GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

SW203

PHILIPPINE SOCIALREALITY

Submitted By: Aiyana A. Martinez

Submitted to: Rebecca T. Valerio

 As a female working in a professional environment and living in a society that
promotes economic, social and cultural rights I often find myself concerned with gender
equality. Sometimes I feel that gender equality is just a myth, because, I have yet to see
women promoted or granted the same salaries as their male counterparts in the workplace,
or treated equally in society. Gender equality is the measurable equal representation of
women and men. However, it does not imply that women and men are the same, but that
they have equal value and should be accorded equal treatment. Women desire to live and
work in a world where the equal dignity and worth of every individual is respected and
valued. Women desire equal pay for equal work. This is one of the areas where gender
equality is rarely seen. Family is the first agent of socialization. There is considerable
evidence that parents socialize sons and daughters differently. Generally speaking, girls are
given more latitude to step outside of their prescribed gender role. However, differential
socialization typically results in greater privileges afforded to boys. For instance, sons are
allowed more autonomy and independence at an earlier age than daughters. They may be
given fewer restrictions on appropriate clothing, dating habits, or curfew. Sons are also often
free from performing domestic duties such as cleaning or cooking, and other household
tasks that are considered feminine. Daughters are limited by their expectation to be passive,
nurturing, and generally obedient, and to assume many of the domestic responsibilities.
Even when parents set gender equality as a goal, there may be underlying indications of
inequality. For example, when dividing up household chores, boys may be asked to take out
the garbage or perform other tasks that require strength or toughness, while girls may be
asked to fold laundry or perform duties that require neatness and care. It has been found
that fathers are firmer in their expectations for gender conformity than are mothers, and their
expectations are stronger for sons than they are for daughters. This is true in many types of
activities, including preference of toys, play styles, discipline, chores, and personal
achievements. As a result, boys tend to be particularly attuned to their father’s disapproval
when engaging in an activity that might be considered feminine, like dancing or singing. It
should be noted that parental socialization and normative expectations vary along lines of
social class, race, and ethnicity. Even in levels as low as kindergarten, schools subtly
convey messages to girls indicating that they are less intelligent or less important than boys,
teachers praise male students far more than their female counterparts. Boys are also
permitted a greater degree of freedom regarding rule-breaking or minor acts of deviance,
whereas girls are expected to follow rules carefully and to adopt an obedient posture. Mass
media serves as another significant agent of gender socialization. In television and movies,
women tend to have less significant roles and are often portrayed as wives or mothers.
When women are given a lead role, they are often one of two extremes: a wholesome, saint-
like figure or a malevolent, hypersexual figure. This same inequality is pervasive in children’s
movies. Even as a child, women experience biases and inequality and it is evident in the
way of how other systems influence that view.

During the seminar proper, the speaker started with a question “When filling out a
document such as a job application or school registration form you are often asked to
provide your name, address, phone number, birth date, and sex or gender. But have you
ever been asked to provide your sex and your gender?” As with most people, it may not
have occurred to you that sex and gender are not the same. First we need to know the
difference between gender and sexuality before we proceed. For many this seems to be a
touchy subject. Gender is a range of characteristics of feminity and masculinity. Gender
refers to the state of being male or female. Gender is now commonly used even to refer to
the physical anatomy. Gender begins to be formed from the time a child is born. Beginning
with the obligatory pink and blue blanket, gender is implicated in everything we do. From the
cloths we wear to the food we eat to the types of work we do, sex role differentiation, and
pressure to confirm to the box of gender. Gender socialization starts at childhood and pretty
much goes on until death. As a result of the pervasive attention that we give to gender,
gender is pretty much implicated in everything we do. Beyond the basic fact that gender is
something we focus a lot of attention on, there are a lot of strong opinions, theories, and
emotions surrounding it. Gender is an important topic because the basic fact that all over the
world, in pretty much every culture that exists, women are treated differently than men. I
could be much more elaborate on this gender topic although I would spend all day on this
topic alone, so we move on to sex and sexuality. Sex is defined by the genitalia an individual
possess. The experience of transgendered people also demonstrates that a person’s sex, as
determined by his or her biology, does not always correspond with his or her gender.
Therefore, the terms sex and gender are not interchangeable. A baby boy who is born with
male genitalia will be identified as male. As he grows, however, he may identify with the
feminine aspects of his culture. Since the term sex refers to biological or physical
distinctions, characteristics of sex will not vary significantly between different human
societies. For example, it is physiologically normal for persons of the female sex, regardless
of culture, to eventually menstruate and develop breasts that can lactate. The signs and
characteristics of gender, on the other hand, may vary greatly between different societies.
For example, it is considered feminine or a trait of the female gender to wear a dress or skirt.
However, in many Middle Eastern, Asian, and African cultures, dresses or skirts often
referred to as sarongs, robes, or gowns can be considered masculine. We will expand sex to
sexuality, which refers to your sexual orientation. Sexuality would deal with your choice of
sexual activity and your sexual feelings. So sexuality would refer to who you are attracted to.
Whether it be man and women or two men or a mix of the previously mentioned. From the
beginning of time the bible only stated the man and woman as being the right choice of
sexuality. But as time goes on we are further understanding and studying different sexual
choices. In today’s society we have too many sexual choices to mention here. Although to
give you an idea we have come to use a scale instead of a single box to identify your sexual
choices. These sexual choices go much deeper into affecting what we want out of life and
how we go about getting what we want. Although I do believe everyone should have their
own choice to have control of their own lives and happiness. We as a society should not
dictate what relationship is right or wrong. But I do see this topic as a pressing issue for all of
us, especially with all the radical changes over the years. Only time will tell what the future
will hold, although as more and more people come out it looks like the future society will be
much more open than in the past years. Since the beginning of time gender inequality has
been an obstacle towards the human development of countries around the world. However,
females have been oppressed of their opportunities throughout time. To understand the
reason for the gender gap between males and females there need to be an understanding of
the indicators that are addressed through the key dimensions of Gender Inequality which
include reproductive health, education and political representation. Humans are born to
think, discover and learn many things in the world. They are social animals. Both females
and males have the same brain, body and heart. Gender equality is also known as sex
equality. It refers to the opinion that men and women attain to have equal conduct. Neither
should be discriminated on gender biasness. This the most important motive of the Human
Rights, this pursues the generation of equality in rule and in social circumstances like in self-
governing actions and to guard safely equal salary for equal efforts. Gender equality is the
basic rights that a human being have to survive with self-dignity. Women are acceptable to
live in self-respect and in liberty from need. Authorizing women is a crucial tool for
proceeding development and dropping down the level of poverty. Women that are
empowered contributes to the fitness and efficiency of society and to enhance prospects for
the next generation to come. The position of gender equality is stressed by its presence as
one of the eighth Millennium Development Goals. Gender equality is recognized as being a
significant issue to attain seven other aims. Being that discrimination in contradiction of
females involving gender-based violence, reproductive health injustices and damaging
traditional performs, left the universal form of dissimilarity. All too often women are paid less
than men for doing the same work. Even though women hold some of the same job titles as
men in their field of work, salaries are usually not equal. Another area of gender equality is
suffrage (the right to vote). This area of gender equality does not extend to all the women in
the world. Women in Saudi Arabia does not have the right t to vote, in the USA right wing
commentators say that women should never have been given the right to vote. Other
discrimination against women and girls includes gender-based violence, economic
discrimination, and reproductive health inequities. A key topic has been women’s rights
affording the ability to control their own fertility. This is absolutely fundamental to women’s
empowerment and equality. When a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her
life. When she is healthy, she can be more productive. And when her reproductive right,
which includes the right to decide the number, timing and spacing of her children, and to
make decisions regarding reproduction free of discrimination, coercion, or violence. Despite
many international agreements affirming their human rights, women are likely to be poor and
illiterate, compared to men. They usually have less access than men to medical care,
property ownership, credit, training and employment. They are far less likely than men to be
politically active and far more likely to be victims of domestic violence. It’s also about political
will. Until each nation embrace policies to integrate women into leadership like their
counterparts, women will not be viewed as equal throughout the world. Therefore, gender
equality implies a society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities, outcomes,
rights and obligations in all aspects of life. Gender equality includes sharing equally in the
distribution of power, influence, opportunities, financial independence, and access to
education and jobs. Some gender issues were also discussed such as gender
marginalization, subordination, multiple burden, gender stereotype and violence against
women.

A critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women to

manage their own lives and personal ambitions. The roles that men and women play in
society are not biologically determined they are socially determined, changing and
changeable. Some see them as being justified or required by culture or religion, however,
these roles vary widely by locality and change over time. Gender equality and equity should
be mainstreamed in order to promote peace among both sexes. In that way, development
can no longer be elusive and progress will be within the reach of people. In regard with the
LGBTQI which in today’s society exists a huge variety of issues with sexuality. Some topics
when discussed tend to raise the blood pressure of many citizens. There are a handful of
topics dealing with sexual choices that always seem to heightened opinions and issue that
has in recent years, begun to command the intensity of the crowd, is the acceptability of
homosexuality in mainstream society. People with a homosexual orientation can express
their sexuality in a variety of ways, and may or may not express it in their behaviors. Many
have sexual relationships predominately with people of their own gender identity, though
some have sexual relationships with those of the opposite gender, bisexual relationships, or
none at all. Until recently, homosexuality was considered strictly taboo. If an individual was
homosexual, this revelation was considered a grave secret to be kept from all family, friends,
and society at large. However, it seems that society has begun to accept this lifestyle by
allowing same sex couples some of the rights given to heterosexual couples. But in the issue
of gender and development, should they be given a right to be mainstreamed? To be
identified as an exclusive gender? The angry, hurtful debate in this country about whether
we have the right to our own choices and should our legal and social structures be “gay, bi,
tri-affirming”, or should we reject these aspect as part of our society. In order to be happy, in
order to develop the capacities God has given us and in order to make the world the
manifestation of justice that God wants it to be, we need to change the shape of society and
change our understanding of our own selves. It has been explained by the speaker that GAD
is an approach or strategy that promotes equality between women and men. From this
statement, members of LGBTQI should understand and conform since it is based on the
biological aspect of sex and not about their sexual preference. I am not against their
advocacy but I just want to make things simple and in order, we should always remember
the fact that just because we can doesn’t mean we should because we must consider a lot of
factors first before jumping into direct action.