LESSON 2:

GENDER AND SEXUALITY

ACROSS TIME
 DEFINITION OF TERMS
• PATRIARCHY IS SOCIAL SYSTEM WHERE MEN
PRIMARILY HOLDS POWER IN THE POLITICAL AND
PRIVATE SPHERE.
• FEMINISM CONTINUING SERIES OF SOCIAL
MOVEMENTS THAT AIM TO CHALLENGE THE
PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY THAT CREATES THESE
OPPRESSIVE POLITICAL STRUCTURES, BELIEFS AND
PRACTICES AGAINST WOMEN.
• ARCHEOLOGICAL ARTIFACTS REVEAL THAT IN THE
DISTANT PAST, DURING THE DAWN OF CIVILIZATION,
HUMAN SOCIETIES HAVE HIGH REGARD FOR WOMEN.
THE CONCEPT OF THE DIVINE FEMININE, SACREDNESS
OF THE WOMEN DUE TO HER ABILITY TO CONCEIVE
CHILDREN, HAS PREVAILED MAKING WOMEN EQUALLY
TREATED WITH MEN. THIS MAKE SOCIETIES
EGALITARIAN WHERE MEN AND WOMEN HAVE
EQUITABLE POWER AND ROLES.
• DISCOVERY OF PATERNITY, FATHERHOOD/ROLE OF
•PATRIARCHY
• IT IS FROM A GREEK WORD PATRIARKHES WHICH
MEANS “THE RULE OF THE FATHER”.
• IT IS A SOCIAL SYSTEM WHERE MEN PRIMARILY
HOLDS POWER IN THE POLITICAL AND PRIVATE
SPHERES.
• A PATRILINEAL SOCIETY OFTEN FOLLOWS A
PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY, THIS MEANS ONLY MEN
CAN INHERIT PROPERTY AND FAMILY NAME.
 HISTORICAL VIEWS ON GENDER
• GREEK: ARISTOTLE, PLATO, AND OTHER GREEK
PHILOSOPHERS VIEWED WOMEN AS AN INFERIOR SEX.
• CHINA: CONFUCIANISM HAS STRINGENT WRITTEN RULES
THAT DICTATE HOW WOMEN SHOULD CONDUCT THEMSELVES.
• EGYPT: HERODOTUS, A GREEK HISTORIAN, OBSERVED THE
EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION CITING THAT EGYPTIAN WOMEN
ENJOYED HIGHER SOCIAL STATUS THAN GREEK WOMEN
BECAUSE THEY CAN INHERIT PROPERTY AND ENGAGE IN
TRADE AND POLITICS.
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, STEREOTYPES, AND DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEX;

• GENDER PAY GAP – MEN EARN MORE THAN WOMEN;
• UNDER REPRESENTATION IN POLITICS, MILITARY, EXECUTIVE POSITION, ETC.
• RAPE ON WOMEN AND THE STIGMA MAKING WOMEN ASHAMED TO REPORT THE
CRIME;
• VERY CONSERVATIVE EXPECTATIONS ON WOMEN ON HOW THEY BEHAVE;
• UNREALISTIC DEPICTION OF WOMEN IN FICTION, OFTEN VERY SEXUALIZED;
• WOMEN DO MORE HOUSEWORK AND CHILDCARE;
• BOYS WERE TRAINED TO BE LEADERS WHILE WOMEN WERE TRAINED TO DO
IN 5 SENTENCES, WRITE THE
MEANING OF THIS.
 WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
• WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT, WOMEN’S
EMPOWERMENT OR FEMINISM IS A CONTINUING SERIES
OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS THAT AIM TO CHALLENGE THE
PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY THAT CREATES THESE
OPPRESSIVE POLITICAL STRUCTURES, BELIEFS AND
PRACTICES AGAINST WOMEN. IT STARTED FROM
DIFFERENT DECADES IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
• THE FIRST WAVE OF FEMINISM: (19TH AND EARLY 20TH
CENTURY)
• SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR WROTE A BOOK ENTITLED “THE SECOND
SEX” IN 1949. IT OUTLINED HOW THE PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY
DISADVANTAGED WOMEN BY SLOWLY RAISING HER INTO
SUBMISSION AND HINDERING THEIR PRODUCTIVITY AND
HAPPINESS BY RELEGATING THEM TO HOUSECLEANING.
BEAUVOIRS’S BOOK BECAME AN INSTRUMENT IN AWAKENING
WOMEN’S PLIGHT AS WIFE-SERVANT TO THEIR HUSBANDS.
OTHER WRITERS WHO FOLLOWED SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR WERE:
• BETTY FRIEDMAN – THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE, 1963
• KATE MILLET – SEXUAL POLITICS, 1969
• GERMAINE GREER – THE FEMALE EUNUCH, 1973
• LE MOVEMENT DE LIBERATION DES FEMMES OR THE WOMEN’S
LIBERATION MOVEMENT WAS FORMED IN EUROPE AND SOUGHT
THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION, RIGHT TO WORK, AND THE RIGHT TO
VOTE IN THE 1940S.
• THE SECOND WAVE OF FEMINISM: (1960’S THROUGH 1980’S)
• WOMEN DREW ATTENTION FROM VARIOUS CULTURAL AND
SOCIAL INEQUALITIES SUCH AS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ESPECIALLY
MARITAL RAPE, REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, WAGE INEQUALITY AND
ETC.
• THE THIRD AND FOURTH WAVE OF FEMINISM : (1990’S AND 2012)
SHOWS THAT THERE STILL MUCH TO BE DONE FOR WOMEN’S
RIGHTS.
 FEMINISM DEMANDS EQUALITY
• SALIENT POINTS THAT FEMINISM DEMAND:
• WOMEN SUFFRAGE
• EQUALITY IN POLITICS AND SOCIETY
• REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
• DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
• SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE
• OTHERS LIKE RIGHT TO DIVORCE THEIR HUSBAND, RIGHT TO MAKE
DECISIONS ON HER PREGNANCY, EQUITABLE WAGES AND EQUAL
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY.
•CREATE A COLLAGE SHOWING THE
PROGRESSION OF HUMAN
UNDERSTANDING AND ATTITUDE OF
GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN
MODERN SOCIETIES. DO THIS ON A
1/8 ILLUSTRATION BOARD.