Gender Awareness and
Development
Michaela E. Soriano
The Gender Concept
The gender perspective looks at the impact of
gender on people's opportunities, social roles
and interactions.
Successful implementation of the policy,
program and project goals of international and
national organizations is directly affected by
the impact of gender and, in turn, influences
the process of social development.
Gender is an integral component of every
aspect of the economic, social, daily and
private lives of individuals and societies, and of
the different roles ascribed by society to men
and women.
Gender Concepts
►SEX refers to the permanent and immutable biological characteristics common to
individuals in all societies and cultures.
►GENDER, although it originates in objective biological divergencies, goes far
beyond the physiological and biological specifics of the two sexes in terms of the
roles each is expected to play. Gender differences are social constructs.
►SEX ROLES refer to an occupation or biological function for which a necessary
qualification is to belong to one particular sex category; e.g., breastfeeding,
pregnancy, sperm donation.
►GENDER ROLES are learned behaviors in a given society, community, or other
special group that condition us to perceive certain activities, task and
responsibilities as male and female, e.g., before nurses are only for women and
Gender Concepts
► GENDER STEREOTYPE is an over-generalized belief in the
characteristics of a person based simply on gender. It is a rigidly held
and oversimplified belief that all males and females possess distinct
psychological and behavioral traits, e.g., women are weak & emotional;
men are strong & logical; women take care of the home & children; men
are providers of the family.
► GENDER DISCRIMINATION is the differential treatment of individuals
on the basis of their gender. In many societies, this involves systematic
and structural discrimination against women in the distribution of
income, access to resources, and participation in decision- making.
► GENDER SOCIALIZATION refers to the learning of behavior and
attitudes considered appropriate for given sex.
(GAD)
The Magna Carta of Women (Republic Act No. 9710) defines
Gender, and Development Program (GAD) as the
development perspective and process that is participatory
and empowering, equitable, sustainable, free from violence,
respectful of human rights, supportive of self-determination
and actualization of human potentials. It seeks to achieve
gender equality as a fundamental value that should be
reflected in development choices and contends that women
are active agents of development, not just passive recipients
of development.
HOW GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT STARTED?
► Gender and Development was developed in the 1980's as an alternative to the Women in
Development (WID) approach.
► Unlike WID, the GAD approach is not concerned specifically with women, but with the way
in which a society assigns roles, responsibilities, and expectations to both men and women.
► GAD applies gender analysis to uncover the ways in which men and women work
together, presenting results in neutral terms of economics and competence.
►GAD focus primarily on two major frameworks, Gender Roles and Social Relations
Analysis. Gender role focus on social construction of identities within the household, it also
reveals the expectations from 'maleness and femaleness' in their relative access to
resources. Social relations analysis exposes the social dimensions of hierarchical power
relations imbedded in social institutions; also it's determining influence on the relative
position of men and women in society. In an attempt to create gender equality, (denoting
women having same opportunities as men, including ability to participate in the public
sphere) GAD policies aim to redefine traditional gender role expectations.
Gender Development
Planners and policy-makers must be mindful of
the major aspects of socially ascribed gender
functions and the specific needs of men and
women. If development policies are to be
sustainable, they must consider existing gender
disparities in employment, poverty, family life,
health, education, the environment, public life
and decision- making bodies.
Gender disparities in access to economic
resources, including credit, land and economic
power-sharing, directly affect women's
potential for achieving the kind of economic
autonomy they need to provide a better
quality of life for themselves and their
dependants. Limited access to agricultural
inputs, especially for food crops, severely
Work curtails women's potential productivity.
Households in all societies differentiate
various household activities and
responsibilities by gender. For women,
production and reproduction are two
interlinked activities, and much of the work
women do, although productive, is unpaid.
Men have always played a minor role in
domestic work: societies tending to assume
Poverty
• Poverty can be defined as the combination of uncertain or
non-existent income and a lack of access to the resources
needed to ensure sustainable living conditions. It often
goes hand-in-hand with hunger, malnourishment, poor
health, high mortality and morbidity rates, insufficient
education and precarious and unhealthy housing.
• In rural areas, where services and job opportunities are
even fewer than in urban areas, poverty is also more
acute. The situation is worse for women, who are less likely
to have access to production factors, services and
resources such as credit, land, inheritance, education,
information, extension services, technology and farm
inputs, as well as a say in decision-making.
• Another reason for the persistence of female poverty is
gender vulnerability within the home. When poor families
cannot afford to send all of their children to school, parents
favour investing in the boy-children, keeping the girls at
Family Life
In all societies women are the prime
careers of children, the elderly and the The differences between female-
ill, and do most of the domestic tasks. and male-headed households
Women's lives are greatly affected by usually have a bearing on all
reproduction, which has an incisive and aspects of family life: the size and
direct impact on their health and on composition of the family and
their educational, employment and how it is run; nutrition; raising
earning opportunities. In societies where children; and available income. A
women marry very young and much single female head of household
earlier than men, wives defer more to has a double responsibility she
husbands, and this has a substantial must earn a living and, at the
bearing on women's chances of finding same time, run a home.
paid work and receiving an education.
Health and Nutrition
Biologically, men and women have different health needs, but lifestyles and socially ascribed roles arising from
prevailing social and cultural patterns also play a part in the health picture. Men are more likely to be the victims of
occupational diseases, accidents at work, smoking, alcohol and other forms of substance abuse. Men have a higher
incidence of cancer and of cardiovascular lesions and diseases (the principal cause of male mortality). Women's health
risks, which are mainly linked to reproduction, make them more vulnerable during pregnancy to anemia, malnutrition,
hepatitis, malaria, diabetes and other illnesses. Custom, social constraints and lack of resources also give rise to
gender disparities among children in terms of nutrition, morbidity and mortality. The two sexes do not receive equal
attention and care: the tendency being to favour boy-children. Males are also fed more and better.
Education
The increasingly competitive labor market
demands ever-higher levels of education. People
without it are at a growing disadvantage. At the
same time, there is broad consensus that
education can, in times of change, move
marginalized, excluded people into the
mainstream. Despite this, socio-cultural barriers
and prejudices that restrict women's access to
education persist in a number of societies.
In some parts of the world, such as the Caribbean
and western Asia, the number of women enrolling
in institutes of higher learning is increasing,
sometimes even exceeding male enrolments.
However, the chosen fields of study differ greatly.
Cultural traditions, prejudices, stereotypes and
family reluctance frequently result in the exclusion
of women from the scientific and technical fields,
inducing many to opt for the more "feminine", but
less remunerative and less promising careers a
choice that aggravates segregation in the job
market.
•
The Environment
Environmental degradation affects women differently in terms of workloads and quality
of life, particularly in rural areas where they manage natural resources and provide for
families. Deforestation and water depletion force women to work further, reducing their
productivity and opportunities.
The Public and Policy-Making Spheres
Gender inequality persists in public and policy-making, with women underrepresented in
government, legislative bodies, and sectors like mass media, arts, religion, and culture. Only
16 countries have over 15% female ministerial posts, and only 10% of parliamentary
deputies were women in 1994.
Gender
Equality
Gender equality
refers to the state in
which people of all
genders have equal
rights,
responsibilities, and
opportunities.
Gender Equity Refers to the fairness and
justice in the treatment,
access to opportunities,
and distribution of
resources for all genders.
“GENDER EQUALITY IS NOT WOMAN’S ISSUE; IT IS A HUMAN ISSUE.
IT AFFECTS US ALL”
