GE ELEC 7

GENDER AND SOCIETY

2nd Semester
A.Y 2022-2023

Kathreen Kay T.
Calabit
 UNIT 1
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INTRODUCTION
GENDER AND SOCIETY:
THE BASICS

GENDER
– refers to the socially constructed characteristics of
women and men, such as norms, roles, and relationships
of and between groups of women and men. It varies
from society to society and can be changed. (WHO)
– a social construction that people typically describe in
terms of femininity and masculinity. In Western
cultures, people associate femininity with women and
masculinity with men, but this social construction varies
across cultures. (WHO)
GENDER AND SOCIETY:
THE BASICS

SOCIETY
– From the Latin word “socius”: companionship or
friendship.
– George Simmel an eminent sociologists has stated that
it is the element of sociability or companionship which
defines the true essence of society.
– Aristotle stated centuries ago man is a social animal, it
brings into focus that man always lives in the company
of other people.
GENDER AND SOCIETY:
THE BASICS

SOCIETY
– August Comte viewed society as a social organism
possessing a harmony of structure and function.
– Emile Durkheim regarded society as a reality in its own
right.
– Talcott Parson viewed society as a total complex of
human relationships in so far as they grow out of the
action in terms of means-end relationship intrinsic or
symbolic.
GENDER AND SOCIETY:
THE BASICS

SOCIETY
– Functional point of view: Society is defined as a
complex of groups in reciprocal relationships,
interacting upon one another, enabling human
organisms to carry on their life-activities and helping
each person to fulfill his wishes and accomplish his
interests in association with his fellows.
– Structural point of view: society is the total social
heritage of folkways, mores and institutions; of habits,
sentiments and ideals.
GENDER AND SOCIETY:
THE BASICS

Characteristics of Society
a. society is a web of social relationships
b. society means likeness
c. society also implies difference
d. society means interdependence
e. society means cooperation
GENDER AND SOCIETY:
THE BASICS

GENDER-EQUAL SOCIETY
– a "society in which both men and women, as equal
members, have the opportunity to participate in all kinds of
social activities at will, equally enjoy political, economical
and cultural benefits, and share responsibilities."
– In such a society, the human rights of men and women are
equally respected.
– Women who desire an active role in society may participate
in activities of their own choosing, while men could enjoy a
fulfilling home and community life. (Gender Equality Bureau Cabinet
Office, Japan)
GENDER AND SOCIETY:
THE BASICS

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

– The development perspective and process that is
participatory and empowering, equitable, sustainable,
free from violence, respectful of human rights,
supportive of self-determination and actualization of
human potentials.
– GAD approach focuses on the socially constructed
basis of difference between men and women.
– GAD emphasizes the need to challenge existing gender
roles and relations.
SEX AND GENDER:
How do they differ?

SEX GENDER
Categorized as MALE or FEMALE MASCULINITY and FEMININITY

Biological Socially, culturally and historically

Fixed at birth determined
Learned through socialization
Does not change across time and Varies over time and space
space
Equally valued Unequally valued
(masculinity as a norm)
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

1. Hunter- gatherer society

❖ Small nomadic groups who obtained their food by
hunting, fishing and gathering wild plants and insects
❖ A division of labor exist based both on age and sex
❖ The dominant pattern: men hunt large animals (long
expeditions away from the camp
❖ Women gather insects and plants and hunt small
animals
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

1. Hunter- gatherer society

❖ This division is neither rigid nor the same
everywhere
❖ variations occur due to availability of food and
other ecological considerations
❖ This sexual division of labor might be due to men’s
inherently aggressive behavior or
❖ The women’s restricted mobility (childbirth and
childcare)
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

1. Hunter- gatherer society

❖ members of the band were highly interdependent
but had personal autonomy
❖ Decision-making was dispersed throughout the
group and both sexes took decisions about
activities they were responsible of
❖ Marriage was a loose arrangement and either
partner could effectively terminate the relationship
by leaving a band and joining another
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

1. Hunter- gatherer society

❖ Although a sexual division of labor did exist this did
not necessarily imply inequality between the sexes
❖ This was a division of responsibility
❖ Nobody held institutionalized positions of power or
authority because there was little basis for such
positions since there was no accumulation of
wealth or property
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

2. Horticultural Society
❖ Domestication of certain plants and animals, the use of the
hoe and digging stick, slash and burn techniques in land
clearance
❖ Settlement was semi permanent
❖ Domestication of plants and animals meant higher yields
from the land to support higher population densities
❖ This growing size and complexity, plus the need to allocate
land, led to more institutionalized form of political authority
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

2. Horticultural Society
❖ There was a shift to forms of property ownership – land
rights held by a corporate kin-group or clearance of land
itself represented ownership (usufructuary rights)
❖ disputes over land rights = warfare = alliances with other
kin- groups = nature of marriage relations
❖ There were variations in the division of labor but the
general pattern was that men were more likely
responsible for clearing the land and women for cultivation
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

2. Horticultural Society
❖ This division however was not absolute because of the
other economic activities existed like pottery, weaving,
and woodwork which might be assigned to both sexes
❖ While childcare was usually the responsibility of
women, other members of the kin-group shared this
activity
❖ Even production of commodities for trade (surplus) did
not result to a more dominant role for men
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

2. Horticultural Society
❖ In cultures where women retained control of both
production and distribution of surpluses, their status
was relatively enhanced
❖ women’s responsibility was exclusive to the
household, not a disadvantage either so long as the
household economy and the public economy were
synonymous
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

3. Settled Agriculture
❖ settled communities – larger and more complex
❖ shift in property ownership from usufructuary to actual
and legal ownership
❖ men by necessity became the owner of the land, the
surpluses as head of the household
❖ sexual division of labor then appears to be more rigid
❖ Pressure on the land tended to encourage residence
away from the parents’ home after marriage
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

3. Settled Agriculture
❖ the family unit became focused on parents and children
❖ this privatization and isolation of the family changed
women’s lives in that the burden of childcare fall almost
exclusively on them
❖ this declining economic role and the corresponding increase
in reproductive role among women were reflected in power
and authority patterns
❖ men were most likely to occupy power and authority in both
economics and politics – while women exercise indirect
influence over public events
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

3. Settled Agriculture
❖ women’s work on the land was no longer their first
responsibility
❖ thus their “value” to those with power – husbands and
fathers were measured in terms of their reproductive capacity
❖ This affected marital and sexual relations – protection of
women from the attention of other men, be confined and
chaperoned
❖ once more these practices were reinforced by religious and
cultural ideology which depicted women as bad, polluting,
inferior, etc.
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

3. Settled Agriculture
❖ women increasingly became powerless both inside the
home and outside, economically dependent on their
husbands, their social position was determined by that of
their husband
❖ women moved in the “private” world of the household
separate from the “public” world of economic and
decision-making
A Historical and Sociological Overview
of the Origins of Sexual Inequality

4. Industrial Society
❖ The rise of capitalist mode of production, waged labor and
development of factories
❖ The distinction between home and the productive economy
was further accentuated with the rise of waged labor
❖ There was a shift in the location of the work from the home
to the factory
❖ Women and even children joined in the workforce - that
only adds to their miserable exploited conditions because
not only are they exploited by the capitalist class but
discriminated by the male workers as well
DEMOGRAPHY, REPRODUCTION and NEEDS
DEVELOPMENT, DEMOGRAPHY AND NEEDS:
Why gender matters?

• Many women have lower literacy and less access than men to
mass media.
• Women may know relatively little about reproductive health,
including how to avoid unwanted pregnancies.
• Men have more power than women, they may find it hard to
negotiate contraceptive use.
• Men’s participation in homemaking and childbearing are less
than women’s.
DEVELOPMENT, DEMOGRAPHY AND NEEDS:
Why gender matters?

• Women who work outside the home have fewer children than
mothers who do not work outside.
• Mothers who do not work may be in a more traditional
relationship based on a male breadwinner and female
homemaker.
• Son preference. Sex selective abortions.
• Women are more illiterate than men.

- Population Bulletin, 2005

PRACTICAL GENDER NEEDS (PGN)

Needs of immediate interest – safe water,

food, health care, cash income – essential to improve
living conditions of women, but in itself can not
change the prevailing disadvantaged (subordinate)
positions of women.
PRACTICAL GENDER NEEDS (PGN)

• They are not unique to women but affect disadvantaged men

as well.
• They tend to be short-term and can therefore be met through
direct material inputs e.g. supplying water if there is a water
shortage.
• They mainly deal with providing finished goods and services
or making them easily available to the needy.
• Meeting the practical gender needs does not challenge the
power relations between men and women.
STRATEGIC GENDER NEEDS (SGN)

SGNs are those that women themselves identify as due to

their subordinate position to men in their society.
They relate to issues of power and control, and to
exploitation under the sexual division of labour.

• These refer to socio-economic and political positions of

women compared to men and therefore affect all women
regardless of socio-economic class e.g. a law that children
belong to their fathers will affect all women regardless of their
material welfare.
STRATEGIC GENDER NEEDS (SGN)

• They concern the power relations between men and

women.
• They look at legal rights, violence, equal pay, women’s
control over their bodies, political representation,
religious and cultural barriers to gender equality, policies
etc.
• They relate to structures and systems e.g. religion,
culture, policies and legislation.
• They require transformation of attitudes, policies,
legislation, culture etc.
“Man and woman are a peerless pair, being
supplementary to another; each helps the other,
so that without the one, the existence of the
other cannot be conceived and, therefore, it
follows that anything that impairs the status of
either of them will involve the equal ruin of them
both”.

- Mahatma Gandhi
 Thank you.

Next topic: Laws and Issuances that promote Gender Equality