Republic of the Philippines

BOHOL ISLAND STATE UNIVERSITY

Main Campus
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE
Tagbilaran City
Vision: A premiere S&T university for the formation of world class and virtuous human resource for sustainable development in Bohol and the Country.
Mission: BISU is committed to provide quality higher education in the arts and sciences, as well as in the professional and technological fields; undertake research
and development, and extension services for the sustainable development of Bohol and the country.

GENDERED LIVELIHOODS
Our livelihoods, or how we make a living, are central to who we are, where we fit
into our society and into increasingly-global economic systems, and our material
wellbeing. Though our livelihoods, we adopt with the environment and interact with
other people. Activities and assets of people combine to form a living, which we tend to
think of in material terms, producing food, shelter, and other consumption goods. The
benefit of assets-based approach for questions of poverty alleviation is that it starts from
what the poor have instead of what they lack. However, as a consequence, gender as a
practice within the context of livelihood production has been relatively obscured.

LEARNING OUTCOME:

By the end of this chapter, students should be able to:

 Obtain knowledge on how gendered livelihood affect the mental health and the
unequal treatment in family and education
 Comprehend the relation of gender with politics, labor and health care

Mental Health and Emotions

Among the most important contributors to the global burden of disease and
disability includes mental health problems. Several studies have shown evidences that
states gender based differences contribute significantly to the higher prevalence of
depression and anxiety disorders in girls and women when compared to boys and men.

A population-based study from Nicaragua has found that women who had
experienced severe abuse were ten times more likely to experience emotional distress
than women who had never experienced abuse. Globally, sexual violence is
experienced more by girls and women, and there is a strong association between
sexually abused in childhood and the presence of multiple mental health problems later
in life.
Gender in Relation to Politics, Labors, Health Care

Even in democratic societies in which gender equality is legally mandated,

gender discrimination occurs in politics, both in regards to presumptions about
political allegiances that fall along gender lines. Historically, this was even more true
when women were neither considered full citizens nor could not vote. But since
gaining the fundamental right of women to vote, women have worked in many levels
of government in the recent politics. Gender discrimination in health care manifests
itself primarily as the difference that men and women pay for their insurance
premium (Mostly in the US).

Unequal Treatment in Family and Education

Higher education has historically been regarded as a male domain. In early

American history, women were sent to tutors and then to female seminaries, though
training largely emphasized ladylike accomplishments, such as piano-playing,
needlepoint, and literature, over serious academic education. Even as women’s
education became more robust, it was considered to be distinct from men’s education.

Despite the integration of men and women in university classrooms, women

continue to face gender-based disparities and biases. To this day, math and science are
often thought to be, “male” fields, while subjects in the humanities are considered to be
the more natural province of women. Of course, particular subjects are not inherently
“male” or “female”. However, gender norms are often informally inculcated at an early
age, when elementary school teachers may encourage boys to pursue math and
science and not do the same for girls. Further, boys generally receive more positive and
negative attention in the classroom than do girls; as a result, the school environment
can unintentionally become male-centered.

All of this, however, is changing. As has long been acknowledged, females now
earn higher grades than males, and since the early 1990s, more women than men have
been enrolled in college. Recently, women have also begun to outnumber men in
graduate schools.

********************************************************************

ASSESSMENT

1. Why do you think women were not allowed to vote before?

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
2. As a young adult and member of this modern society, how do you take care of
your mental health?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

3. Why do you think men show less of their emotions than women?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

4. Cite a situation wherein women are discriminated in doing labor.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________

5. Elaborate the importance of mental health.

___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________