Abstract
A breadwinner is the one obligated to support the family’s needs. It requires sacrifice and work-life balance to meet ends. Various studies have shown that many are struggling to keep up with being the sole provider in the household, with the fact that the Philippines has one of the highest income tax rates in the world, what more for those homosexual males who are breadwinners of their family with challenges in revealing their identity? A study by McPhail (2014) expressed that living out your sexual orientation is a double-edged sword for homosexual male workers in terms of their careers. This descriptive phenomenological study focused on the lived experience of homosexual male breadwinners to determine the role their obligation plays in their identity along with its relationship with work-life balance. Following Paul Collaizi’s descriptive phenomenological method, the researchers created a structured interview consisting of 10 questions. Purposive and snowball sampling was used to collect data from a total of 15 participants interviewed through Google Meet. The findings show that being a homosexual breadwinner still entails the usual hardships and stress the normal breadwinner goes under. On a positive point, only a few participants experienced discrimination in their careers. It was found that the lived experience of homosexual male breadwinners indeed has an established relationship between identity formation and work-life balance.
