In Filipino households, doing the laundry is traditionally seen as a woman’s sole responsibility. Thanks to the shift in people’s mindsets, aided by Ariel’s progressive #JuanWash campaign, that backwards thinking will soon be a thing of the past. Recognizing that chores can be done by anyone, Ariel rolled out the #JuanWash campaign which is targeted towards men. Its goal is straightforward and goes right into the heart of the matter – to get men to do their share of laundry duties, one wash at a time. For Ariel men, this goes beyond simply doing the laundry, as it also shows their support to their wives, and moulds their children into understanding the equal role of men and women in doing the household chores.
Perhaps no era has prompted a more dramatic shift in gender norms than this one; and these changes are most evident in one of the most basic facets of daily life — chores. Where household tasks were once viewed as “women’s work” decades prior, nowadays, a more equal division of tasks for cooking, cleaning, laundry duties, and the like in the new millennium is far from unusual. According to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), Filipino men are getting more and more involved in household work. In fact, statistics show that a significant increase was seen in the beginning of 2000s, with employed men allotting an average of 5 hours working on chores. This is a big jump, compared to the average of 1.87 hours from the numbers gathered on employed men from 1979.
