Handout for GEE 001B (Gender and Society)
Lesson 1: Introduction
Women in the Philippines:
• Protected under the Constitution (Article II,
Section 13) – women are a vital aspect of
nation-building, and their inclusion in
societal structures and processes are key
towards equality and development.
• As of 2016, the Philippines ranked 7th in the
world for gender equality (highest in Asia)
according to WEF.
Discrimination Today:
• In the reproductive sphere, or in the
household, childcare is a primary task that
has been left mostly to women in a majority
of societies.
• Pay Gap – women earn less than men. In
fact, in the United States, for each one dollar
($1.00) a man earns, a woman will only earn
80 cents ($0.80) even if they have the same
qualifications, and the same responsibilities.
• Glass Ceiling – certain attitudes and beliefs
about women’s abilities limit the positions
they can attain in a company. Most likely,
women will be left to do menial jobs as
compared to men of the same qualifications
– such discrimination is based solely on them
being women.
• Generally speaking, in most societies,
women are often perceived as the weaker
sex.
Lesson 2: Levelling Off: Gender and Sexuality
Sex – in the Biological sense, is a category for living
beings specifically related to their reproductive
functions. For most living creatures, there are two
sexes – the male and the female.
Prepared by: Mr. Justin Paul D. Gallano
Faculty Member – College of Arts, T.I.P. Manila
PRELIM
Characteristic Males Females
Genitalia Penis Vagina
Chromosomes XY XX
Hormones Testosterone Progesterone
and Estrogen
Sex Cell Sperm Cell Egg Cell
• There are instances where people could have
higher levels of the opposite sex’s hormone.
A man with higher levels of progesterone
and estrogen is called an effeminate man;
and a woman with higher levels of
testosterone is called a masculinate woman.
Gender – a socially learned behavior usually
associated with one’s sex. Based on how people see
themselves and on their tendency to act along either
a masculine or feminine line.
Gender Role Socialization – the process of learning
and internalizing culturally approved ways of
thinking, feeling and behaving.
Types of Gender Roles Socialization:
1. External Regulation – involves various
institutions (family, society, church, State,
etc.) dictating what is proper and normal
based on one’s identity.
2. Internal Regulation/ Internalized Social
Control – a person polices himself or herself
according to society’s standards and norms.
Gender Stereotypes develop when different
institutions reinforce a biased perception of a certain
gender’s role.
Types of Gender Stereotypes:
1. Sex Stereotype – a generalized view of traits
that should be possessed by men and women,
specifically physical and emotional roles.
2. Sexual Stereotype – assumptions regarding
a person’s sexuality that reinforces dominant
views.
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Handout for GEE 001B (Gender and Society)
Heteronormativity – the assumption that all
persons are only attracted to the sex opposite
theirs.
3. Sex-Role Stereotype – the roles that men
and women are assigned to based on their sex
and what behaviors they must possess to
fulfill these roles.
4. Compounded Stereotype – assumptions
about a specific group belonging to a gender,
and vice versa. Example: lady guard, old
men, young women, etc.
SOGIE – Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
and Expression
1. Sexual Orientation – covers three
dimensions of human sexuality. Involves
who one is attracted to and how one
identifies himself/herself in relation to this
attraction which includes both romantic and
sexual feelings.
i) Sexual attraction, behavior, and fantasies
ii) Emotional and social preference; self-
identification
iii) Heterosexual and Homosexual lifestyle
2. Gender Identity – refers to one’s personal
experience of gender or social relations.
3. Gender Expression – determines how one
expresses his/her sexuality through the
actions or manner of presenting oneself.
LGBTQIA – an initialism movement meaning:
Lesbians – women attracted to women
Gays – men attracted to men
Bisexuals – people who are attracted to either sex
Transgenders – people who are transitioning
Queer/Questioning – people who are not yet sure
Intersex
Asexual – people who have no sexual feelings or
attraction to anyone
Gender Equality – the recognition of the State
(government) that all human beings are free to enjoy
equal conditions and fulfill their human potential to
contribute to the State and to the society.
Prepared by: Mr. Justin Paul D. Gallano
Faculty Member – College of Arts, T.I.P. Manila
PRELIM
Lesson 3: Cultures and Rationalities
Culture – the system of symbols that allow people
to give meaning to experience. It is malleable and
adaptable – meaning, culture can change.
Microaggression – hostile, derogatory, or negative
racial slights and insults that can cause potentially
harmful or unpleasant psychological impacts on the
target person/group.
Lesson 4: Women’s Ways of Knowing
• The role of universal caregiving has been
given to women.
• Girls learn by copying their mothers; boys
learn through disassociation.
• Women learn through empathy; men learn
through separation.
Women’s Ways of Knowing:
1. Women and Silence – silence indicates an
absence of thought or reflection. Women who
live in silence are often disconnected from their
families and communities due to their situation
which brings about the lack of space for
constructive thought. Women who learn through
silence lack the ability to understand abstract
thought. They do not enjoy introspection.
2. Received Knowledge: Listening to the Voice
of Others – developed by absorbing knowledge
(like a sponge). Women who learn through
receiving knowledge listen to friends and
authorities (community leaders and/or their
husbands) and understand what is being said
enough for them to repeat words. They are able
to do the right thing by following rules of
authority figures, but they lack the ability to
comprehend paradoxes (if two or more of her
authority figures have contradicting information,
she cannot distinguish which is correct).
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3. Subjective Knowledge: The Inner Voice and
the Quest for Self – women learn to trust their
“inner voice and infallible gut.” Women who
learn through this are those who have awakened
to the previous abuses they have suffered. They
realized that following rules will not make them
happy. They depend on their selves and their
experience to attain truth (use of intuition).
4. Procedural Knowledge: Voice of Reason and
Separate and Connected Knowing – women
who learn through process, and they learned well
from formal systems of knowledge, enough for
them to excel. They learn to defend their beliefs
and rationalize their thoughts, and they focus on
the method more, and less on the problem.
5. Constructed Knowledge: Integrating the
Voices – women need the ability to reflect on
and accept themselves. Women must learn to
value their own methods of knowing and their
own constructed knowledge. They must turn
inward.
Lesson 5: Gender-Fair Language
Language – a primary symbol for communication,
and for how humans understand and participate in
the world.
• Language defines men and women
differently as seen in common adjectives (his,
him, she, her, etc.) associated with these
genders.
Sexist Language – a tool that reinforces unequal
gender relations through sex-role stereotypes,
microaggressions, and sexual harassment. Example:
“women cannot be engineers,” “men cannot take
care of children.”
Prepared by: Mr. Justin Paul D. Gallano
Faculty Member – College of Arts, T.I.P. Manila
PRELIM
Invisibilization of Women – rooted in the
assumption that men are dominant and the norm of
fullness of humanity, and women do not exist.
• The generic use of masculine pronouns or
the use of a masculine general. Example:
“mankind” assumes that men are
representatives of all people of the planet.
• The assumption that certain functions or
jobs are performed by men instead of both
genders. Example: “The farmers and their
wives tilled the land.” This assumes that men
can have jobs as farmers, and women who do
the same jobs are still called as wives.
• The use of male job titles or terms ending
in ‘man’ to refer to functions that may be
given to both genders. Example:
“chairman,” “congressman”
Trivialization of Women
• Bringing attention to the gender of a
person, if and only if that person is a
woman. Example: “lady guard,” “working
wives”
• The perception that women are immature.
Example: “baby,” “darling”
• The objectification, or likening to objects,
of women. Example: “honey,” “sugar,”
“tart”
Identities and Naming Things – naming things
give them power. Example: sexual harassment was
never seen as an issue until it was given a name. The
same thing goes with “date rape,” prior to naming as
such, it is just referred to as “rape.”
Lesson 6: Women: A Sectoral Situationer
The Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) has
provided 12 different sectors where women are
generally oppressed.
A. Women and the Economy: Women and
Work
• Work is often understood as a form of
livelihood.
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• Women have specific labor issues related
to their gender.
• Fewer women are represented in the labor
force than men (since women are
“expected” to stay at home and take care
of their children).
• There is a presence of a pay gap also,
women have an average of two more hours
of work than men per day due to their
productive work at home.
B. Women and Education
• Gender parity (equality) has been achieved
in primary education in the Philippines.
• In places with gender disparity, women are
at a higher risk of discrimination.
• Inequality increases at higher levels of
education, though there is an increase in
female participation in tertiary levels.
• Women are still underrepresented in
STEM.
C. Women and Health
• Pregnancy and pregnancy are still the main
health concerns for women aged 1529, and it
is aggravated by HIV/AIDS. • Women’s life
expectancy, on average, is longer than that of
men.
D. Violence Against Women (VAW)
• One in three women has experienced some
form of VAW in her life, of these, one in
five has experienced attempted or actual
rape, and half of these victims are made of
girls 16 and below.
•
30% of women’s first sexual encounter
was forced or non-consensual.
• Culture-specific violence like bride
burning, child brides, and female genital
mutilation are still practiced in some parts
of the world.
E. Women and Armed Conflict
• Rape and sexual violence are seen as war
tactics to instill fear among communities (e.g.
Boko Haram, ISIS).
Prepared by: Mr. Justin Paul D. Gallano
Faculty Member – College of Arts, T.I.P. Manila
PRELIM
• Women in armed conflict areas are prone to
harassment or are made to enter forced
domestic servitude, and most cases remain
unreported due to the fear of stigma attached
to it.
• Chapter 4 of Philippines’ Magna Carta for
Women: “all women shall be protected from
all forms of violence as provided for in
existing laws.”
F. Women in Power and Politics
• Globally, women compose only 22% of all
parliaments/congresses.
• 143 out of 195 countries have constitutional
provisions to ensure gender equality.
• Women in the Philippines still constitute less
than half of the elected.
G. Institutional Mechanisms and the Human
Rights of Women
• The Magna Carta for Women is considered
to be the “comprehensive bill of rights for
Filipino women.” This is a major mechanism
that enforces gender equality in the country,
and it has three tracks:
1. Issuance of administrative memorandum
circulars for all Three Branches of the
Government.
2. Issuance of guidelines to enhance the
capacity of agencies in gender planning.
3. Legislative review to amend
discriminatory provisions.
H. Discrimination Against Girl-Children
• Girl-children are more susceptible to
harmful practices like female infanticide
(killing of baby girls) and sex-selective
abortion.
• Since a lot of culture value baby boys than
girls, people in poorer countries tend to
give more food to boys, leaving girls at
risk of malnutrition.
• Female circumcisions are still prevalent in
some cultures.
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• Teenage pregnancies are still prevalent
due to lack of access to sex education,
family planning seminars, and
contraceptives.
I. Women and the Environment
• Women are more susceptible to have less
access to clean water and sanitation and
access to energy, also women have more
risk of exposure to natural disasters.
• Poor women are forced to walk for 20
minutes to one hour to get water and/or
firewood for their families (ex. Sub-
Saharan Africa), most times, multiple
times a day.
J. Women and Disasters
• Women are more vulnerable to the effects
of disasters, and it is increased by the effects
of the resulting poverty incidence and
migration.
K. Women in Indigenous Communities
• Women members of Indigenous Peoples
(IPs) have little to no access to government
services like health, education, and housing,
due to their location outside of cities. This
forces them to go to the cities in search of
better conditions, where they are exploited.
L. Filipino Women in Other Sectors
• Women living in ARMM (now BARMM)
are affected by the decades-long armed
conflict.
Lesson 7: Women, Development, and the World
Growth and Development
• Development is assessed in terms of gross
national product (GNP – includes earnings
from foreign investments) and gross domestic
product (GDP – wealth produced from local
investments and activities). These measure
the economic activity based on how much
people in a country are producing in terms of
income-generating products and services.
One can argue that more economic activity
Prepared by: Mr. Justin Paul D. Gallano
Faculty Member – College of Arts, T.I.P. Manila
PRELIM
equates to greater earnings of the people in
the country, raising their general well-being.
• The quest for constant growth is problematic
for some reasons, including that the constant
desire for growth drains our natural
resources: (i) severe water crisis caused by
global warming, (ii) loss of thousands of
species of flora and fauna, (iii) forests are
disappearing rapidly every year, (iv) “peak
oil” – a state in which all the easily accessible
oil has been consumed and that the only
available petroleum supply come from
sources that are very difficult to access.
• Global Warming is caused by CO2 and other
greenhouse gases emitted by human modes of
transportation and energy-intensive
production systems (Intergovernmental Panel
for Climate Change, 2014).
Women and the Dominant Economic System
• The pursuit for development is destructive to
the world yet people insist in pursuing despite
the vast ecological destruction it has caused.
• A greater proportion of the vulnerable people
are women.
• The dominant system (Western liberal
capitalism) needs to be reexamined because
of its potential for harm.
• The Western ideal has a history of wealth
accumulation that required the colonization
of non-European people and land.
• Women have suffered from the violence: (i)
women were made to fill the gap for cheaper
labor, (ii) women were generally paid less,
and (iii) women are also expected to produce
and raise the future manpower for industries,
often having to take on the double burden of
child-rearing and income generation because
economic development demands that their
husbands be paid insufficient wages.
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Handout for GEE 001B (Gender and Society)
Gender and Development
• Western economic values compel women to
decide between success in the economic
system and the cultivation of family and
community life.
• Well-being based on consumption, income
growth, and the push for more wealth is never
questioned, while well-being founded on
relationships, community, and fulfillment is
set aside.
• An individual is obliged to acquire a certain
level of income to fell his/her value in a
community, and to keep up with
accumulation, growth, and consumption at
levels that can support his/her society.
• A competitive market may translate to less
time with his/her children, it takes away time
from the family and community, and it pushes
one to adopt values of individualism and
aggressiveness that do not encourage or allow
deep relationships.
• Women are said to value dialogue and
accommodation because of the recognition of
the pluralism in the society, and they tend to
see personhood as “relational,” instead of
“autonomous” or “individualistic.”
Agriculture and the Values of Development
• Food is controlled by a few large corporations
that value profit over ecology.
• In order to mass produce, they need farmers
who will grow large amounts of chicken,
pigs, and cows in pins.
• The system of monoculture means that many
species of plant life will eventually get wiped
out as they are no longer cultivated by
farmers, or their habitats are being destroyed
to plant the commercial varieties of plants.
How Women Feed the World
• Women are known as keepers of biodiversity
as the preservation of plant species is directly
Prepared by: Mr. Justin Paul D. Gallano
Faculty Member – College of Arts, T.I.P. Manila
PRELIM
tied to how the locals utilize their
understanding of which species are suited to
a given environment without resorting to
planting methods that imposes the use of
artificial chemicals and processes.
• Women plant more nutritious food than those
produced by multinational corporations, as
claimed by FAO and UN.
• Rural women can sustain life better than big
businesses – a proof that one need not rely on
destructive, mass production-based
development to feed the world.
Women in Relation to Development
• Development is based on aggressive
masculine values, and women themselves act
together in enriching, or correcting, this
narrow view of development.
• Women empowerment and capacity-building
are keys to realizing self-development and
achieving the well-being of women.
• The exclusion of women in decision-making
and governance structures is a major
hindrance against the participation of women.
• The Women, Culture, and Development
(WCD) approach to development is a new
model for empowering women. This
advances women liberalization by realizing
the capacity of women to become agents of
change in a holistic perspective that is based
on women’s culture, system of values and
understanding, as well as economic structures
and social systems.
Pro-Women Perspectives on Development
• According to Shiva, an economic system that
is geared toward growth and accumulation is
anti-women and anti-environment.
• The cycle of intervention, transformation,
and processing for accumulation and
consumption is called destructive
development.
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Handout for GEE 001B (Gender and Society) PRELIM
• Subsistence economies are assumed to be violence, equal wages and women’s
underdeveloped because “they do not control over their bodies.
participate overwhelmingly in the market
economy, and do not consume commodities Gender Gender Needs
produced for and distributed through the Interest
market even though they might be satisfying Elimination
those needs through self-provisioning Gender In of gender
Strategic division in
mechanisms.” Equality planning
terms labor
• Women need to participate in development
Provision of
that is more than just an expansion of the
Human food, water,
existing economic system. Development Practical and
Survival
should not simply men the Westernization of employment
the world.

Lesson 8: Gender Interests and Needs
• Development plans and policies often view
women as one homogenous group, this
assumes that the needs of all women are the
same.
Gender Interests – interests that are developed by
men or women by “virtue of their social positioning
through gender attributes.” Gender interests are
assumed by many to be the same for all those
belonging to the same sex. Gender interests are
divided into two: practical and strategic, depending
on how these gender interests are addressed.
Gender Needs - are “means by which their concerns
may be satisfied.”
Lesson 9: Laws, Policies, and Programs for
Philippine Women
Human Rights Approach – the way the world is
structured places some groups (especially women) at
a disadvantage, said groups have particular rights
that are specific to their needs, including sexual and
reproductive health care, protection against gender-
based violence, and right to non-discrimination in
education and the workplace.
• This is essential as it increases awareness about
women’s plight and particular needs.
Laws and Treaties Passed to Address Demands
for Women’s Rights Protection:

Types of Gender Needs: 1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights of

1. Practical – concerned with women’s
immediate needs for survival – nutrition,
living conditions, healthcare, and
employment.
2. Strategic – the needs women identify
because of their subordinate position to men
in their society.
• Strategic needs relate to gender division
of labor, power and control, and may
include issues like legal rights, domestic
Prepared by: Mr. Justin Paul D. Gallano
Faculty Member – College of Arts, T.I.P. Manila
1948 (UDHR) – a “common standard of
achievement for all peoples and all nations.”
Provides all people (regardless of race, sex,
gender, nationality, skin color, etc.) the same
basic human rights, and has universal
application to all human beings.
2. Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) of 1979 – also known as the
“International Bill of Rights of Women.”
Affirms the reproductive rights of women and
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Handout for GEE 001B (Gender and Society)
targets culture and tradition as influential
forces shaping gender roles and family
relations. It also seeks to identify the different
places where women may experience
discrimination and suggest policy strategies
to overcome such problem.
• The Philippine Government, in response
to CEDAW, has enacted the Magna Carta
for Women to serve as the Government’s
commitment.
• CEDAW Definition of Discrimination –
any distinction, exclusion or restriction
made on the basis of sex which has the
effect or purpose of impairing or
nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or
exercise by women, irrespective of their
marital status, on a basis of equality of
men and women, of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the political,
economic, social, cultural, civil, or any
other field.
3. Beijing Platform for Action of 1994 (BPfA)
– emphasizes that women share common
concerns that can be addressed only by
working together and in partnership with men
towards to common goal of [gender] equality
for all around the world. Aims for the
complete participation of women in all
spheres of life through the shared
responsibilities of men and women at home,
in the workplace, and in the public sector.
• Feminization of Poverty – the
phenomenon in which the majority of the
world’s poor are women.
4. 2000 Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) – a collection of eight goals that
focus on major issues of the underprivileged
people. Focused on reducing poverty, hunger,
disease, and gender inequality, as well as
ensuring access to water and sanitation by
2015.
• Goal 2 – achieve universal primary
education
Prepared by: Mr. Justin Paul D. Gallano
Faculty Member – College of Arts, T.I.P. Manila
PRELIM
• Goal 3 – promote gender equality and
empower women
• Goal 4 – improve maternal health
5. 2015 Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) – addresses the causes of poverty and
inequality in the world today. Serves as the
continuation of the MDG.
• SDG 5 – achieve gender equality and
empower all women and girls
• Gender-specific targets of the SDG
include “end of all forms of
discrimination against all women and
girls everywhere.”
Laws and Policies for Women in the Philippines
1. Article II, Section 13 of the 1987 Constitution –
recognizes the vital role of women in nation
building.
2. RA 7192 – Women in Development and Nation
Building Act. Tasked the National Commission
on the Role of Women (NCRW), now the
Philippine Commission of Women (PCW) to
provide assistance in ensuring the formulation
and nationwide implementation of gender
responsive government policies, programs, and
projects.
3. Executive Order 348 – created the Philippine
Development Plan 1989-1992
4. Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive
Development – a 30-year perspective plan from
1995-2025 covering the following domains: the
individual, the family, as well as socio-cultural,
economic, political, and legal issues. This is the
Philippines’ implementing vehicle for BPfA.
5. 2010 Harmonized Gender and Development
Guidelines
6. Women’s Empowerment, Development, and
Gender Equality (EDGE) Plan 2013-2016 –
promotes the integration of a gender lens into all
aspects of planning.
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