Gender and Development
Gender and Development
Gender and Development
SW203
PHILIPPINE SOCIALREALITY
During the seminar proper, the speaker started with a question “When filling out a
document such as a job application or school registration form you are often asked to
provide your name, address, phone number, birth date, and sex or gender. But have you
ever been asked to provide your sex and your gender?” As with most people, it may not
have occurred to you that sex and gender are not the same. First we need to know the
difference between gender and sexuality before we proceed. For many this seems to be a
touchy subject. Gender is a range of characteristics of feminity and masculinity. Gender
refers to the state of being male or female. Gender is now commonly used even to refer to
the physical anatomy. Gender begins to be formed from the time a child is born. Beginning
with the obligatory pink and blue blanket, gender is implicated in everything we do. From the
cloths we wear to the food we eat to the types of work we do, sex role differentiation, and
pressure to confirm to the box of gender. Gender socialization starts at childhood and pretty
much goes on until death. As a result of the pervasive attention that we give to gender,
gender is pretty much implicated in everything we do. Beyond the basic fact that gender is
something we focus a lot of attention on, there are a lot of strong opinions, theories, and
emotions surrounding it. Gender is an important topic because the basic fact that all over the
world, in pretty much every culture that exists, women are treated differently than men. I
could be much more elaborate on this gender topic although I would spend all day on this
topic alone, so we move on to sex and sexuality. Sex is defined by the genitalia an individual
possess. The experience of transgendered people also demonstrates that a person’s sex, as
determined by his or her biology, does not always correspond with his or her gender.
Therefore, the terms sex and gender are not interchangeable. A baby boy who is born with
male genitalia will be identified as male. As he grows, however, he may identify with the
feminine aspects of his culture. Since the term sex refers to biological or physical
distinctions, characteristics of sex will not vary significantly between different human
societies. For example, it is physiologically normal for persons of the female sex, regardless
of culture, to eventually menstruate and develop breasts that can lactate. The signs and
characteristics of gender, on the other hand, may vary greatly between different societies.
For example, it is considered feminine or a trait of the female gender to wear a dress or skirt.
However, in many Middle Eastern, Asian, and African cultures, dresses or skirts often
referred to as sarongs, robes, or gowns can be considered masculine. We will expand sex to
sexuality, which refers to your sexual orientation. Sexuality would deal with your choice of
sexual activity and your sexual feelings. So sexuality would refer to who you are attracted to.
Whether it be man and women or two men or a mix of the previously mentioned. From the
beginning of time the bible only stated the man and woman as being the right choice of
sexuality. But as time goes on we are further understanding and studying different sexual
choices. In today’s society we have too many sexual choices to mention here. Although to
give you an idea we have come to use a scale instead of a single box to identify your sexual
choices. These sexual choices go much deeper into affecting what we want out of life and
how we go about getting what we want. Although I do believe everyone should have their
own choice to have control of their own lives and happiness. We as a society should not
dictate what relationship is right or wrong. But I do see this topic as a pressing issue for all of
us, especially with all the radical changes over the years. Only time will tell what the future
will hold, although as more and more people come out it looks like the future society will be
much more open than in the past years. Since the beginning of time gender inequality has
been an obstacle towards the human development of countries around the world. However,
females have been oppressed of their opportunities throughout time. To understand the
reason for the gender gap between males and females there need to be an understanding of
the indicators that are addressed through the key dimensions of Gender Inequality which
include reproductive health, education and political representation. Humans are born to
think, discover and learn many things in the world. They are social animals. Both females
and males have the same brain, body and heart. Gender equality is also known as sex
equality. It refers to the opinion that men and women attain to have equal conduct. Neither
should be discriminated on gender biasness. This the most important motive of the Human
Rights, this pursues the generation of equality in rule and in social circumstances like in self-
governing actions and to guard safely equal salary for equal efforts. Gender equality is the
basic rights that a human being have to survive with self-dignity. Women are acceptable to
live in self-respect and in liberty from need. Authorizing women is a crucial tool for
proceeding development and dropping down the level of poverty. Women that are
empowered contributes to the fitness and efficiency of society and to enhance prospects for
the next generation to come. The position of gender equality is stressed by its presence as
one of the eighth Millennium Development Goals. Gender equality is recognized as being a
significant issue to attain seven other aims. Being that discrimination in contradiction of
females involving gender-based violence, reproductive health injustices and damaging
traditional performs, left the universal form of dissimilarity. All too often women are paid less
than men for doing the same work. Even though women hold some of the same job titles as
men in their field of work, salaries are usually not equal. Another area of gender equality is
suffrage (the right to vote). This area of gender equality does not extend to all the women in
the world. Women in Saudi Arabia does not have the right t to vote, in the USA right wing
commentators say that women should never have been given the right to vote. Other
discrimination against women and girls includes gender-based violence, economic
discrimination, and reproductive health inequities. A key topic has been women’s rights
affording the ability to control their own fertility. This is absolutely fundamental to women’s
empowerment and equality. When a woman can plan her family, she can plan the rest of her
life. When she is healthy, she can be more productive. And when her reproductive right,
which includes the right to decide the number, timing and spacing of her children, and to
make decisions regarding reproduction free of discrimination, coercion, or violence. Despite
many international agreements affirming their human rights, women are likely to be poor and
illiterate, compared to men. They usually have less access than men to medical care,
property ownership, credit, training and employment. They are far less likely than men to be
politically active and far more likely to be victims of domestic violence. It’s also about political
will. Until each nation embrace policies to integrate women into leadership like their
counterparts, women will not be viewed as equal throughout the world. Therefore, gender
equality implies a society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities, outcomes,
rights and obligations in all aspects of life. Gender equality includes sharing equally in the
distribution of power, influence, opportunities, financial independence, and access to
education and jobs. Some gender issues were also discussed such as gender
marginalization, subordination, multiple burden, gender stereotype and violence against
women.