Chapter 5: GENDER FAIR LANGUAGE

 Language and Gender Relations

 Violations of Gender-fair Language
 Activity/Output #3

Language and Gender Relations

Language is a potent tool for how humans understand and participate in the world. It can shape
how we see society. It is a part of culture. In this regard, language is not a neutral force; it enforces
certain ideas about people including gender.

Language defines men and women differently as seen in common adjectives associated with these
genders. Unequal relations can stem from statements that trivialize one gender experience or
perpetuate one gender’s supremacy.

Violations of Gender-fair Language

Sexiest language is a tool that reinforces unequal gender relations through sex-role stereotypes,
microaggressions, and sexual harassment. Language can be used to abuse, such as in the case of sexual
harassment, or to perpetuate stereotypes.

Example: “women cannot be engineers,” “men cannot take care of children.”

Invisibilization of Women

Is a rooted in the assumption that men are dominant and the norm of fullness of humanity, and
women do not exist.

 The generic use of masculine pronouns or the use of a masculine general.

Example: “mankind” assumes that men are representatives of all people of the planet.

 The assumption that certain functions or jobs are performed by men instead of both genders.
 Example: “The farmers and their wives tilled the land.” This assumes that men can have jobs as
farmers, and women who do the same jobs are still called as wives.
 The use of male job titles or terms ending in ‘man’ to refer to functions that may be given to
both genders.
Example: “chairman,” “congressman”

Trivialization of Women

Bringing attention to the gender of a person, if and only if that person is a woman. Trivialisation
is any language which makes something seem unimportant and it is closely related to subordination.

Example: “lady guard,” “working wives”

 The perception that women are immature.

Example: “baby,” “darling”

 The objectification, or likening to objects, of women.

Example: “honey,” “sugar,” “tart”

Fostering unequal gender relations – language that lacks parallelism fosters unequal gender relation.

Gender polarization of words in use of adjectives – that used parallel adjectives to show the difference in
perception regarding men and women.

Hidden assumptions – also can be forms of microaggression if the underlying perceptions are sexist and
degrading.

Identities and Naming Things

Defined sex and gender, and explained how these points can help reflect one’s identity. It is a tool
for understanding the world as well as for naming and describing people and things.

Example: Sexual harassment was never seen as an issue as it was never given a name.

Sexual Language and Culture

Language that admonishes certain acts depending on one’s gender is a form of externalized social
control. Using language for gender stereotyping can contribute to sexism by reinforcing the idea that
certain words and traits should only be associated with specific gender.
 Gender socialization – is the process in which roles are learned.
 Normalization of sexism – makes violence against women and children acceptable or tolerable.

Activity/Output #3

Passage with gender bias Gender-fair edits or revisions

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast Blessed are the people who remain steadfast
under trial, for when he has stood the test he under trial, for when they have stood the test
will receive the crown of life, which God has they will receive the crown of life, which God
promised to those who love him has promised to those who love him

Psalm 103:15 Psalm 103:15

As for man, his days are like grass; As for a person, their days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. As a flower of the field, so they flourish

A Cavite historian here has urged teachers
and educators to share the lessons from
mistakes and defects which led to our past
leaders’ failures and misfortunes aside from the
country’s history of triumphs and highlights
on our forefathers' heroism, bravery and
accomplishments
A Cavite historian here has urged teachers and
educators to share the lessons from mistakes
and defects which led to our past leaders’
failures and misfortunes aside from the
country’s history of triumphs and highlights on
our ancestors' heroism, bravery and
accomplishments
 Chapter 7: WOMEN, DEVELOPMENT AND THE WORLD

 Growth and Development

 Women and Economic System
 Gender and Development
 Agriculture and the Values of Development
 How Women Feed the World
 Women in Relation to Development
 Pro-women Perspectives on Development
 Activity/Output #4
 Activity/Output #5

Growth and Development

Issues of growth and development deeply affect how an individual structures his or her life. Thus,
everyone needs to understand key development issues the world is facing today, including global
poverty and ecological crisis. This chapter will tackle these development issues in relation to poor and
vulnerable women around the world. These problems can have genuine solutions if women’s
perspective are allowed to shape the shared economy.

Measurement of development is based on a simple scheme that determines the thinking of most
people who control the world’s economy. Development is assessed in terms of the gross national
product (GNP) and the Gross domestic product (GDP), which means that growth is measured according
to how much a country is able to produce, consume, and earn. GNP includes earnings from foreign
investments while GDP estimates the wealth produced from local investments and activities.

Women and the Dominant Economic System

The pursuit for development is destructive to the world, threatening human existence and well-
being. It is unsustainable yet people insist on pursuing growth because it is assumed to be necessary for
sustaining economies and maintaining collective existence.
 The dominant system toward development needs to be re-examined because of its potential for
harm. However, no opportunities for re-examination are available at present. The existing development
models are clearly very western. Western countries used the resources of their colonies to accumulate
the capital that allowed them to develop their industries and support their standard of living.

When industrialization began to peak and cheap labor was needed to address the growing
demands for workers, women were made fill the gap. Women are traditionally paid lower salaries than
men. Women are also expected to produce and raise the future manpower for industries, often having
to take on the double burden of child-rearing and income generation because economic development
demands that their husbands be paid insufficient wages.

Gender and Development

Refers to 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. It seeks to achieve gender equality as a fundamental value that
should be reflected in development choices and contends that women are active agents of
development, not just passive recipients of development.

GAD focuses on Gender Mainstreaming or 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, programs and projects in all social, political, civil, and economic spheres so that
women and men benefit equally.

Agriculture and the Values of Development

In today’s world, food is controlled by a few large corporations that value profit over ecology.
Agriculture is the practice of cultivating natural resources to sustain human life and provide economic
gain. It combines the creativity, imagination, and skill involved in planting crops and raising animals with
modern production methods and new technologies. One of the central goals of every developing
country is to reach high-income status. Agriculture plays a critical role in transforming economies to
reach the goal, along with achieving other essential development goals like ensuring food security and
improving nutrition.

How Women Feed the World

Women are known keepers of biodiversity throughout the world. Work with female farmers, who
often play very different roles than men in agriculture. Women often grow different crops, work at
different times of day and have different priorities than male farmers. Coming up with a one-size-fits-all
program usually means you don’t reach women farmers.

Ensure property rights for women, so that they can actually own the land they farm and gain
control over their crops. Over and over, I’ve seen that women work on the farm, but don’t see the
income from it because it’s usually men who own the land and take the crops to market to sell. Women
produced more than half of all grown food produced globally.

Despite the important contribution of women in food production, they are not supported as
producers and feeders of the world.

Women in Relation to Development

Development affects men and women differently, often with a more negative impact on women.
This can undermine women's role, status and position within society and therefore perpetuates their
inequality. Women's equality is vital to sustainable development and the realization of human rights for
all. The women, culture and development approach to development is a new model for empowering
women. This approach advances women liberation by realizing the capacity of women to become agents
of change.

The most important purpose of WCD is to support women’s initiatives that liberate themselves
without imposing ideas. WCD advocates believe that women as active agents should and can be
emancipated only if they emancipate themselves, with the supporting development agencies respecting
their process toward this liberation.

Pro-Women Perspectives on Development

Pro-economic development may be detrimental to everyone but it has a more negative impact on
women. Perspectives on women's development have become more prevalent with the growing
awareness related to gender equity issues in education and the workplace. These theories of
development suggest that women have a need to feel connected and that they tend to define
themselves in terms of their relationships with others.

WID (Women in Development) concept is based on a recognition of the importance of the roles and
status of women in development process. It is meant to give special attention to the women's role, while
extending development assistance. Because women bring a perspective that values not only
competition but also collaboration to organizations and teams. Because feminine values are an
operating system of a modern, social, open economy. And with women's leadership, we can improve
not only society, but business as well.

Activity/Output #4

Women are the primary caretakers of children and elders in every country of the world.
International studies demonstrate that when the economy and political organization of a society
change, women take the lead in helping the family adjust to new realities and challenges.
Activity/Output #5

1. Paz Marquez-Benitez
 Paz Marquez-Benitez is a prominent figure in the history of Philippine Literature. She
wrote the first modern short story in English entitled, Dead Stars  which was published in
1925. She was also the mentor of the first generation of Filipino writers in English.
Angelita Castro-Kelly
 Decorated space scientist Angelita Castro-Kelly was the first-ever female mission
operations manager of NASA. Before becoming a mission operations manager, she was
also a project manager and helped develop the successful Shuttle or Spacelab Data
Processing Facility.
Hidilyn Diaz
 For years, Filipinos have showcased their talents and represented the country many
times in the Olympics. But it was Hidilyn Diaz who won the country's first Olympic gold
medal. The whole world watched her carry a combined weight of 224 kilogrammes. The
moment she burst into tears, the country rejoiced as they knew she had won the
women's 55 kg category for weightlifting at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Maria Ressa
 In 2021, Rappler’s Maria Ressa became the first Filipino Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Although the esteemed journalist had to overcome barriers hindering her from claiming
the prize in Oslo, Ressa safely arrived and received her well-deserved recognition
alongside Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov.
Maria Corazon Aquino
 Maria Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, also known as Cory Aquino, became the Philippines'
first female president in 1986. Before Aquino took on her role as the 11th president of
the country, a massive revolution—now remembered as The People Power Revolution—
was held along EDSA as an effort to overthrow the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

2. Gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are central to the realization of this
vision, yet gender gaps around the world remain large, pervasive and persistent. A recent report
from a high-level panel established by the UN secretary-general identifies proven and promising
actions that governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations and multilateral
development agencies can take to close these gaps.
 Chapter 8: GENDER INTERESTS AND NEEDS

 Gender Interests and Needs

 Kind of Gender Needs
 Challenges for the Fulfillment of Gender Needs in the Philippines
 Activity/Output #6

Gender Interests and Needs

Gender is an important consideration in development. It is a way of looking at how social norms
and power structures impact on the lives and opportunities available to different groups of men and
women. Globally, more women than men live in poverty. Women are also less likely than men to receive
basic education and to be appointed to a political position nationally and internationally. Understanding
that men and women, boys and girls experience poverty differently and face different barriers in
accessing services, economic resources and political opportunities helps to target interventions.

Gender Interest

Gender interests generally involve issues of position, control, and power. Ask participants to give
examples of practical gender needs and strategic gender interests. Possible answers may include:
Practical gender needs relate to physical conditions and immediate needs: food, shelter, work, water,
and so forth. Strategic Gender Interests concern the position of women and men in relation to each
other in a given society. Strategic interests may involve decision-making power or control over
resources. Addressing strategic gender interests assists women and men to achieve greater equality and
to change existing gender roles and stereotypes. Gender interests generally involve issues of position,
control, and power.
Gender Needs

Women and men have different roles and responsibilities and therefore have
different. interests/needs. These are called gender interests/needs, practical and strategic. Practical
Usually they concern equality issues such as enabling women to have equal access to job opportunities
and training, equal pay for work of equal value, rights to land and other capital assets, prevention of
sexual harassment at work and domestic violence, and freedom of choice over childbearing. l and
strategic gender interests/needs should not be seen as separate, but. rather as a continuum.

Strategic Gender Needs

Strategic gender needs are the needs women identify. because of their subordinate position in
society. They vary according to particular. contexts, related to gender divisions of labour, power and
control, and may include. issues such as legal rights, domestic violence, equal wages and women's
control over. Examples of addressing SGNs include actions such as giving rights to land, inheritance,
credit and financial services; increasing participation of women in decision-making; creating equal
opportunities to employment (equal pay for equal work); and improving social systems.

Challenges for the Fulfillment of Gender Needs in the Philippines

The Philippines prides itself in having led in initiatives of integrating and mainstreaming gender
into development planning and programs. Some measures for gender and development express an
interesting story. For instance, a tool known as the Gender Equity Index (GEI) developed by Social
Watch, which attempts “to position and classify countries according to a selection of indicators relevant
to gender inequity and based on internationally available and comparable information,” is a case to
point. In many contexts, existing strategies for health, social and economic welfare, security, and
emergency management have proven to be insufficient in enabling women to deal with and recover
from the impact of the crisis.
Activity/Output #6

1. Gender needs are the needs of women or men that relate to responsibilities and
tasks associated with their traditional gender roles or to immediate perceived necessity.
These relate to physical conditions and immediate needs such as food and shelter.
On the other hand, gender interests concern the position of women and men in relation to
each other in a given society. These relate to status in society - for instance in terms of access to
employment and social participation. Gender interests concern the position of women and men
in relation to each other in a given society. Examples include: access to safe health care,
sanitation, nutrition, safe drinking water and access to electricity.

2. Practical gender needs are a response to immediate perceived necessity, identified within a
specific context. They are practical in nature and often inadequacies in living conditions.
Strategic gender interests concern the position of women and men in relation to each other in a
given society. It may involve decision-making power or control over resources.

3. Gender mainstreaming involves the integration of a gender perspective into the process of
creating rules, regulatory measures and spending programs, with a perspective of promoting
equality between genders, and battling discrimination. In the Philippines, people tend to mix
cultural practices with religious practices that at times hinders gender inclusion,
especially in Mindanao. Also, some political leaders blatantly critique the abilities of women.

4. Stronger implementation of existing laws that protect and support gender equality should be
evidently observed on both national and local communities. Micro policies that will emphasize
these laws in a smaller scope can help in easier monitoring and securing that these policies are
carried out