MODULE 14

Gender Equality – achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities
across all sectors of society.

Women represent half of the world’s population, and therefore, also half of its potential.

The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, has stated that achieving gender equality and
empowering women and girls is the finished business of our time and the greatest human rights
challenge in our world.

Among the purposes of UN as declared in Article 1 of its charter is, “To achieve the international
cooperation … in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental
freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion.”

Gender Equity – process of allocating resources, programs, and decision-making fairly to both
males and females require ensuring that everyone has access to a full range of opportunities to
achieve social, psychological and physical benefits.

Human rights legislation, including the 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom

 Hiring and recruitment practices – to ensure women have leadership roles,

involvement in decision making, and availability as role models for other girls and
women
 Resource allocation – to determine how budgets are allocated across programs
 Facility bookings – to ensure that both females and males have access to primetime
slots and prime facilities
 Participation rates – to evaluate current program and services to identify potential
barriers, and to determine whether co-ed programs are truly co-ed
 Activity programming – to assess the types of activities offered for males and females
 Promotional materials – to ensure girls and women are not being excluded or
stereotyped in pictures or language

MODULE 15

Love is a complex emotion and laden with folklore, superstition, and myth that it cannot be
contained within one particular definition.

The distinction between love and romantic love and other varieties of love includes eros, or the
physical, sexual component of love; agape, is spiritual and altruistic component; and pilot, the
love of deep and enduring friendships.

Distinguishing Love and Friendship. As with lovers, the profile for good friends and best friends
includes acceptance, trust, respect, open communication, mutual assistance and
understanding.

If good friends, best friends, or other friends become lovers, the sexual passion dimension is
added to the profile.
Same-Gender Friends. When asked who their nonromantic best or close friends are, both men
and women usually identify someone of their own gender. Same-gender friends know each
other longer, spend more time with each other, and are more committed to the friendship.

Women tend to have higher expectations for same-gender friendship than men do.

Women are more threatened by the physical attractiveness of rivals; men are more threatened
by the status-related characteristics or rivals.

MODULE 16

Gendered Love and Love Myths

Our ideas about love depend on who the object or target of our affection is, whether a spouse,
sex, partner, sibling, child, best friend, or parent.
Friendship and romantic love are distinguished by more than sexual desire.

According to Robert Sternberg (2008), love is a triangle formed by three interlocking elements:
intimacy, passion, and commitment.
 Through open communication, intimacy brings emotional warmth and bonding
 Physiological arousal and sexual desire are part of the passion component, where
feelings of romance take precedence
 Commitment involves the choice to continue and maintain the love relationship

Love myths:
1. Love Conquers All. The “all” that is supposedly conquered in this myth involves the
inevitable problems and obstacles of daily living.
2. Love is Blind. True love is expected to dissolve social boundaries. The belief that “it
doesn’t matter as long as I love her/him” fuels this myth.
3. Love at First Sight. Because falling in love is a rational process, it contradicts the belief
that people fall in love at first sight. Physical attractiveness certainly provides the first
impression. The “love at first sight” myth is bolstered by what psychologists refer to as
the hallo effect.
4. One and Only Love Forever. When couples are on the first passionate stage of a
relationship, they are more likely to accept the “one, unique soul mate” belief; as the
relationship continues, the belief diminishes.
5. Women are the Romantic Sex (Gender). Women are perceived as starry-eyed
romantics who fall in love quickly. This belief is associated with stereotypes about
women’s nature. Men express a higher level of romantic love and fall in love earlier and
harder than women.
6. No Sex Without Love. Vast majority of people engage in nonmarital sex, and many
enjoy sex solely for its physical pleasure.
7. The Opposite of Love is Hate. If there is an opposite to love, it is not hate, but
indifference.

MODULE 17

Parenting – the process of raising children and providing them with protection and care in order
to ensure their healthy development into adulthood.

Parenthood is structured by gender beliefs and produces powerful gender outcomes.

The Parenthood Transition

The transition from couple dyad to family triad is a significant one. The first child brings
numerous changes that affect the marriage and alter the lifestyle of the couple.

Parenting is based on skills that need to be learned but cannot be effectively accomplished, if at
all, until after the child is born.

New parents discover that the anticipation of what it means to be a great parent is far different
from the reality.

Early sociological work on the transition to parenthood focused on parenthood as crisis. In this
model, first-time parents encounter anxiety, uncertainty, loss of confidence – even shock –
during the first days and weeks of parenting.

When couples nurture their children but no their marriage, the risk of divorce increases.

The crisis of parenthood is eased when gender roles are more flexible and couples make a
determined effort to enhance closeness.

MODULE 18

Same-sex marriage and gay marriage is an extremely divisive topic. Many who are in favor of
same-sex marriage suggest that gay couples have the same marital benefits as heterosexual
couples, which is a simply civil rights issue.
In contrast, those who are against see the concept as a moral matter; violating ethical
standards.

 In 1995, Utah became the first state to expressly prohibit same-sex marriages.
 1996, Hawaii became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage but reversed the
ruling two years later.
 In 2004, a San Francisco judge began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Judges in Massachusetts followed. A firestorm of controversy ensued as other states
grappled with how to deal with the large influx of same-sex couples demanding licenses.
 California legalized same-sex marriage in the summer of 2008. Five months later voters
approved Proposition 8, which again banned it. In 2013, by court decision, California
reinstated it.
 The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), defines marriage as a union between a
man and a woman, was passed in 1996 but was declared unconstitutional in 2013. In
2014, Supreme Court refused to hear cases from five states seeking to retain their
same-sex marriage bans.

Because many nations, including most of northern Europe, recognize same-sex marriage, the
reciprocity issues in banning the same-sex marriages are not resolved.

Advantage of Same-Sex Marriage

1. Legal Rights Protection
2. Lessens Stigma
3. Gives Right to Start a Family
4. Gives Equal Laws
Disadvantages of Same-Sex Marriage
1. Affects Child Development
2. Burdens the Divorce System
3. Prone to Bullying
4. Possibility of Tax Increase
5. Affects Adoption Process

MODULE 19

The U.S. Census reported in 2012 that over 600,000 LGBT families were divided almost equally
between gay male and lesbian families.

Children. Same-sex families with children are highly child focused.

Research is ongoing but generally confirms that quality of the relationship between parents is
more important for children than the sexual orientation of the parents.

Gay and lesbian parents closely monitor their children on all sides of their development,
including emotional health, peer influences, and school progress.

Egalitarianism. An early literature of LGBT couple families showed more equality in their
household arrangements than those of heterosexual couples (Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974).

Research generally discounts the stereotypical image of gay relationship with one dominant and
one submissive partner.

The egalitarian pattern tends to occur for both lesbians and gay men, although lesbians are
more successful in maintaining it over the long term.

Although many lesbians and gay men are parents through the birth of a child, they have also
become parents through a number of ways:
 Adoption
 Foster care
 Kinship care
 Surrogacy
 Donor insemination
 Birth from a heterosexual union
 Shared parenting from a custody agreement between lesbians and gay men
 Shared parenting with gay men and a heterosexual mother

MODULE 20

Factors of Gendered Institutions in Choice of Wok

1. Married with Children: The Demography of Career Achievement – career
achievement is also impacted by a host of other family-related variables, including
marital status, age at the time marriage, age at childbirth, and professional statue when
married.
- The percentage of employed mothers decreases rapidly for families with five children
or more and wit at least two children under age 6.
 -Men’s satisfaction is enhanced at work with relationship satisfaction; women
satisfaction at work is enhanced with more egalitarian housework arrangements.
2. Career versus Job – although all employed women have jobs, they do not necessarily
have meaningful careers. Jobs interfere with family in a different way than careers.
- Career orientation for married women is compromised when a wife’s career is
viewed as less important than her husband’s career.
3. Employer Views – highly educated women have greater leverage in the workplace
because they are viewed as being more committed to their jobs.
- For women, marriage may send a signal that they have a different set of priorities.
- An employer often interprets marriage and children as making a woman less reliable,
less dedicated, and less permanent.

MODULE 21

Laws reflect the values of any society. In the United States, the “equal justice for all” principle
which is where the law is centered is embraced.

Max Weber (1864-1920), one of the founders of sociology, defined power as the likelihood a
person may achieve personal ends despite resistance from others.

Authority, he intended, is power that people determined to b legitimate rather than forced.

In Weber’s terms, this is known as rational – legal authority.

Women as a group are at a distant legal disadvantage when both power and authority are
considered are considered.

Key assumptions about gender that premade the law and provide the basis for how the law is
differently applied in the United States are as follows:

1. Women are competent, childlike, and in need of protection

2. Men are protectors and financial caretakers of women
3. Husband and wife are treated as “one” under the law. The “one” is the husband
4. Males and females are biologically different, giving them differing capabilities and
differing standards on which to judge their actions (Richardson, 1998:104)

Law serves to maintain yet also alter traditional gender roles. In all levels of government, laws
are enacted that may offer one or the other gender certain advantages or disadvantages.

Prior research in the area of gender and political ambition has found that women tend to
demonstrate lower levels of ambition for seeking political office.

Party recruiters in a number of states have acknowledged that they prefer masculine behavioral
traits when thinking about potential candidates.

Five typical activities or aspects associated with being part of any election:

- Attending fundraisers
- Dealing with party officials
- Meeting with constituents
- Dealing with the press
- Engaging in a time-consuming campaign