I.

GENDER AND
SEXUALITY AS A SOCIAL
REALITY

Lesson 2: Gender and

Sexuality Across Time

Prepared by: Ara Mae S. Mina

 Archeological artifacts reveal
that in the distant past, during
the dawn of civilizations,
human societies have high
regard for women. The
concept of divine femininehas
prevailed, and thus, women
are treated equally with men.
This make societies
egalitarian.
 WHAT IS THE DIVINE FEMININE?

The Divine Feminine is the feminine

aspect of the divine power that
connects and binds the Earth together.
In other words, it is the goddess energy
The sacredness of a woman due to her
that exists within all of us. Many
ability to conceive children.
ancient cultures have a Divine
Feminine concept. The Egyptians had
Isis, the Greeks had Aphrodite, and the
Hindus have Shakti.
 EGALITARIAN

Egalitarianism is that all people are

fundamentally equal. Everyone
should be treated equally and have
equal opportunities and access in
society, no matter their gender,
race, or religion.
 However, human’s discovery of
paternity, presumably during
the agricultural era, when
PATERNITY societies began to establish
communities and tame rear
Fatherhood or role of a cattle and stocks, have also
father in conception.
changed how societies have
viewed women and men
therefrom.
 For the longest time thereafter,
societies have privileged men
over other genders, mainly The gender disparity was
because of the preferential given intensified by the industrial
to them in the productive sphere era where factors were built,
(world of public work). Women
who have been revered due to
and men were preferred
their ability to conceive have because they did not have to
been viewed as solely capable bear children for nine months
only of reproductive affairs and because they perceived
(world of home and related tasks physical strength.
such as suckling the young, child
rearing and home management).
 Patriarchy
In the social, legal, political
patriarchy and economic spheres, men
Is from the Greek word It is a social system where are expected to lead while
Patriarkhes which means “the men primarily holds power in women are expected to obey
rule of the father”. the political and the private and are relegated to house spheres. chores,
bearing children and childcare.

A patrilineal society often

In fact, women were not
follows a patriarchal society, allowed to go to schools, or this
means only men can even vote, because they are inherit
property and the viewed as a weaker sex and family name.
 Women were left should not concern with no inheritance and
are themselves in learning science expected to marry a man
who or politics. can support her economically.
Patriarchy is viewed by most sociologist as a social construct and not as a biological
phenomenon.This is because history proves that in the prehistoric hunter-gatherer tribes and
civilization, they provide equality of all members, male and female. History suggests an
egalitarian system rather than a patriarchal system. Men and women contribute to society,
and they enjoy the same social status.

Friedrich Engels, a German Philosopher and sociologist, argues that patriarchy came
about when people started having private property instead of communal living.The
development in agriculture and domestication of animals led to creating product surplus
which allows people to have private property. As a way to control the excess wealth
generated by these advancements, male dominancewaas asserted over women so only the
male heir can inherit family wealth.
HISTORICAL
VIEWS ON
GENDER
Greek
Aristotle, Plato and other Greek philosophers viewed
women as the inferior sex and are properties of men
whose only job was to obey their husband, bear children,
and take care of the households. They were forbidden to
learn philosophy,politics and science.

Egypt
Herodotus, a Greek historian, observed the Egyptian
civilization citing the Egyptian women enjoyed higher
social than Greek women because they can inherit
property and engage in trade politics. However, Greek
influence quickly spread in Egypt through the conquests
of Alexander the Great and Africa.
 China
Confucianism has stringent written
rules that dictate how women should
conduct themselves. The written
documents titled “Three Obedience’s
and four virtues” and “Percepts of
women” states that women should
obey their father, when married she
is to obey her husband, and widowed
she is to obey her son.
 Women have come a long way since the ancient times through the
feminist movement, however, patriarchy has taken on subtle forms of
oppression that often go unnoticed such as:

Sexism– prejudice, Underrepresentation Rape on women and

Gender pay gap
–
stereotype, and in politics, military, the stigma making
men earn more than
discrimination based executive position, women ashamed to
women
on sex; etc. report the crime

Very conservative Boys were trained to

Unrealistic depictions Women do more
expectations on be leaders while
of women in fiction, housework and
women on how they women were trained
often very sexualized. childcare.
behave. to do house chores.
 Reflect on the following
questions, write your answer
in a yellow paper.

ACTIVITY!!
Think about the phrasesbabae
kasi,lalakikase, haligi ng
tahanan, ilaw ng tahanan and
pakipot. How do these words
communicate patriarchy?
 Women’s liberation movement, women’s
Women Empowerment movement, or feminism is a continuing series of
social movements that aim to challenge the
patriarchal society that creates theses oppressive
political structures, beliefs, and practices against
women.
During the 19th century and early 20th
century,
first- wave feminism spread across the Western
countries as women demanded for their right to
vote or participate in elections and to be able to
legally own property.

In France, Simone de Beauvoir wrote book titled “

The Second Sex” in 1949. It outlined how
patriarchal society disadvantaged women by slowly
raising her into submission and hindering their
productivity and happiness by relegating them to
housecleaning.
This inspired many women to write
and speak their truth, such as

o Betty Friedan (The Feminine

Mystique, 2963)
o Kate Millet (Sexual Politics, 1969)
o Germaine Greer (The Female
Eunuch, 1970)
 Le Mouvementde Liberation des
Femmesor the women’s liberation
movement was formed in Europe, and
they sought the right to education,
right to work, and right to vote in the
1940s.

Later, they also won women’s right

to decide on their own bodies and
their sexualities. This liberation
movement views the intersectionality
of economic status or class to
patriarchy.
 Second- wave The United Nations report
feminism in 1960’s that women do more wok
through the 80’s The 90’s gave birth than men because even when
women drew to the 3 rd wave and they work at the, they are still
attention to 2012 started the expected to do the household
various social and fourth - wave. These task. Another report from
cultural inequalities movement only UN, women states that
such as domestic show that there is “women were perform 66
violence especially still much to be percent of the world work,
marital rape, done for women’s produce 50 percent of the
reproductive rights, right. food, but earn 10 of the
wage inequality, income and own 1percent of
and etc. the property”.
 To put simple, feminism demands equality. Herer are a few salient points that feminism demands.

1. Women suffragewere not allowedto vote beforebecausethey were viewedas irrationaland

temperamentaland therefore,not able to make rationaldecisions
. This changedafter World
War I (1914 to 1918) whereinwomenwere uprootedfrom the household. They took on jobs
and made significantcontributionsto their country. Many countries soon started letting
womenvote sincethey can no longerarguethat womenare“irrationaland temperamental” .

2. Equalityin politicsand society- for hundredsof years,women’svoicesweresilenced,so society

must make an effort to restoretheir rights. Representationis very importantfor women,so
that their genuineconcernsare heardin politicsand in society. Feministhavealwayscriticized
that old,privilegedmen alwaysmakethe decisionsfor womenat home and in politics.
3. Reproductive rights means the woman is in control of her body, and she can decide for
herself on what she sees is best for her. Contraception, abortion, and other reproductive
options should be available to women because it is their body.

4. Domestic violence – such as marital rape and physical abuse are often dismissed by
tsociety as part of a “marriage”. Although we have RA 9262 or anti violence against
women and their children, our culture still dismiss such incidents as “away mag
- asawa”.

5. Sexual harassment and sexual violence– the center for women’s resources in the
Philippines estimates that one woman or child is rape every hour mostly by someone
they know.

6. Other rights include the right to divorce their husbands, the right to make decisions
on her pregnancy, equitable wages, and equal employment opportunity.
 My Gender Journey

Instructions: Spend a few minutes thinking about or answering the questions below honestly.
1. Growing up, did you think of yourself as a boy, a girl, both, neither or in some other way? When and how
did you come to that recognition.
2. What messages did you receive from those around you about gender? Did those messages make sense to
you?
3. What’s your first memory of gender defining or impacting your life?
4. How were you as a kid did not fit into expectations about gender treated by others (teachers, family, faith,
community, even by yourself?)
5. Have your race, ethnicity, faith, class, community, sense of place influenced your gender?
6. How would you describe your gender in each of the three dimensions? Body: Identity: Social Gender:
7. What did gender congruence look like for you as a child? And now as an adult? How has this congruence
evolved over time?
8. Do you remember a time when choosing gender congruence cost you something impotant or benefited
you in some way?
9. Are there conscious choices you have made to live more congruently? Are there times you have chosen
not to? If so, why?
10.How was your understanding of gender influencing your life now?