UNDERSTANDING

SEX AND GENDER

DSWD Pantawid Pamilya program

GAD Resource Pool
 Objectives
Differentiate sex and gender as fundamental concepts of Gender
and Development;

Differentiate sex roles and gender roles; and,

Be clarified on the common misconceptions about these two

concepts

2
WHAT IS S E X?

WHAT IS G E N D E R?

Gender is very much related to

sex and many people are often
confused about the distinction
between sex and gender 3
 SEX

• Biological and Anatomical

• Ascribed status (assigned not earn or chosen)
• Male, Female, Intersex
• Universal (constant across time, societies and
cultures)
DETERMINANTS OF
SEX

CHROMOSOM XY XX
ES
Testes Ovaries
REPRODUCTIV Fallopian Tubes
E ORGANS
Penis
Seminal Vesicles Uterus
Prostrate Vagina
Urethra Vulva

GAMETES Sperm Egg

DETERMINANTS OF
SEX

HORMONES Testosterone Estrogen

Progesterone

SECONDARY Pitch of voice Well-developed

SEX Well-developed breasts
CHARACTERISTI Adam’s Apple
CS Thicker skin hair
 GENDER

• Psychological and socio-cultural characteristics

attributed by a given culture to women and men
• Achieved status (earned or chosen)
• What makes one feminine or masculine
• Changes across time, places and cultures
GENDER

FEMININE MASCULINE

Submissive Dominant
Gentle Aggressive
Emotional Unemotional
Talkative Quiet
 SEX GENDER

• What makes one male or • What is masculine or

female feminine

• Biologically determined • Socially determined;

culturally defined
• Refers to physical • Refers to learned
characteristics behavior

SEX is what you are born with

GENDER is what happens afterwards
QUESTION/S?
LET’S SEE HOW FAR YOU HAVE LEARNED….
 S or G?

Women have a developed uterus

and can become pregnant

S
1
 S or G?

Women as mothers and wives are pre-determined roles.

However, they are not to be trusted by major decisions
since they operate not by reason but by intuition or
worse, whim

G
2
 S or G?

The voice pitch of the boys

changes as he grows older

S
3
 S or G?

Men have underdeveloped

breasts

S
4
 S or G?

Decision making in the community and the larger

society is dominated by men, because it is they who are
involved in the economic activities that society values

G
5
 S or G?

Men grow beard while

women do not grow a beard

S
6
 S or G?

Most male and female differ from body

hair distribution and muscular
development

S
8
 S or G?

Sex chromosomes present in the sperm

determine whether the offspring are
genetically male or female

S
9
 S or G?

I am a woman and so I am not a

good planner and decision maker

G
10
 S or G?

In Asia, including the Philippines, women

provide from 50% to 90% of labor for rice
cultivation

G
11
 S or G?

Women give birth to babies,

men do not

S
12
 S or G?

Little girls are gentle, boys

are tough

G
13
 S or G?

In one case, when a child brought up as a

girl learned that he was actually a boy, his
school marks improved dramatically

G
14
 S or G?

Among Indian agricultural workers,

women are paid 40-60 percent of the male
wage

G
15
 S or G?

Women can breastfeed babies;

men can bottle-feed babies

S
16
 S or G?

Most building-site workers

in Britain are men

G
17
 S or G?

In ancient Egypt, men stayed at home and did

weaving. Women handled family business.
Women inherited property and men did not.

G
18
 S or G?

Men’s voices break at

puberty, women’s do not

S
19
 S or G?

In one study of the 224 cultures, there were

5 in which men did all the cooking, and 36
in which women did all the house building

G
20
 S or G?

According to UN statistics, women do 67 percent

of the world’s work, yet their earnings amount to
only 10 percent of the world’s income

G
21
SEX AND GENDER

SO WHAT?
32
DETERMINING
SEX ROLES
FROM

GENDER ROLES
WHAT ARE SEX ROLES?

WHAT ARE GENDER ROLES?

As Sex and Gender are often used

interchangeably, Gender Roles are
often considered by the society as
Sex Roles 34
S E X ROLE

Roles according to the

reproductive function of a
person’s body

35
G E N D E R ROLE

Roles a person is expected to perform as a result of

being male or female in a particular culture

G E N D E R ROLE

It determines how males and females should

think, speak, dress and interact within the
context of society
 Are not inborn but are passed on through
generations

 Learned in early stages of childhood and are

further reinforced
IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH
G E N D E R ROLES?

When does it become a

gender issue?
Boys Don’t Cry video
And
The Power of Words to a Girl

40
 Gender roles
become gender issues
once it block
people’s capacity to do
and to be
Gender issues affect everybody..
Males or females, rich or poor,
Young or old, etc.
In all spheres of life

THEY AFFECT MALES

GENDER ROLES ATTRIBUTED TO MALES

Strong, Primary
PERCEPTION Rational, Cannot feel
Hard work
ROLES Leader/Boss
No care giving
Don’t make women do
hard work
EXPECTATIONS Always be smart/in
control
Get the best
Don’t cry
Gender role deny males access to
the nurturing, emotive, other
oriented world of domestic life

44
AND THEY AFFECT
FEMALES MORE
GENDER ROLES ATTRIBUTED TO FEMALE

Weak, Secondary
PERCEPTION Emotional, Cannot think

No hard work
ROLES Not a leader/boss
No decision-making

Stay at home
Don’t assert
Don’t participate in
EXPECTATIONS decision-making
It is okay to cry
Gender role deny females access to the
public world of work, achievement,
independence and power

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 SEX GENDER

SOCIALLY
BIOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTE
D
Born With
Not Born With

Can’t be changed Changeable

(generally)
Women can do traditional
Only women can give birth male jobs as well as men
can take good care of their
49
children
For Every Woman
By Nancy R. Smith, copyright 1973
For every woman who is tired of acting weak when she knows she is strong,
there is a man who is tired of appearing strong when he feels vulnerable.
For every woman who is tired of acting dumb,
there is a man who is burdened with the constant expectation of "knowing everything."
For every woman who is tired of being called "an emotional female,"
there is a man who is denied the right to weep and to be gentle.
For every woman who is called unfeminine when she competes,
there is a man for whom competition is the only way to prove his masculinity.
For every woman who is tired of being a sex object,
there is a man who must worry about his potency.
For every woman who feels "tied down" by her children,
there is a man who is denied the full pleasures of shared parenthood.
For every woman who is denied meaningful employment or equal pay,
there is a man who must bear full financial responsibility for another human being.
For every woman who was not taught the intricacies of an automobile,
there is a man who was not taught the satisfactions of cooking.
For every woman who takes a step toward her own liberation,
there is a man who finds the way to freedom has been made a little easier.

SOURCE: GENDER AND DISASTER NETWORK

ONLINE.ORG 50
THANK YOU!

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