). Category 1 included the questions 1, 3, 5, 6, 10, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 24, 27, 28, and 31; category 2 included the questions 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 26, 29, and 30; and category 3 included the questions 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, and 27. Some questions had negative implications, meaning, the respondents agree with the negative side/opposite of category and disagree with the positive side/supports category. These questions found in 2, 8, 10, 17, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 29, would greatly affect the means of the three categories. The means of the three categories were obtained to measure the outcomes of the study. To quantify the results of the means, the scale of 1 to 4 is subdivided to 1-1.75 for strongly agree, 1.76-2.50 for agree, 2.51-3.25 for disagree and 3.26-4.00 for strongly disagree. The means of categories 1 and 2, which are 2.32 and 2.31 respectively, fall under 1.76-2.50 while the mean of category 3 falls under 2.51-3.25. The means, as stated above, had been significantly affected by the negative questions. In category 1, the five negative questions: 10, 17, 21, 24 and 27, received high percentages for agree and strongly agree responses, making the mean fall under

the agree area. For example, the respondents were asked if being a househusband is a respectable profession. 53 (30.3%) out of 175 respondents answered strongly agree and 91 (52.0%) answered agree. Also, in category 2, the five negative questions: 2, 8, 25, 26 and 29, received high percentages for strongly agree and agree responses. The three negative questions in category 3 seemed to have low percentages for disagree and strongly disagree responses, but other questions, such as if men who become househusbands are those who are not successful with their careers and if men will lose self-confidence (belief in your abilities) if they settle for being a househusband, received high percentages for disagree and strongly disagree responses, garnering 50.3% for disagree, 24.6% for strongly disagree and 44.6% for disagree, 8.6% for strongly disagree respectively. This goes to show that most of the respondents agree that role reversal, that is, men being househusbands, is being accepted by the people and that this role reversal empowers of women; but it does not make any significant changes with the perception of the people towards masculinity. However, the calculations intended for the generalization did not include the views of both sexes towards the subject, as stated in the limitations. Interview Findings The first question that was posed was how each of the respondents became a househusband. All five of them primarily embraced the role to be a househusband in order to take care of their children. There was an interesting finding however that there would usually be an event that influences their decision to be a househusband. For one of the interviewees, a 43 year old currently living in the US, it was the loss of his business that he decided to take on more of a role to be a househusband. He had owned a mini-grocery in Ilocos Norte and co-managed a family-owned mango plantation. The mini-grocery became bankrupt in 2000 and the mango plantation was sold to cover the losses and also managemen for it was inadequate. My wife is a nurse in the US but our children were left here with me so I just took care of them and raised our children with remittances from my wife and from the money earned from selling the plantation. The five househusbands took on the roles of being a homemaker. They shared common answers to what sort of chores or housework they do. The most common were cooking for the family, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, paying bills and the laundry. Three out of the five respondents said they did not have household help to assist them in their chores. Although it was not mentioned directly, it was inferred from context that these men chose to be househusbands rather than employ help to cut costs. The working wives and older children, if any, would help out after school or after work as well. The interviewees expressed that they do enjoy being househusbands and the time they are able to spend for themselves and for family. A 54 year old, former real estate agent stated that he enjoys, just spending time with the kids theres never a dull moment with a full house like ours. The respondents were asked about how being a househusband affected their masculinity. Their answers fell into two general categories: (1) feeling emasculated and under, and (2) does not affect their masculinity in anyway. Two of the respondents fell under the first category; they had resented the fact that they were no longer the man of the house. However after the initial step, the respondents had accepted their situation. I definitely felt emasculated when I had to depend on my wife but Ive come to accept that this is whats best for us. Ganon talaga e. - former real estate agent, 54 years old. The respondents that fell under the other category, ranged from simply accepting of the situation to having a certain pride in what they do. A 43-year-old former physical therapist chose to be a stay at home dad primarily for their children to grow up with a stable parental figure at home. He expressed that he was very satisfied with his life although he sometimes wishes that roles were reversed. Sometimes I do wish the roles were reversed but then again I realize that this is the setup that works At first, I was afraid of feeling emasculated but then again I would rather have me facing my insecurities rather than have my children grow up without either myself or my wife by their side. Mas importante na ang mga anak ko kesa sa so-called "pagkalalaki" hahahaha pero Lalaki pa din ako wag kayong magkakamali. Although the interviews showed that these men seem contented and satisfied with their lives there was a unanimous decision to go back to working if they were given the opportunity. There were noted

factors however that may affect their decision such as whether the children will be old enough to be left on their own and their age by then. Analysis and Discussion Based from the collected data from surveys, interviews and related studies presented in this paper, we observe that the Filipino society nowadays has reasonably accepted the reversal of gender roles of both men and women they play in the family or married life. Such findings truly signify the change in the generations perception on gendered roles breaking the stereotype of men and women restricted to who they are. In addition to this, the increasing number of househusbands worldwide is a good indicator that spouse role reversal is slowly accepted moreover, appreciated in society. Although this is a great feat for normalizing society, the finding does not necessarily mean that gender role reversal in all of its aspects is already an accepted practice. For such times in the past, womens responsibilities only include household chores and obligations, and men are the one who should provide for the family as breadwinners; in this generation however, both men and women have equal opportunity and rights to stand as providers for their family. Say for instance the interviews we have, these clearly shows that regardless of gender, whoever of them, the husband or the wife, who has a capability to earn more living and economic support for the family can do the role of being the breadwinner or even as the head of the family. Besides, increasing opportunities for women in various fields of works from business and entrepreneurial works to engineering jobs (in which before said as exclusive fields for men) are prevailing, which transform women to be productive enough to support her family needs, then subsequently place men for housekeeping and child-rearing. Moreover, these increasing numbers of opportunities being acquired by women empowers their gender identity and prowess, defacing the notion that women are inferior to men. Today, there are an increasing number of women who are taking over the roles of men in providing support for their families. In most cases (considering the interviews conducted), wives of the househusband, being most of them professionals in their fields, take the roles of being the breadwinners for they are in better position in terms of financing and economic support as compared to their husbands of either having no work or less to provide, fails to sustain the needs of the family. As a result, most couples choose to have this kind of roles reversal for the reason that it is for the good of the children and their family. But would this set up of househusbands and reversal of roles detriment the overall masculinity of men and how they view themselves in comparison to their female partners? The surveys state that it does not make any significant changes with the perception of the people towards masculinity, similar to as what the househusbands said. From this, we can say that husbands nowadays initially feel emasculated for such situations wherein they depend on their wives but come to accept themselves as househusbands because what is more important to them is their children and their family, more important than what so called macho or masculinity as they believe that being househusbands will not detriment their masculinity. IV. REFERENCES Alipio, E. (2011, October 04). My househusband is a light family comedy about a couple experiencing reversal of roles. Philippine Entertainment Portal, Retrieved from http://www.pep.ph/guide/movies/9048/ my-househusband- is-a-light-family-comedy-about--a-couple-experiencing-reversal-of-roles Doherty, W., Kouneski, E., & Erickson, M. (1998). Responsible fathering. Journal of Marriage and Family, 60(2), 277-292. Hinsliff, G. (2010, January 03). The rest of life: rise of the desperate house husband. New Statesman, 24, 24. Jimenez, F. P. (2006, December 12). Househusbands dumarami. GMA News Online. Retrieved from http:/ /www.gmanews.tv/story/25078/Househusbands-dumarami-sa-Pinas Latshaw, B. (2011). Is fatherhood a full time job? mixed methods insights into measuring stay-at-home

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