Sex vs. Gender

Sex vs. Gender

• Sex and gender influence self-perception and interactions.
• Sex and gender were historically synonymous until the 1950s when their distinction was advocated.
• Sex: Assigned at birth based on reproductive characteristics.
• Biologically, organisms are assigned male or female based on physical differences, including primary (reproductive system) and secondary (height, muscle mass) characteristics.
• The sex is largely, genetically determined.
• Sex chromosomes = X and Y; female egg cells carry only X chromosomes; male sperm cells carry either X or Y.
  • XX = female
  • XY = male
• Intersex: A physiological condition with variations in physical sex characteristics.
  • Typically from extra chromosomes or hormonal anomalies during embryonic stage.
  • Determination can occur at birth, puberty, or adulthood (infertility).
• Intersex individuals have ambiguous genitalia and don't fit typical male/female categories.
  • Ambiguity can be anatomical (vagina, penis, breasts), gonadal (ovaries, testes), hormonal (estrogen, testosterone), or chromosomal (XX, XY).
• Gender: Socially constructed characteristics of males and females (WHO, 2019).
  • Derived from Latin "genus" (kind, type, sort).
  • Legal status differentiated by social roles, behaviors, capabilities, and characteristics attributed to each sex.
• Gender analyses roles, responsibilities, constraints, opportunities, and needs of men and women.
• Sex refers to physical attributes, particularly sex organs, which distinguish most individuals.
  • Biologically determined by genes and hormones.
  • Relatively fixed across time and cultures.
• Gender is the composite of attitudes and behaviors (masculinity & femininity).
  • Learned and perpetuated through family, education, and religion.
  • Variable through time and cultures due to socialization.

Theoretical Perspectives on Gender & Family

• Functionalist: Traditional nuclear family is natural, maintains social order, controls sexual behavior, and ensures morally acceptable parenting.
• Marxist: Nuclear family is valued over extended families to encourage material aspirations and acceptance of authority.
• Marxist Feminist: Nuclear family benefits the powerful and women's domestic labor supports the workforce at little cost to patriarchal capitalism.

Sexual Division of Labor

• Sexual division of labor is allocated separation of work tasks in private and public sectors.
• Workers are divided according to assumptions about men's and women's work.

Gender Concepts

• Globally, there's increasing understanding that gender is a major social difference.
• Some countries are progressing in policies and practices that recognize all genders.
• The Philippines needs improvement in addressing gender issues.
• Academic discussions and Gender Studies inclusion helps cultivate empathy and inclusivity.

Gender Roles

• Gender roles are learned behaviors conditioning activities and tasks as male or female.
• Gender roles are influenced by age, class, race, ethnicity, religion, geography, economic, and political environment (Pavlic & Sam-Vargas, 2000).
• Gender roles are social expectations of acceptable behavior based on assigned sex.
  • The term coined by psychologist John William Money.
• Faced with resource allocation, activities are divided into female work and male work.
  • Tasks are allocated by cultural traditions and norms, determining masculine and feminine roles.
• The five basic categories of human activities:
  • Reproductive Role: Childbearing/rearing responsibilities & domestic tasks, human/biological reproduction, reproduction of labor, and social reproduction.
    • Community Management Role: Relates to community governance, organization of cultural and social activities, work is voluntary and unpaid.
    • Community Politics Role: Undertaken by men, organizing at formal political level, usually paid, either directly or indirectly, through status or power.
    • Multiple Roles: Both men & women play multiple roles, men typically play roles sequentially, women play roles simultaneously with limited time.

Sex Roles

• Sex roles refer to standards and rules of behavior and practices often related to reproductive capacity.
• It is a biologically determined function only performed by the specific sex.
• Gender roles are culturally produced behaviors.

Gender Roles vs. Sex Roles

• Gender roles may differ from society to society and change with history, can be performed by both sexes, and are socially/culturally determined.
• Sex roles are the same in all societies, never change, can only be performed by one sex, and are biologically determined.

Gender Equality & Equity

• Beijing Platform for Action (September 4-15, 1995): Representatives from 189 governments, 17,000 participants, 30,000 non-governmental activists convened in Beijing.
• Gender Equality: Freedom to develop personal abilities without stereotypes or prejudices.
  • Different behaviors, aspirations, and needs of women and men are valued equally.
  • This does not mean men and women have to become the same, but that rights, responsibilities, and opportunities are independent of sex.
• Gender Equity: Fairness of treatment according to respective needs.
  • It May include equal treatment that is different but is still equal in terms of rights, benefits, obligations & opportunities.
• Global commitment to gender equality & equity is based on sustainable development through complimentary biological entities.

Gender Mainstreaming

• Gender mainstreaming assesses implications for women & men in any planned action, including legislation, policies, and programs.
  • Integral dimension of policies & programs in all political, economic, and societal spheres.
• The Principles:
  • Empowerment
  • Accountability
  • Integration
• Five areas of mainstreaming activities & implementation measures:
  • Gender-sensitive language
  • Gender-specific data
  • Equal access
  • Equal decision-making
  • Equal treatment

Gender Violence

• Gender violence (gender-based or gendered violence): Harm due to a person's gender.
  • Violence directed against a person due to gender or disproportionately affecting a particular gender.
• The forms of gender violence:
  • Physical violence
  • Sexual violence
  • Psychological violence
  • Economic violence
  • Technology-facilitated gender-based violence

Sites of Gender-Based Violence

• Family
• Society
• Workplace
• State

Gender Stereotypes

• Stereotypes: Widely accepted generalizations or preconceptions about a group.
  • Helps quickly determine flight, fight, or social responses.
• Gender Stereotypes: Generalizations about attributes that women and men possess.
• Gender Stereotyping: Ascribing specific attributes based on membership in a social group of women or men.
• Gender Stereotypes are:
• Descriptive: Beliefs about what men/women typically do.
  • Prescriptive: Beliefs about what men/women should do.
  • Positive prescriptive stereotypes (PPS): Desirable behaviors that one sex is encouraged to display more than the other.
  • Negative Prescriptive Stereotypes (NPS): Undesirable behaviors that one sex is avoid more than the other.
• Stereotypes harm when it limits the ability to develop personal abilities, pursue professional careers, and make choices about their lives.
• Four Basic Kinds of Gender Stereotypes:
  • Personality Traits
  • Domestic behaviors
  • Occupations
  • Physical appearance
• Hyperfemininity: Exaggerated adherence to the feminine gender role in heterosexual relationships.
• Hypermasculinity: Exaggeration of male stereotypical behavior.
• Stereotypes Influences:
  • Media
  • Friends
  • Family
  • School

Gender Discrimination

• Gender discrimination: Any distinction, exclusion, or preference, based on sex, impairs equality of opportunity/treatment.
  • Exists in education, access to benefits, resources, services.
• It is a subtle or overt display of unequal treatment due to attitudes toward a particular sex.
• Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Gender Bias in the Courts Report: Gender discrimination occurs based on stereotypical views, perceptions of worth, and myths about social realities.
• Gender Discrimination is different than sexism. Sexism involves looking down on a sex as inferior.
• Types of gender discrimination:
  • Discrimination in Education
  • Discrimination in Employment
  • Maternity & pregnancy discrimination

Gender Sensitivity

• Gender sensitivity recognizes issues in how society perceives gender.
  • Attempts to reduce barriers to personal and economic development created by gender.
• Every person deserves respect and fair treatment through inclusive language, that does not discriminate against sex or perpetuate stereotypes.
• Best Practices/Strategies for gender inclusion:
  • Using non-discriminatory terms: Pronouns aligning with identity, using "Ms.", and avoiding bias.
    • Make gender visible only when relevant through pairing (using both He and She), but avoid overuse.
    • Avoid "s/he" in writing, instead, use "he or she".
    • Avoid making gender visible when non-relevant by using neutral words, plural pronouns, or ditching gendered pronouns.