Bottoms up: the voice of the community living in tenement building, Punta, Santa Ana, Manila on the phenomenon of alcohol drinking among women today as a form of non-conformity to traditional gender roles in the household.

Abstract

This study will use a case study research design to understand the view of the community living in Tenement building, Punta, Santa Ana, Manila regarding alcohol drinking among women as a form of non-conformity to traditional gender roles in the household. Since the Filipinos consume alcoholic beverages and actually allot a portion of their budget to alcohol, it is worthy to investigate the actual role of alcohol drinking on the lives of the Filipino people. This study will use an interpretivist approach, with the help of the socialist feminism and labelling theory of Becker, to explain the reality in which the women who drink belong. Data is gathered through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews of the residents and officials in the said community. Experts in women and gender issues were also interviewed. The data gathered will be processed using thematic analysis. The result of this study is that the community living in Punta, Santa Ana, Manila regard alcohol drinking of women as a form of non-conformity to traditional gender roles in the household. However, alcohol drinking alone is insufficient to assume that women are already equal with men. There is a notion that women should be able to provide for their own needs, should have self-control, should be “good”, and should take care of their children before they can freely engage into alcohol drinking activities. In a patriarchal society where women are expected to follow the rules, women are having difficulties in attaining freedom even in little things, such as the individual freedom to indulge in their pleasures.