Twenty Years Hence: Changes in Young Filipino Women’s Attitude toward Premarital Sex and Unmarried Childbearing since the 1980s

Maria Midea M. Kabamalan, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Drawing from a series of national cross-sectional youth surveys, this paper documents the changing attitude of young women toward premarital sex and unmarried childbearing from the 1980s. Initial results show that young Filipino women have become liberal over time. They have become more approving of premarital sex and they perceive the society, their family, neighbors, and friends to be more accepting of young unwed mothers. Moreover, characteristics that used to be defining the liberal from the non-liberal are disappearing.