"Sinong magbabayad?": A look on a common gender role in relationships (by: Group S.E.X)

The question we asked all of our interviewees was 

“Who should pay on the first date, the boy or the girl?” 

We decided to use this question to reflect social inequality because it looks on the gender roles of people in relationships. We also wanted to question to be specific enough so that people could give us specific answers, and we wanted the question to be “modern”. Does it always have to be the male? or can it be the female? We find the reasoning of people from different ages to see how they view this particular part of how society view in relationships. 

Each picture will feature two hashtags: #socialconflict #genderrole, and it will also have a hashtag of their answers

 Dani Dancel (Male Adult)

#lalakedapat

 Evelyn Dancel (Female Adult)

#lalakedapat

 Female Upper class

#kkb

 Tim Chua (Male Upper class)

#whoasked

 Randy Picardan (Working Class - the guard in EDSA Walk near the chapel)

"Lalaki dapat, gentlemen dapat yun ipakita natin sa mga babae"

#gentleman

 Marge Pavia

#whoasked

 Em-J Pavia (Teacher)
#whoasked

 A student from Mary Help of Christians College - Calamba

(He didn't want his name and face, but agreed to pose like that)

#boyorgirl

Marian Santos (Female Kid)

We modified the question for it to fit the kids: "Sino ang dapat manlibre"
And she answered that the boys should "libre", since she saw them once with a lot of food

#foodboy

 Japo Salas (Male Teen)

#whoasked

 Madel Callanta (Female Teen)

#money

Julie Manalang (Female Professional)

"Guys, para makatulong rin sa kanilang relasyon (or baka sila yun mga wala nang pag-asang magkaroon ng girlfriend haha)"
#aidforgirl

 Jerome Irabagon (Male Professional)

"Guys, kasi dapat parang jewels ang tingin naten sa mga babae"

#jewels

 Jerry Pavia (Father)

#both

Raphael Dancel (Male Kid)

We also have the following persons. They don't really want to get themselves photographed, but gladly answered the question we asked.

Myra Catona - Working Class - Female "Depende sa kanila kung sino ang gusto magbayad. Depende ito sa kanilang pag-uusap" 

Reginald Reyes -  Religious People - Male - Altar Server Animator: Diocesan Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, Calamba "Lalaki. Conservative pa rin ang view ko eh. Saka it sends a signal sa girl na interested ka sa kanya" 

Sr. Lyn Yap, FMA - Salesian Sister - Daughters of Mary Help of Christians "It doesn't matter who will pay first, as long the relationship between the two will be mutual and true" 

Josefina Santos - Lola (from province Bulacan) "Dapat lalaki magbayad! Tradition na iyan eh"

It was very interesting to see the answers of our interviewees. Mainly, people tend to answer that the boy should pay, whoever asked should pay or whoever has more money should pay. The group thinks that this could reflect three different ways of looking at the date. One, people could see it as the boy should pay since he is the one courting the girl and it is traditional for the male to pay. Two, whoever asked should pay since he/she is the one whom the date is for. Finally, practically speaking, whoever is financially more stable should be the one to pay. 

In the past, we can already see the importance of a really big contribution the males must do in order to get the partner they are eyeing out. It even dates back during our pre-colonial period, where the males show their charisma and power with the help of their wealth. Now, there didn't seem to be any difference in the social class or gender in the answers of the interviewees which the group views as a positive thing because this implies that each of the people interviewed had their own personal reasons for what the answered and they were not being influenced by what other people thought. Especially since each of the people interviewed could justify their answer, the group was glad to note that all of the people involved took the question seriously and did not just “go with the flow” of whatever the other people answered. They answered not only by looking at the gender in general of the person, but on the situations or circumstances the supposed "people in the relationship" have.

Group S.E.X. : Pavia, Santos, Samaco, Dancel, Soriano