GENDER AND SOCIETY 1

MODULE 1 – WEEK 1

DISCRIMINATION TODAY

A. INTRODUCTION:

You may ask why is it necessary to conduct a course that focuses on women and
their development. You may ask, why do women have to be singled out as a special
topic? Throughout the years, women have made many different advances. Unfortunately,
their roles as modern women do not represent the experience of most Filipinas and other
women around the world. This chapter will introduce to us the concept of discrimination
and how it affects all of us personally.

B. LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
• Describe the concept of discrimination, its nature, and the different manners
people experience discrimination
• Discuss how discrimination is seen in our everyday situations.

C. TOPICS:
1. Discrimination today
2. Discrimination Against Women

D. CHECKING WHAT I ALREADY KNOW

Write down 5 situations where you felt discriminated. What do you think is the reason
why other people discriminated you? (2 points per number)

1. _______________________________________________________________
2. _______________________________________________________________
3. _______________________________________________________________
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4. _______________________________________________________________
5. _______________________________________________________________

E. LET’S EXPLORE

Discrimination Today

The terms stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination are often used

interchangeably in everyday conversation. Let us explore the differences between these
concepts.

Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations about groups of people. Stereotypes can

be based on race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation—almost any characteristic.
They may be positive, but are often negative. In either case, the stereotype is a
generalization that doesn’t consider individual differences.

Prejudice refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a
group. A prejudice is not based on experience; instead, it is a prejudgment, originating
outside actual experience

Discrimination pertains to actions or negative behavior against a group of people.

Discrimination can be based on age, religion, health, and other indicators; race-based
laws against discrimination strive to address this set of social problems.

Discrimination Against Women

Women often experience pay gap in the workplace, meaning, they get less or
smaller salaries than men. Women are often limited to low-paying jobs that reflect their
roles at home. The reason behind this is what we call the glass ceiling.

Glass ceiling – attitudes or beliefs about what women can do that serve as hindrance for
them to attain higher paying positions in a company
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POPULAR BUSINESS LEADERS IN THE PHILIPPINES

1. MANUEL “MANNY” PANGILINAN – FIRST PACIFIC (PLDT, TV5,
MERALCO)
2. JAIME AUGUSTO ZOBEL DE AYALA – AYALA CORPORATION
3. ERNEST L. CU – GLOBE TELECOM
4. TONY TAN CAKTIONG – JOLLIBEE FOOD
5. DANDING COJUANGCO – SAN MIGUEL CORPORATION
6. LANCE GOKONGWEI – ROBINSONS RETAIL HOLDINGS, INC.
7. RAMON ANG - TOP FRONTIER INVESTMENT HOLDINGS, INC.
8. EUGENIO LOPEZ – ABS CBN CORPORATION
9. EDGAR SIA – MANG INASAL FAST FOOD CHAIN
10. ARMANDO TETANGCO JR. – BELLE CORPORATION
11. LORENZO V. TAN – HOUSE OF INVEST INC., ASIAN BANKERS
ASSOCIATION
12. JEAN HENRI LHUILLIER – PJ LHUILLIER GROUP OF COMPANIES
13. FELIPE GOZON – GMA NETWORK
14. MARIA RESSA – RAPPLER
15. JORGE ARANETA – ARANETA GROUP OF COMPANIES

• Many societies consider women as the weaker sex, physically and emotionally. Women
are considered less than men, functioning to support the ambitions of men, thus, the
quote: “Behind a successful man is a woman.”

➢ For instance, the impoverished women of Bangladesh are not generally allowed to
take loans or even interact with development workers.
➢ Traditional communities in India and Pakistan prevent women from obtaining
education

• A woman’s worth may not be equal to a man’s. Elsewhere, women are systematically
mutilated, female fetuses aborted, and young girls neglected to the point of starvation or
even death.
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• Women of Saharan Africa are still subject to female circumcision, or genital mutilation,
to control their sexual desires.

Thankfully, countries are becoming more protective of women’s rights and are now putting a
stop to several traditional practices that are considered abuses against women.

➢ .Gambia has banned the female genital mutilation (FGM) and set penalties of up to
life in prison for offenders of the new law. The country’s parliament passed a bill
criminalizing FGM, which usually involves the removal of a young girl’s labia and
clitoris, on Dec. 28th, a month after President Yahya Jammeh promised to end the
practice, which causes lifelong health complications to women.

o There are four different types of FGM identified by the World Health
Organization: Type 1 is the partial or total removal of the clitoris; Type 2 is the
partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, and sometimes also
the removal of the labia majora; Type 3 involves the narrowing or sewing up of
the vaginal opening, including the removal of the labia minora and majora, and
sometimes the clitoris. Type 4 includes all other harmful procedures, and can
include pricking, piercing, and cauterization (burning).

➢ Those who break the law face fines of 50,000 delasi ($1,250) or three years in
prisons. Offenders who cause death by FGM could face life sentences. The bill makes
Gambia, a small West African country of about 1.8 million people, the 27th sub-
Saharan African country to legislate against FGM. As much as 80% of Gambian
women had been cut as of 2010.

• In some areas in East Asia, women without husbands are deemed not valuable. They are
killed or forced to commit suicide. Widows, on the other hand, are encouraged to follow
their husbands by committing suicide.
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• Women in certain countries may have little to no influence in the public sphere. They
have no voice at all in states that adhere to tradition that leave women with diminished
rights.

• Countries such as India and Pakistan have active female political leaders, yet these
countries experience a high incidence of extreme violence against women.

• India has 36.7 million missing women. Women’s health and nutrition are also neglected.

• It is reported that 2.4 million girls are missing in Southeast Asia, 44 million in China and
36.7 million in India

“CHALLENGE ACCEPTED”

Discrimination Against Women In the Philippines

• Discrimination against women may be less obvious in the Philippines and women are
now recognized in many areas of life. Women are also protected by several laws for
equality and against discrimination due to sex. Despite all these, discrimination due to
sex and gender still exists in the Philippines

• Women are seen as primarily responsible for childbearing, child-rearing, and keeping the
family whole. These tasks prevent women from entering the public domain, nation-
building and wealth creation, and make them dependent solely on their husbands.

• Women in the Philippines do have the rights of movement and expression but they are at
risk for sexual harassment and violence from their relatives, classmate, colleagues,
strangers and even significant others

• Access to sexual and reproductive health is limited

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• The passage of the Reproductive Health Law was stalled because of the church and its
patriarchal hierarchy

• Women also experience societal pressures on behavior – need to look and act prim and
proper. However, women are not the only ones who experience these. Men are also
pressured to act according to the standard of the society.

• Women are not expected to have the capacity to make complex decisions in large
corporations. This explains why men dominate the list of business and political leaders in
the country. Women are thought to be inadequate for the complexities of governance due
to their supposed weak temperament

• Women have a difficult time realizing their potentials and excelling because their ways
are not the norm that defines our creative functioning in society

Discrimination perhaps is the first and most important problem that women face. Women
are being assessed according to men’s standards and defined by men’s systems. Thus,
women have difficulty realizing their potentials and excelling in their chosen fields because
their ways are not the norm that define function in the society.

F. Learning Activity

List down 5 activities that you think only women can do and 5 activities that you think
only men can do.

5 things only women can do

1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________
4. __________________________________
5. __________________________________
5 things only men can do
1. __________________________________
2. __________________________________
3. __________________________________
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4. __________________________________
5. __________________________________

G. Self-Check: Answer the following reflective questions concisely. (Minimum of 3

sentences, maximum of 7 sentences) 5 points per number
1. Personally, how do you think discrimination affects / will affect you?
2. As a student, how can you stop or lessen the occurrence of gender discrimination?

Assessment Rubric

Above Expectations Meets Expectation Below Expectations

3 2 1
Reflective Thinking The reflection The reflection The reflection does
explains the explains the not address the
student’s own student’s thinking student’s thinking
thinking and about his/her own and/or learning.
learning processes, learning processes
as well as
implications for
future learning.
Analysis The reflection is an The reflection is an The reflection does
in-depth analysis analysis of the not move beyond a
of the learning learning description of the
experience, the experience and the learning
value of the value of the experience.
derived learning to derived learning to
self or others, and self or others.
the enhancement
of the student’s
appreciation for
the discipline.
Making Connections The reflection The reflection The reflection does
articulates articulates not articulate any
multiple connections connection to other
connections between this learning or
between this learning experience
learning experience and
experience and content from other
content from other courses, past
courses, past learning
learning, life experiences, and/or
experiences and/or future goals.
future goals.
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H. Feedback
Write your feedback on the lesson module on the space provided.
___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

I. Post Test. True or False. Write true if the statement is true and false if the statement
is false.
1. Women have as much sexual freedom as men.
2. Men face gender discrimination.
3. Prejudice and discrimination are essentially the same thing.
4. Women enjoy equal social status with men in most societies in the world.
5. Men also experience violence.
6. Women are confined into taking jobs that reflect their roles at home.
7. The Philippines is a highly patriarchal society.
8. Majority of business and political leaders are women.
9. Women in Sub-Saharan countries are encouraged to commit suicide when their
husbands die.
10. Female circumcision is practiced in some countries to control women’s sexual
desires.

Main Reference:

Rodriguez, A. & Rodriguez, A. (2019). Gender and society.Quezon City, C & E Publishing, Inc.

Video Link:

Stereotype, Prejudice and Discrimination : youtube.com/watch?v=7P0iP2Zm6a4&t=184s

Discrimination Against Women in the Philippines:

youtube.com/watch?v=zcw9tGO80Xo
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