ORIENTATION ON GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT OFFICE

Regional GAD Resource Pool Philippine Commission on Women

Nancy Navalta

• Sprinter from LA Union

• 1993: Gold in the Palarong Pambansa

• 1995: her records were questioned

 

what is SEX?

Sex refers to the categories of being Male and Female that are biologically determined and assigned at birth, based on the external genitalia or sex organ, chromosomal make-up and qualities of hormones.

Intersex refers to a person born with physical or biological sex characteristics that do not fit the typical definition of male or female

 

what is GENDER?

• refers to the differentiated social roles, behaviors, capacities, intellectual, emotional and social characteristics attributed by a given culture to women and men.

• is socially determined and a learned behaviour such as that related to "masculinity" and "femininity“

• changes across time, places and cultures

 

Sex and Gender Roles

• Sex role - role that male or female assumes because of basic physiological or anatomical differences

• Gender role - roles assigned to men and women based on their gender and what is often considered appropriate and acceptable for boys or girls, men or women. It is society’s evaluation of behavior as masculine or feminine.

 

Reproductive Function

The reproductive function of male and female bodies is biological, therefore falls under the sex definition. But is it also “gendered”?

 

Differentiating sex and gender

Relationship of sex and gender

Activity 2: Who is saying this? Man or woman?

I DRIVE THE TRACTOR.

I WANT TO JOIN THE POLICE FORCE.

I HAVE TO STOP MY SCHOOLING SINCE WE'RE HAVING A BABY.

I HAVE MULTIPLE SEXUAL PARTNERS.

I USE FORCE TO GET WHAT I WANT.

I'M CHANGING MY NAME AFTER GETTING MARRIED.

I NEED TO PREPARE FOOD AND TAKE CARE OF THE KIDS.

I'M SAD BECAUSE I CAN'T GIVE MY PARTNER A BOY.

I MENSTRUATE EVERY MONTH.

Gender as a Social Construct

 

Gender Socialization 

Activity 3: Allowed and Not Allowed for Boys and Girls 

individual learns to conform to the norms of the group where one

• is born with

• internalizes these norms 

• acquires status 

• plans corresponding roles 

 

Social Institutions

source:Pilipino Star Ngayon Digital

 

Gender Division of Labor

 

Gender Division of Labor

• Production - activities that result in the generation of marketable goods and services

• Reproduction - activities carried out to reproduce labor and to care for and maintain the household 

 

• Community management - roles or activities that produce results for the community's collective consumption, use, or benefit 

• Leisure - activities that do not pertain to productive or reproductive work but are instead related to rest and recreation

 

Gender roles in Philippine History

Activity 5: How are men and women portrayed in the different historical periods of the country?

• Pre-colonial 

• Spanish colonization 

• American colonization 

• Japanese occupation 

• Contemporary period

                                                       

Mentefuwaley Libun from the Teduray tribe

Mentefuwaley-one who becomes

Libun-woman

Lagey – man

Schegel, Wisdom from the Rainforest, 1998

"Babaylan (Visayan) and Katalonan (Tagalog) were spiritual leaders during the pre-colonial times. Only women were allowed to become a babaylan or a katalonan (Brewer, 2004; Garcia, 2004). On the occasion that men were chosen as spiritual leaders, they had to live the life of a woman-some of them even had male partners"

    SOGIESC101 Primer, UP CWGS 2022

 

INTERSEX CONDITION

• A girl with Turner's Syndrome (with a missing female sex chromosome) may have underdeveloped or no ovaries, be short in stature, with a weblike configuration around the neck and eye folds, and a broad shield-like chest.

• A boy with an excess male chromosome (a condition called Klinefelter's Syndrome) can become very tall and gangling, but also mentally retarded (Doyle & Paludi 1995).

• There are also intersex conditions in which male infants are born without a penis (penile agenesis) and cases when female infants are born without a vagina (vaginal agenesis) (APA n.d.)

 

Breaking the Binary

SOGIESC

LGBTQCI+

 

Sexual Orientation

Refers to each person's capacity for profound emotional, affectional, and sexual attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender (Yogyakarta Principles. 2007)

Heterosexual

(cisgender or trans) are attracted to Individuals of a different sex from themselves

Lesbians

(cisgender or trans) who are attracted to other women

Gay

individuals are men (cisgender or trans) who are attracted to other men. They are also referred to as homosexuals

Bisexuals

are people (cisgender or trans) who may be attracted to individuals of the same or different sex

 

Gender Identity & Expression

refers to each person's deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, one's concept of self as woman, man, and/or other gender/s, which may or may not correspond with the sex and gender assigned to them at birth, including personal sense of the body and other EXPRESSIONS of gender like dress, speech, and mannerisms (Yogyakarta Principles, 2007)

cisgenders are people whose sense of their own gender is aligned with the sex that they were assigned at birth. Their sexual organs meet the expectations of a particular community regarding their gender identity

transgenders are people whose sense of own gender is different to the sex they were assigned at birth

Gender Identity

gender non- conforming people neither identify themselves as men or women

 

Sexual Characteristics

Are biological characteristics, such as genitalia, chromosomes, gonads, hormones and internal reproductive organs

Primary: often present at birth 

Secondary: often developed during puberty

Source: L. Leyesa, RPGRP Leveling Session. October 2022

 

Sex characteristics exist on a spectrum.

The two expected patterns of female and male are on both extremes of this Spectrum, while intersex characteristics are in the wider middle.

 

 

COMING OUT

• Process of voluntarily sharing one's sexual orientation and/or gender identity with others. 

• This process is unique for each individual and there is no right or wrong way to come out. 

• Vs. Outing (making public the sexual orientation or gender identity of another who would prefer to keep this information secret)

Intersectionalities

acknowledgement that within groups of people with a common identity, whether it be gender, sexuality, religion, race, or one of the many other defining aspects of identity, there exist intragroup differences.

 Women with disabilities face multiple discriminations and are often more disadvantaged than men in the areas of education, work and employment, family and reproductive rights, health, violence and abuse

Manifestations of Gender Bias

• Stereotyping - tendency or attitude to ascribe particular traits, characteristics and roles distinctly to men and women

• Marginalization - act of being excluded or given lesser importance in society and development

• Subordination - being treated as lowly, secondary or someone with no/little decision-making power

 

Remember:

Think outside the box reflect and challenge stereotype repeatedly!

 

Stereotypes are based on ideas and experiences with certain groups and then extended to apply to an entire group. It takes many experiences with diverse populations to challenge stereotypes.

Manifestations of Gender Bias

• Multiple Burden - being assigned multiple PREVALENCE tasks of productive, reproductive/care work, community work as part of their expected gender roles

• Violence Against Women (VAW) - any act of gender-based violence that results to physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty

Subordination:

refers to the inferior position of women, their lack of access to resources and decision making etc. and to the patriarchal domination that women are subjected to in most societies

Challenges of Women entrepreneurs

Women entrepreneurs face constraints that men do not, including limited access to capital and credit, due to lack of collateral, lack of information and time constraints imposed by domestic obligations. They also face discrimination in the workplace.

Issue 1: Women are generally expected to submit to their husbands' or fathers' decisions and wishes;

• Men are perceived as the primary landowners despite several initiatives to institute land reforms.

• Muslim community, family relations are governed by the Code of Muslim Personal Laws (rather than the Civil Code of the Philippines). Article 36 of the Code requires wives to obtain their husband's consent to acquire property and use land during the course of their marriage.

 

The Pandemic Situation exacerbating the multiple burden situation of women

"Now that more couples are working from home, it's impossible to ignore the fact that women bear so much more of the burden of child care and housework."

 

• "School closures and household isolation are moving the work of caring for children from the paid economy - nurseries, schools, babysitters - to the unpaid one." (Power 2020)

• Adolescent girls are spending significantly more hours on chores compared to boys of the same age (UNICEF, Plan International, and UN Women 2020)

Top 5 Regions with highest incidence of GBV against Women (March 17-June 11, 2020)

 

 

Region 7 (Central Visayas) has the highest recorded GBV cases of 608 or 27% of the total 2,183 cases reported to PNP from MArch 17-June 11, 2020.

Violence can be perpetrated through various channels, including electronic/digital media!

 

In disasters/emergency crisis then...

Woman and girls become more vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation

Manifestations of Gender Bias

Manifestation of gender bias is brought about by unequal power relations embedded in the:

• Patriarchal system 

• Cisnormative/Heteronormative culture 

• Intersectional forms of oppression

Vision of a Gender Fair Society

Development is for all!

 

Fairness and equity demands that everyone in society - people with diverse gender identities - has the right to the same opportunities to achieve a full and satisfying life

 

Core Messages in GAD and SOGIESC

Socialization into gender norms begin early in life. These norms and values are learned and are not natural;

Social institutions/forces provide a system of values, norms and mechanisms which maintain social control on gender roles that perpetuate unequal gender relations and reinforced structural bases for gender discrimination which have led to marginalization, subordination, exploitation and violence against women.

The intersectionality of gender discrimination, due to ethnicity, religion, educational status, social status, etc. must be recognized and addressed;

Gender norms are taught and reinforced by various social institutions which include, among others: the family; school; church; work; media; and, the community. Government programs/projects without a GAD perspective can intensify gender inequality.

Oftentimes, gender concerns and issues in development are overlooked, because the managers and specialists often think that they have nothing to do with gender;

Gender and Development (GAD) is an approach to or paradigm of development focusing on social, economic, political and cultural forces that determines how differently women and men participate in, benefit from, and control resources and activities;

GAD is about removing explicit, implicit, actual and potential biases, it is about being faithful to the principle that development is for all;

GAD is not about pitting one sex over the other; it is not about war of the sexes but rather men and women working together to reap the rewards of development.

Government agencies, LGUs, government officials and duty bearers are obligated and mandated to implement GAD-related mandates and international commitments including the Magna of Women, Women in Nation-Building Act, Women's EDGE Plan, CEDAW, among others

Gender Analysis is the process of asking or investigating key questions at the beginning of a planning process. It will help in identifying gaps or differences between women and men, girls and boys and understand why these gaps exist and persist.

 

Everyone has SOGIESC. Yet, people with diverse SOGIESC have been marginalized, discriminated, hated and oppressed. People with diverse SOGIE have human rights.