SEX AND GENDER IN PHILIPPINE SOCIETY

( a presentation)
SEX AND GENDER: What they are, How they
differ
SEX is a biological term, we use it most often to refer
to the act of mating between two organisms. Sex also
refers to the two categories of animals –MALE and
FEMALE.

GENDER refers to the differentiated social roles,

behaviours, capacities, and intellectual, emotional and
social characteristics attributed by a given culture to
women and men. IN SHORT, ALL DIFFERENCES
BESIDES THE STRICTLY BIOLOGICAL.
There are two genders: MASCULINE ascribed
to the male sex; and FEMININE, ascribed to the
female.

“SEX-GENDER SYSTEM” the way the society

is organized according to sex .
MEN AND WOMEN ACCORDING TO SOCIETY

The most and common element in contemporary

gender systems is a difference in gender roles: the
assignment of women of the primary responsibility
at home and to men the responsibility to provide.

“PRODUCTION-REPRODUCTION
DISTINCTION”
PRODUCTION refers to social production, or the
production of commodities: that is, goods and
services for exchange rather that for immediate
consumption. Production is viewed as men’s
sphere.

REPRODUCTION includes not just biological

reproduction, but also the other tasks associated
with it: childrearing, maintenance of the members
of family and the maintenance of the dwelling.
In real life, many Filipino women do participate in
social production.

Similarly, many Filipino men give an occasional hand

with the children or the housekeeping, but the
assistance is voluntary. Common Filipino speech
abounds with derogatory labels for the man who puts
in too much help with the housework: he is called
macho-nurin or under the saya.
 GENDER IDEOLOGY
MEN ARE SAID TO BE
• Physically stronger
• Brave, aggressive,
independent, good at
controlling their emotions.
• Their decisions are based on
reasons
• Sexually aggressive
WOMEN ARE SAID TO BE
• Fit only for household
• Perceived as timorous,
passive emotionally
dependent, demonstrative,
loving, patient, self
sacrificing and peaceful
• Less easily aroused
 GENDER IDEOLOGY DEMYSTIFIED

In reality, none of the arguments for an essential

difference in men’s and women’s psyches has
been proven beyond doubt.
WHERE THEN DOES GENDER COME
FROM?

WHY DO SO MANY MEN AND WOMEN

SEEM, SUPERFICIALLY AT LEAST, TO
CORRESPOND WITH SOCIETY’S
DEFINITION OF MASCULINE AND
FEMININE BEHAVIOR?
 CULTURE, NOT NATURE
One emerging answer is the gender is a cultural
construction – a product of a given society’s
adaptation to the material conditions in which it
finds itself.

Gender differentiation, according to this

explanation, originates from the different functions
assigned to men and women by society, which in
turn are based on their sex differences.
 GENDER SUBORDINATION
SUBORDINATION
From the root word “Subordinate” meaning
having not so great importance or rank as
another or in a position less power or authority
than someone else.
Gender has implications for equality between
women and men in society.

In earlier days, these implications were accepted

as a matter of course: women were perceived as
“naturally” inferior to men, and that was the end
of the discussion.
In reality, gender limits the potential of both men
and women.

HOWEVER, in most gender system, including

that in dominant Philippine society, women
suffer more problems and limitations than men.
 Gender Subordination and the Economic
System
The PRODUCTION-REPRODUCTION divide is the
sexual division of labor that prevails within the
capitalist system.

It is often the case, however, that wages of

breadwinners are insufficient so that woman have to
work. But women’s responsibility for the home defined
her work outside it, meaning women are assigned to
low level, low skilled, low productivity and low paid
work.
 Gender Subordination and Sexuality

A more subtle and perhaps more commonplace

manifestation of female subordination in sexual
relationships is the DOUBLE STANDARD of
morality that condones male promiscuity while
demanding female chastity.
Gender Subordination and Personhood

WOMEN: Dutiful and dependent.

Since men are breadwinners and political

mediators, in myth if not in fact, women
perceive men as essential to their own material
survival.
MEN: Dependent too.

Men are better prepared than women for

decision making and participation in public life;
leadership and public role are, after all, part of
the definition of masculinity. But the extent of
men’s public role is made possible by the
unacknowledged support of women’s work in
the household and sometimes, in the public
sphere as well. Deprived of this support, their
success in public life suffers considerably.