Analyzing How the Philippine Government Shapes Gender Norms through Migration: The Case of an Institutionalized Award System

This study analyzes how the Philippine government shapes gender norms through the awardees of an institutionalized award system called the “Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas” (PAFIOO). Publicly available biennial books of awardees that span 30 years (1991–2021) were obtained from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas archives, and the narrative data of the 342 awardees were thematically analyzed. This study argues that the state reinforces gender norms within migration and development through two identity frames bestowed on the winners of PAFIOO. First, the hero/heroine identity emphasizes the traditional views of gender roles, where women awardees, regardless of their civil status, are framed as sacrificing mother figures. Second, the commodity identity highlights men awardees and their masculine-related fields. Consequently, their contribution to development reflected this. Further, the PAFIOO selection is imbalanced, consistently awarding more men than women in the past three decades.