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Gender: Ani Vadakke Purayil
Gender: Ani Vadakke Purayil
According to Mathews, the concept of gender gives recognition to the fact that
every known society distinguishes between women and men.
Gender refers to the attitudes, feelings and behaviors that a given culture
associates with a person's biological sex.
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Gender and Sex…..
Sex Gender
• Biological • Socially constructed
roles &
• Throughout history/
Responsibilities
culture
• Different in different
• Not changeable societies and time
periods
• Changeable
Gender identity refers to “one’s sense of oneself as
male, female, or transgender” (American
Psychological Association, 2006). When one’s
gender identity and biological sex are not
congruent, the individual may identify as
transsexual or as another transgender category.
Sexual orientation refers to the sex of those to
whom one is sexually and romantically attracted.
Categories of sexual orientation typically have
included attraction to members of one’s own sex
(gay men or lesbians), attraction to members of
the other sex (heterosexuals), and attraction to
members of both sexes (bisexuals).
Transgender:
An adjective that is a umbrella term used to describe the
full range of people whose gender identity and/or
gender role do not conform to what is typically
associated with their sex assigned at birth.
The Union Cabinet approved the Transgender Persons
(Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 in Parliament.
This Bill is expected to bring social, educational and
economic empowerment to the transgender
community.
To a community that has been ostracised and
discriminated against for so long, this Bill could mean a
chance to live a life of dignity and equality.
• provisions in the Bill:
• The Bill makes it illegal to force a transgender person to
leave residence or village, remove their clothes and parade
them naked, force them into begging or any kind of bonded
labour. These acts will be punishable with up to two years
of imprisonment, along with a fine and also asks for
amendments in the law to cover cases of sexual assault on
transgender persons.
• The Bill also criminalises denying a transgender person
access to any public place and causing them any physical or
mental harm within and outside the home.
• It guarantees OBC status to all transgenders not born as SC
or ST, and entitles them to reservation under the respective
categories.
• The Bill identifies ‘Transgender’ as the third gender and
gives a transgender person the freedom to identify as
‘man’, ‘woman’ or ‘transgender’.
• It also ensures that transgender persons or transgender children
enjoy the right to equality, all human rights, right to life and dignity
and personal liberty as guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
• All government institution shall provide inclusive education and
shall not discriminate against any transgender student.
• The government shall also set up rehabilitation and welfare
programmes and information centres. for transgender persons and
provide necessary orientations.
• The Bill instructs law the police to provide every assistance under
the law to transgender person.
• The Bill instructs the government to support and facilitate
employment of transgender persons, especially for vocational
training and self-employment, provide loans, and to ensure that
there is no discrimination against transgender person at
workplaces.
• Under the provisions in this Bill, transgender persons shall also have
equal rights and access to a cultural life, leisure and recreational
activities.
• MASCULINITY AND FEMININITY : The sex / gender
differences raises the issues of male – female;
masculine and feminine, male associated with
masculinity and female with femininity. With each
constructions the biological differences between
men and women get translated into social terms
and descriptions.
• Patters of differences by gender is seen when the
character is either masculine or feminine.
• For example, to be „strong‟ and „tough‟ is
masculine. Being „weak‟ and „soft‟ are associated
with feminine character. There are several other
traits that are categorized as masculine and
feminine.
• We socially enter into our gendered categories of
masculine and feminine right from birth.
• PATRIARCHY :
Patriarchy is a often used term in everyday conversation. In casual
conversation, whether in English or any other language the term
implies “male domination”, “male prejudice (against women)”.
Simply, the term means “the absolute rule of the father or the eldest
male member over his family”. Patriarchy is thus the rule of the
father over all women in the family and also over younger socially
and economically subordinate males.
Literally, patriarchy means rule by the male head of a social unit (like
family, tribe). The patriarch is typically a societal elder who has
legitimate power over others in the social unit.
Patriarchy has been viewed as more than just the subordination of
women. It has been pointed out that not all men are powerful in a
patriarchal system. For example younger men in the family have
less authority and power than older men.
Different areas of women‟s lives are said to be under patriarchal control.
Triple role: The term refers to the fact that women tend to work longer and more
than men as they are usually involved in three different gender roles —
reproductive, productive and community work.
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Gender Equality vs. Gender Equity
Gender Equality
• Gender equality is based on the idea of equality of
opportunities.
Gender Equity
• Gender equity denotes equivalence of life
outcomes of women and men
• Gender equity recognizes women and men have
different needs, preferences and interests and
may require different treatment of men and
women.
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Gender Equity….
The process of being fair to men and women-
such as equitable allocation of resources &
opportunities. Equity can be seen to be the
means & Gender equality as the end.
“Equity contributes to equality”
• As a human right
• Gender inequality causes poverty
• Gender inequality is impediment to
sustainable development
• With gender equality, economic growth
is more effective
Gender in classroom
Teaching and learning;
• Number of girls and boys in the classroom
• Teachers’ attitude/behavior towards students
• Students’ attitude towards each other
• Level of confidence of both genders in classrooms
• Monitors/class representative
• Seating arrangement
• Subject-wise preferences
Women Empowerment
• Empowerment of women concerns women gaining
power and control over their lives.
• It involves awareness raising, building self confidence,
increased access and control over resources and
transforming structures and institutions which
reinforce gender discrimination and inequality
• Empowerment cannot be achieved in vacuum; men
must be brought along in the process of change.
• It doesn’t refer to power over, rather it is power to,
power with and power within.
• It is a bottom up approach instead of a top down
strategy
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The UNESCO Agenda for Gender Equality
• Promote education for women's self-empowerment at all levels and in all
fields;
• Encourage the equal access to knowledge in all fields, notably within
science and technology;
• Support to women's human rights by implementing the Convention on the
Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
• Promote the attainment of gender parity, women's full citizenship and
equal participation in policy-making, and the elimination of stereotyped
roles and expectations;
• Encourage women's creativity and freedom of expression by supporting
their cultural activities, research, training, capacity-building, networking,
exchange of information and women's NGOs;
• Support a pluralistic and editorially independent media by favouring the
broad and active participation of women in decision-making and by
encouraging more diversified and non discriminatory images of women;
• Assist in building a culture of peace in the minds of women and men by
recognising women's capacity for leadership and non-violent conflict
resolution.
Gender Mainstreaming
It is a strategy for making women’s as well as
men’s concerns and experiences an integral
dimension of the design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation of policies and
programmes in all political, economic and
social spheres so that women and men benefit
equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The
ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. UN-
ECOSOC Definition (1997)
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Gender Analysis
• Gender analysis is descriptive and diagnostic tool for
development planners and crucial to gender
mainstreaming efforts.
• GA is the first step towards gender sensitive planning.
• GA focuses on describing women’s and men’s roles and
their relative access to and control over resources.
Analysis aims to anticipate the impacts of projects on
both productive and reproductive roles.
• GA analysis entails, first and foremost collecting sex-
disaggregated data and gender sensitive information
about population concerned.
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Gender-responsive budget
• GRB refers to the statement of actual government
expenditure and revenue on women and girls as
compared to men and boys.
• A gender budget is not a separate budget for women
• It provides a way to hold governments accountable for
their commitments to gender equality and women’s
human rights.
• If budgets fail to be sensitive to the needs and
demands of the poor and of women, resources will not
be adequately directed to gender-sensitive
programmes and to the achievement of equality goals.
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Gender Parity
A numerical concept concerned with the relative
equality in terms of numbers and proportions
of women, men, girls and boys. In education,
this means that the same number of boys and
girls receive educational services at different
levels and in diverse forms.
Gender Discrimination
• Discrimination on the basis of gender takes
many forms; including sexual harassment,
pregnancy discrimination, and unequal pay for
women who do the same job as men.
• Gender discrimination refers to situations in
which an employer treats an individual or
group of individual employees differently,
based on their gender, whether female or
male.
• Discrimination based on gender or sex is a
common civil rights violation.
Gender oppression
• Gender oppression is defined as oppression
associated with the gender norms, relations
and stratification of a given society. Modern
norms of gender consist of mutually exclusive
categories of masculinity and femininity.
• Oppression is a negative outcome, which
people experience through the cruel exercise
of power in society or in a social group.
• Oppression suppresses the natural self-
expression and emotions of others
Feminism
The basic idea of feminism interprets the subordination of
women by men. Feminism believes in the liberation of
women from such subordination. Feminism, in the earlier
stage, focused on the equality of women in the political and
economic realms.
• Feminism a doctrine that advocates equal rights for women
or the movement aimed at equal rights for women.
Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies
aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal
political, economic, and social rights for women. This
includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for
women in education and employment.
• The goals of feminism are to get women equal rights under
the law and equal stature in society. It is the movement
towards the social, political and economic equality of all
people.
• Objectives of Feminism
• To identify the existing power relationships in specific
spheres- family, economy, political,
• To identify different forms of discrimination against
women.
• To analyze the origin of subordinate status of women.
and find out the causes of subordination status of
women.
• To examine women’s social roles and subjection of
women in society.
• To understand the nature of gender inequality.
• To protect women and girls from domestic violence,
sexual harassment, and sexual assault.
• To focus on Women’s rights-law, wage property, voting
and reproductive rights.
• To examine social construction of sex and gender
• GENDER ROLES IN SOCIETY
• GENDER ROLES IN SOCIETY: family, caste, class, religion, culture, the media
and the popular culture, law and the state. A gender role is the behaviour
expected of a female or a male in a particular culture, the attitudes and
activities that a society expects of each sex.
• The child’s first influence in regards to gender roles is the family. From
birth to five years of age, most children are almost constantly surrounded
by family.
• A child’s first exposure to gender differences is learned through interaction
with his or her parents.
• Most parents dress their infants in gender-specific clothing and give them
toys according to gender stereotypes.
• Gender stereotypes are especially evident in the distribution of gender
specific toys to children.
• Early in life children observe the interactions
between the family and form conclusions
pertaining to gender roles.
• Early childhood factors within the home are
significant in the gender acquisition process.
• In general, parents tend to encourage their
children to participate in gender specific
activities. Although parents are the greatest
influence within the family in teaching gender
roles, older siblings also play a part in the
socialization process. Consequently, older siblings
are a means by which gender role stereotypes
continue to perpetuate in society.
• Gender and sex relations in society The only roles
related to sex are those associated with reproduction-
male and female contribute to the transfer of genetic
material.
• Further, women give birth and breastfeed, activities
assigned to female on the basis of socially determined
characteristics, such as stereotypes, ideologies, values,
attitudes, beliefs, and practices are also defined.
• Gender relations are relations of dominance and
subordination with elements of co-operation, force and
violence sustaining them.
• Gender relations are socially constructed and hence,
variable in time and place and amenable to change.
Gender relations follow the rules of patriarchy- an
ideology and social system whereby men are
considered superior to women.
• This social system classifies women as a subordinate or
secondary position which moves their stake at next level.
Society directs behavior and helps shape individual’s lives.
• While some choose to believe they have chosen their
behaviours based on individual characteristics but behavior
is socialized rather than by natural occurrence.
• Individuals should recognize their group identity and
understand the male and female role expectations
maintained by society.
• Gender and Caste ‘Indian population follows a rigid caste
system which divides people into a hierarchy that governs
the distribution of power, status, and identity in society’.
• The caste system, is divided into four distinct classes
comprised of priests, warriors, artisans, and peasants.
• The Constitution of India requires the state to treat all
citizens equally, without regard to birth, gender or religious
belief. However, society does not function merely on the
basis of formal principles.
• Religion
• The main religions of the world all contain certain ideas about the
appropriate roles for men and women in society, and traditionally,
this has placed women in the home and men in the ‘outside’ world.
• Nevertheless, data shows that Muslims and Buddhists seem to have
less egalitarian gender role attitudes than Jews, Protestants and
Catholics even when other factors are controlled for.
• Islam in particular has been criticised for suppressing women, and
gender is probably the area where negative attitudes about Islam
are articulated most frequently in Western societies.
• Culture
• Culture refers to the beliefs and practices of another society,
particularly where these are seen as closely linked with tradition or
religion.
• Culture is part of the fabric of every society, including our own. It
shapes the way things are done and our understanding of why this
should be so. Social media play a big role when it comes to
communication between genders.
• Sexuality
• Sexuality is a central aspect of being human
throughout life and encompasses sex, gender identities
and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure,
intimacy and reproduction.
• Sexuality is experienced and expressed in thoughts,
fantasies, desires, beliefs, attitudes, values, behaviours,
practices, roles and relationships.
• While sexuality can include all of these dimensions,
not all of them are always experienced or expressed.
• Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological,
psychological, social, economic, political, cultural,
ethical, legal, historical, religious and spiritual factors.
• Sexual health
• Sexual health is a state of physical, emotional, mental
and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not
merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity.
• The World Health Organization defines sexual health
as: "Sexual health is a state of physical, mental and
social well-being in relation to sexuality. It requires a
positive and respectful approach to sexuality and
sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having
pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of
coercion, discrimination and violence.“
• For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the
sexual rights of all persons must be respected,
protected and fulfilled.
• Sexual Rights
• Unlike the other three aspects of (Sexual and Reproductive
Health and Rights) SRHR, the struggle for sexual rights
include, and focus on, sexual pleasure and emotional sexual
expression. One platform for this struggle is the World
Association for Sexual health(WAS) Declaration of Sexual
Rights.
• The Platform for Action from the 1995 Beijing Conference
on Women established that human rights include the right
of women freely and without coercion, violence or
discrimination, to have control over and make decisions
concerning their own sexuality, including their own sexual
and reproductive health. This paragraph has been
interpreted by some countries as the applicable definition
of women’s sexual rights.
• The UN Commission on Human Rights has established that
if women had more power, their ability to protect
themselves against violence would be strengthened.
• At the 14th World Congress of Sexology (Hong Kong, 1999),
the WAS adopted the Universal Declaration of Sexual
Rights, which includes 11 sexual rights:
• The right to sexual freedom.
• The right to sexual autonomy, sexual integrity, and safety of
the sexual body.
• The right to sexual privacy.
• The right to sexual equity.
• The right to sexual pleasure.
• The right to emotional sexual expression.
• The right to sexually associate freely.
• The right to make free and
responsible reproductive choices.
• The right to sexual information based upon scientific
inquiry.
• The right to comprehensive sexuality education.
• The right to sexual health care.
Reproductive rights
According to Paragraph 7.3 of the International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)
Programme of Action, reproductive rights are based on
the right of couples and individuals to decide free from
discrimination, coercion and violence whether to have
children, how often and when to do so, having the
necessary information and means to make such
decisions.
• It is also connected with their right to the highest
attainable standard of sexual and reproductive health.
• "Reproductive rights" are the rights of individuals to
decide whether to reproduce and have reproductive
health. This may include an individual's right to plan a
family, terminate a pregnancy, use contraceptives,
learn about sex education in public schools, and gain
access to reproductive health services.
• Reproductive rights may also include the right to
receive education about sexually transmitted
infections and other aspects of sexuality, and
protection from practices such as female genital
mutilation(FGM)
Women's reproductive rights may include some or all of
the following:
• the right to legal and safe abortion; the right to birth
control;
• freedom from coerced sterilization and contraception;
• the right to access good-quality reproductive
healthcare; and
• the right to education and access in order to make free
and informed reproductive choices
Sexual harassment.
Any form of coercion, bullying, advances and requests for sexual favours that
includes unwelcome or inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for
sexual favours and verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature. Sexual
harassment is a criminal offence in many modern jurisdictions. Enforcement
however is a major challenge.