Gender, Power and Politics

Lesson objectives:
At the end of the lesson, I will be able to:
• Differentiate between men and women as successful candidates for political office
in relation to their beliefs about gender.
Slide 1: Title (Gender, Power and Politics)
Ano ba ang kaugnayan ng gender at politics?
Ang connection ng gender at politics ay concerned kung paano binubuo ng
kasarian ng tao ang kanilang participation at experience sa politics o political
events and how political institutions are encoded with gendered ideas.
Slide 2: Laws reflect the values of any society (insert picture)
Ang Laws o Batas ay nag rereflect sa values ng isang society. The political
institution and its legal foundation provide the critical lens through which all gender
relations are viewed. Sa United States, mayroon silang principle na “equal justice
for all” na kung saan nakasentro dito ang kanilang law isa itong key component
para sa fair, effective and efficient na justice to all the groups ng isang society.
Slide 3: Power as the likelihood a person may achieve personal ends despite resistance
from others. (Max Weber, 1864-1920). (insert picture)
According to Max Weber, one of the founders of sociology, defined Power as the
likelihood a person may achieve personal ends despite resistance from others.
Power is the ability to exercise one’s will over others. So, dahil nga idenefine ni
Weber ang power as potentially coercive ( kapag sinabing coercive it means
pumipilit) or kung saan ang power ay pag gamit ng force para ipush ang isang tao
na gawin ang isang bagay kahit na unwilling itong gawin cinonsider ni Weber na
mayroong ways na kung saan ang power ay makukuha or maaachieve sa
pamamagitan ng Justice. So sabi ni Weber,
Authority is power that people determine to be legitimate rather than forced.
Ang Authority ay power para matukoy ng mga tao na legitimate sa halip na sapilitan
kase kapag ang power ay encoded into a law, magiging legitimized and translated
sa formal structure ng society. In Weber’s terms, this is known as Rational-legal
authority (Weber, 1946). Kapag ang power at authority ay parehong cinonsider,
ang mga grupo ng kababaihan ay nasa distinct legal disadvantage. (Kapag sinabi
distinct it is a situation na nagcacause ng problem dahil it makes something or
someone to be less successful than other things. Mag kakaroon ng separation or
pagkakaiba between men and women.
 Here are the Key assumptions about gender that permeate the law and provide
the basis for how the law is differentially applied in the United States are as follows:
1. Women are incompetent, childlike, and in need of protection.
2. Men are the 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,1988:104).
Lahat ng assumptions na ito ay nabaliwala na or bihira ng naitatanong or
napaguusapan. When formally developed into law, they become largely sacred.
Law serves to maintain yet also alter traditional gender roles.
Ano ba ang kaugnayan ng gender at power?
Slide 4: Gender roles are power relations.
Gender is not only a cause but also a consequence, instrument and embodiment
of power-over relations. It is a key mechanism through which power not only
constrains but constitutes individuals and is perhaps the most persistent form of
‘invisible power’ in our world.This can be seen by problematizing the ways in which
societies define appropriate masculine and feminine behaviour.
Usually, kapag sinabi na woman it means to be powerless and it is considered
“feminine” at kasalungat nito is “manly” dahil ang mga lalaki ang may kakayahan
mag exercise ng power to get others to do what you want them to do. In this way,
“women/men is a distinction not just of difference, but of power and powerlessness.
Slide 5: In all levels of government, laws are enacted that may offer one or the other
gender certain advantages or disadvantages. There is considerable variation on how laws
are interpreted and how they enforced. Even strong, constitutionally based federal
legislation is inconsistently applied.
In summary, ang magiging malinaw sa lahat ng patungkol dito ay anuman ang mga
paniniwala tungkol sa equality at justice, ang batas ay hindi gender neutral at lalo nang
hindi gender equal.
Slide 6: To understand women and men’s differential attitudes toward electoral politics,
we sought to understand whether men and women feel differently about taking part in the
different aspects of an electoral campaign. Some research has suggested that while
women and men may be equally interested in being policy-makers, women are less likely
to be drawn to the firmness of an electoral contest (Staton/Hughes, 1992).
Are men more naturally drawn to politics than women?
To assess possible gender differences, potential candidates were asked how they would
feel about engaging in five of the typical activities or aspects associated with being part
of any election: attending fundraisers, dealing with party officials, meeting constituents,
dealing with the press, and engaging in a time- consuming campaign. The results reveal
that women are significantly more likely than men to feel positively about participating in
three of the five campaign activities. Although these differences appear to be
substantively quite small, when given the opportunity to rate a campaign activity as "very
positive," women offer this reply significantly more often than men for all five items. These
findings suggest that women, contrary to expectations, are not repelled by the primary
activities of a campaign and are even more willing to engage in them than men.