GENDER

AND
SOCIETY
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

UNIT I : Gender Concepts/ Terms

UNIT II: Sociology Of Gender
UNIT III: LGBT And Intersexuality
UNIT IV: Biomedical Perspective In Gender And Sexuality
UNIT 1: GENDER CONCEPTS/TERMS

I. Sex vs. Gender

II. Gender Equality vs. Gender Equity
III.Gender Equality vs. Women's Rights
IV.Transgender vs. Transsexual
 SEX
AND
GENDER
WHAT IS

SEX ?
 SEX
Refers to biological and physiological characteristics.
• The good, the bad, and the complicated.
• According to popular culture, sex is something done
for pleasure.
• In a more Freudian sense, it is what drives people to
do certain things.
• defines sex through its biological and not cultural
definition.
• Sex in the biological sense is a category for living
beings specifically related to their reproductive
function.

“Male and Female are used in birth certificates to denote

the sex of children”
 TWO SEXES
Male Sex produces sperm cells to fertilize
the egg cells.

The female Sex produces egg cells to

produce.
CHROMOSOMES?
 CHROMOSOMES?
Structures found in the center (nucleus) of cells that carry
long pieces of DNA.

Chromosome XX Chromosome XY
equates to female equates to male
 HORMONES
• Estrogen – a group of hormones that promote the
development and maintenance of female characteristics of
the body such as breasts and pubic hair.
• Testosterone – stimulates the development of male
secondary sexual characteristics produced mainly in the
testes.
• Progesterone – stimulates the uterus to prepare for pregnancy.
 GENITALIA
The organ used for reproduction and secondary sex
characteristics are largely influenced by one’s X and Y
chromosomes. These chromosomes determine whether
someone’s body will express itself as a “female” or a
“male”.

MALE FEMALE
 Masculinity – if all
males presented are in powerful
and dominant roles, one can
presume that power and
dominance are associated with
maleness.

Masculinity vs. Femininity

Femininity – if all
females are seen to take
care of people, one
associates females with
these rules, thus to be
female is to care.
 What is

GENDER?
• Refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls, and
boys that are socially constructed.

• A social construct that determines one’s roles, expected

values, behavior, and interaction in relationships
involving men and women.

• It is short for gender relation between the sexes, or how

the male and female relate to one another.

• It affects what access men and women have to decision-

making, knowledge, and resources.

• Different things to sex, but one’s gender is usually

associated with one’s sex.

‘Man’,’ masculine’, ’woman’, and ‘feminine’ denote

gender.
 SEX GENDER

BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS SOCIAL CONSTRUCTED

(set of roles and responsibilities associated with being
girl and boy or women and men, and in some cultures
(generally define humans as female or male)
a third or other gender.)
UNIVERSAL, A-HISTORICAL Gender roles vary greatly in different societies,
cultures and historical periods as well as they
(No variation from culture to culture or time to
depend also on socio-economic factors, age,
time.)
education, ethnicity and religion.
Although deeply rooted, gender roles can be
Cannot be changed, except with the medical
changed over time, since social values and norms are
treatment.
not static.

Born with. Not born with.

Example: The expectation of men to be economic
Example: Only women can give birth. Only women
providers of the family and for women to be
can breastfeed.
caregivers is a gender norm in many cultural contexts
 SEX GENDER
Physiological Social
Related to reproduction Cultural
Congenital Learned behaviour
Unchanging Changes overtime
Varies within a culture
Does sex correspond to
gender?
Does sex correspond to gender?
Scientists, psychologists, and sociologists believe
that sex does not determine one’s gender.

Masculinity is not tied to one’s

Femininity or the behavior that gonads. The whole idea of being a woman,
one associates with females may not therefore, is based on gender and society’s
actually be tied to a woman’s sex. belief in how a woman should act, instead
of biological functions that are
inescapable.
 “GENDER
STEREOTYPES”
 Sex Stereotypes

a generalized view of traits that should be

possessed by men and women, specifically
physical and emotional roles. They are unrelated
to the roles women and men actually perform.
 Sexual stereotypes

involve assumptions regarding a person’s sexuality

that reinforce dominant views. Like the
assumption that all persons are only attracted to
the sex opposite theirs.
 Sex-role stereotypes

• the roles that men and women are assigned

based on their sex and what behaviors they
must possess to fulfill these roles.
• They prescribe certain traits, behaviors, and
responsibilities to individuals based on their
assigned sex at birth
 Compounded stereotypes
• Assumptions about a specific group belonging to a
gender. Examples are young women, old men, single men,
women factory workers, and the like.
• Compounded stereotypes can also be influenced by other
factors such as age, sexual orientation, religion,
socioeconomic status, disability, or any other aspect of
one's identity.
What is

SOGIE ?
 SOGIE
Stands for Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity Expression.
❑ Sexual Orientation
• Homosexuality ❑ Expression.
• Heterosexuality
• bisexuality • refers to how individuals
express their gender identity
❑ Gender Identity outwardly through
appearance, behavior, and
their

Gender Identity refers to a mannerisms.

person's deeply felt sense of • It includes factors such as
their own gender, which may clothing, hairstyles, speech
or may not correspond with patterns, body language, and
other forms of self-expression.
the sex they were assigned at
birth.
 Terms Standing for Sexual orientation
SOGIE ❑ Involves the person to whom one is
attracted.
❑ One identifies himself or herself in relation
to this attraction.
❑ Includes both romantic and sexual feelings.

Gender Expression Gender Identity

❑ expresses his or her sexuality through the ❑ Personal experience of gender or social
actions or manner of presenting oneself. relation identifies himself or herself in
relation to this attraction.
❑ Identify himself or herself as masculine or
feminine.
LGBTQA?
 LESBIAN

Pertains to women who are

attracted to other women.
 GAY
Men who are attracted to other men.
 BISEXUAL
Denotes people who are attracted to both
genders.
 Transgender

Refers to someone whose

assigned sex at birth does not
represent his or her gender
identity.
Queer Denoting or relating to a sexual or gender identity that
does not correspond to established ideas of sexuality and
gender, especially heterosexual norms.
Asexual
Describe someone who does not experience
sexual attraction toward individuals of any gender.
Gender Equality
and
Gender Equity
 EQUALITY EQUITY
❑ The state or condition that affords women and ❑ Justice and fairness in the treatment of women
men equal enjoyment of human rights, socially and men in order to eventually achieve gender
valued goods, opportunities, and resources, equality,
❑ Allowing both sexes the same opportunities and ❑ often requesting differential treatment of
potential to contribute to, and benefit from, all women and men (or specific measures) in order
spheres of society (economic, political, social, and to compensate for the historical and social
cultural). disadvantages.
❑ prevent women and men from sharing a level
playing field.
Example: A family has limited funds, and both Example: Provision of leadership training for
daughter and son need new pair of shoes for the women or establishing quotas for women in
new school year, but only one can get new shoes decision-making positions to achieve gender
this year. If the family decides (and who in the family equality.
decides?) which child will get the new shoes based
on the child’s NEED, and not on the child’s sex, this is
an example of gender equality.
Gender Equality
vs.
Women’s Rights
 WOMEN’S RIGHT GENDER EQUALITY

❑ Entitlements that women have on the basis that ❑ Gender equality and non-discrimination
they are human. on the basis of sex are fundamental
❑ Normatively based on several international human human rights. It implies equal enjoyment
rights documents (e.g. The Convention on the of rights by men and women.
Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW)).
❑ Arranged around the concept of duty bearer &
rights holder.
Transgender
vs.
Transsexual
 TRANSGENDER TRANSEXUAL

❑ Refers to those trans people who live ❑ Refers to people who identify entirely with
permanently in their preferred gender, the gender role opposite to the sex
without necessarily needing to undergo assigned at birth and seek to live
any medical intervention/s. permanently in the preferred gender role.
❑ Transsexual people might intend to
undergo, are undergoing, or have
undergone gender reassignment
treatment (which may or may not involve
hormone therapy or surgery).
 Gender GAP
and
Patterns of Gender
Inequalities
 Gender Gap

❑ Difference in any area between women and

men in terms of their levels of participation.

❑ Access to resources, rights, power, and

influence, Remuneration, and benefits.
Patterns of Gender
Inequalities
 Inequalities in political power
and Representation:
Women are often underrepresented in formal decision-
making structures, including governments, community
councils, and policy-making institutions.
 Inequalities in economic
participation and opportunities:

❑ Women are receiving lower wages for similar work.

❑ Have less access than men to productive assets such
as education, skills, property, and credit.
 Educational attainment:
❑ Women have lower literacy rates,
❑ The lower level of enrolment in primary, secondary, and
tertiary education.
 Sexual and domestic
violence:
❑ Women tend to be more often victims in the form of
domestic violence by a woman‟s intimate partner.
❑ sexual exploitation through trafficking and the sex
trade.
❑ in wars by an enemy army as a weapon of attempted
„ethnic cleansing‟.
 Differences in legal status and
entitlements:

There are many instances in which equal rights to personal

status, security, land, inheritance, and employment
opportunities are denied to women by law or practice.