Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University

Province of Laguna
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
Level I Institutionally Accredited
Gender Inequality
Learning Outcomes

✓ Identify the different aspects and issues about Gender discrimination and
Inequalities
✓ Examine the different gender representations and issues
✓ Apply gender sensitivity by correcting inappropriate gender culture in different ways
of Gender discrimination
✓ Examine the difference between feminism and gender inequality
✓ Critically analyze the underlying issues in Gender inequality
✓ Create a solution to aid Gender inequality

Gender Inequality
✓ Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based
on their gender.
✓ It arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles.
✓ Gender systems are often dichotomous and hierarchical; gender binary systems may
reflect the inequalities that manifest in numerous dimensions of daily life.
✓ Gender inequality stems from distinctions, whether empirically grounded or socially
constructed

Gender is a primary marker of social and economic stratification and, as a result,

of exclusion. Regardless of one’s socioeconomic class, there are systematic gender
differences in material well-being, although the degree of inequality varies across countries
and over time. As a result, gender inequality is a characteristic of most societies, with males
on average better positioned in social, economic, and political hierarchies.
Difference between Feminism and Gender Inequality
 Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
Level I Institutionally Accredited
Causes of Gender Inequality and Resolutions to achieve Gender Equality
#1. Uneven access to education
✓ Around the world, women still have less access to education than men. ¼ of young
women between 15-24 will not finish primary school. That group makes up 58% of the
people not completing that basic education. Of all the illiterate people in the world, ⅔
are women. When girls are not educated on the same level as boys, it has a huge effect
on their future and the kinds of opportunities they’ll get.
✓ The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and
the Department of Education (DepEd) launched the 2020 Global Education Monitoring
(GEM) Report on 25 November 2020 virtually. with the theme “Inclusion and
education: All means All,”
✓ One of the numerous examples highlighted in the report is the gender-responsive
basic education policy created by DepEd. The policy calls for an end to discrimination
based on gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity by defining ways for
education administrators and school leaders such as improving curricula and teacher
education programs with the content on bullying, discrimination, gender, sexuality
and human rights.
✓ CHED MEMORANDUM ORDER No. 1- A Series of 2015- The Philippines, being a State
Party to the United Nations (UN), Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) which it sighed on July 15, 1980 and ratified
on August 5, 1981, is obligated to pursue and implement programs, projects and
activities that will contribution to the achievement of women empowerment and
gender equality.

#2. Lack of employment equality

✓ Only 6 countries in the world give women the same legal work rights as men. By the
index's measures, six countries now have laws that protect men and women equally:
Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden.
✓ In fact, most economies give women only ¾ the rights of men. Studies show that if
employment became a more even playing field, it has a positive domino effect on
other areas prone to gender inequality.
#3. Job segregation
✓ One of the causes for gender inequality within employment is the division of jobs.
✓ In most societies, there’s an inherent belief that men are simply better equipped to
handle certain jobs. Most of the time, those are the jobs that pay the best.
This discrimination results in lower income for women. Women also take on the
primary responsibility for unpaid labor, so even as they participate in the paid
workforce, they have extra work that never gets recognized financially.
 Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
Level I Institutionally Accredited
#4. Lack of legal protections
✓ According to research from the World Bank, over one billion women don’t have legal
protection against domestic sexual violence or domestic economic violence. Both
have a significant impact on women’s ability to thrive and live-in freedom. In many
countries, there’s also a lack of legal protections against harassment in the workplace,
at school, and in public. These places become unsafe and without protection, women
frequently have to make decisions that compromise and limit their goals.
#5. Lack of bodily autonomy
✓ Many women around the world do not have authority over their own bodies or when
they become parents.
✓ Accessing birth control is frequently very difficult. According to the World Health
Organization, over 200 million women who don’t want to get pregnant are not using
contraception.
✓ There are various reasons for this such as a lack of options, limited access, and
cultural/religious opposition.
✓ On a global scale, about 40% of pregnancies are not planned and while 50% of them
do end in abortion, 38% result in births. These mothers often become financially
dependent on another person or the state, losing their freedom.
Rights combating the issue
1. CEDAW (article 16) guarantees women equal rights in deciding "freely and responsibly
on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information,
education and means to enable them to exercise these rights."
2. The Beijing Platform for Action states that "the human rights of women include their
right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their
sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination
and violence."
3. The CESCR General Comment 14 has explained that the provision of maternal health
services is comparable to a core obligation which cannot be derogated from under any
circumstances, and the States have to the immediate obligation to take deliberate,
concrete, and targeted steps towards fulfilling the right to health in the context of
pregnancy and childbirth.
#6. Poor medical care
✓ Women overall receive lower-quality medical care than men.
✓ This is linked to other gender inequality reasons such as a lack of education and job
opportunities, which results in more women being in poverty.
✓ They are less likely to be able to afford good healthcare.
 Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
Level I Institutionally Accredited
✓ There’s also been less research into diseases that affect women more than men, such
as autoimmune disorders and chronic pain conditions.
✓ Many women also experience discrimination and dismissal from their doctors,
broadening the gender gap in healthcare quality.
#7. Lack of religious freedom
✓ When religious freedom is attacked, women suffer the most. According to the World
Economic Forum, when extremist ideologies (such as ISIS) come into a community and
restrict religious freedom, gender inequality gets worse.
✓ In a study performed by Georgetown University and Brigham Young University,
researchers were also able to connect religious intolerance with women’s ability to
participate in the economy. When there’s more religious freedom, an economy
becomes more stable thanks to women’s participation.
#8. Lack of political representation
✓ Of all national parliaments at the beginning of 2019, only 24.3% of seats were filled by
women.
✓ As of June of 2019, 11 Heads of State were women. Despite progress in this area over
the years, women are still grossly underrepresented in government and the political
process. This means that certain issues that female politicians tend to bring up – such
as parental leave and childcare, pensions, gender equality laws and gender-based
violence – are often neglected.
✓ As noted in the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations, 2019), women’s
equal participation with men in power and decision-making is part of their
fundamental right to participate in political life, and at the core of gender equality and
women’s empowerment.
✓ Strategies to increase women’s participation in politics have been advanced
through conventions, protocols and international agreements for gender
mainstreaming, but they are yet to prove effective in achieving gender parity in the
highest government rankings (Morobane, 2014).
#9. Societal mindsets
✓ How society determines the differences and value of men vs. women plays a starring
role in every arena, whether it’s employment or the legal system or healthcare.
✓ Beliefs about gender run deep and even though progress can be made through laws
and structural changes, there’s often a pushback following times of major change.
Gender mainstreaming
✓ It involves the integration of a gender perspective into the preparation, design,
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, regulatory measures and
 Republic of the Philippines
Laguna State Polytechnic University
Province of Laguna
ISO 9001:2015 Certified
Level I Institutionally Accredited
spending programs, with a view to promoting equality between women and men, and
combating discrimination.
The report shows that the Philippines has closed 78% of its overall gender gap, garnering a
score of 0.781 (down by 1.8 percentage points from .799 in 2019). With this, it ranked 16th
out of 153 countries with the narrowest gap between men and women, dropping by 8 notches
from its place last year.
✓ Notably, it remains as the sole Asian country that made it to the top twenty tier;
followed by Lao People’s Democratic Republic which ranked 43rd.
The Global Gender Gap Report 2020 measured countries on their progress towards gender
parity in four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment,
health and survival, and political empowerment.

Learning Resources

Gender-Fair Language A Primer (1998) by Kintar, Thelma B. and Tongson, Angela; University
of the Philippines; University Center for Women Studies
Can Gender-Fair Language Reduce Gender Stereotyping and Discrimination? By Sabine
Sczesny, Magda Formanowicz, and Franziska Moser

Gender and Society, The Whys of Women, their Oppressions and Paths to Liberation by
Rodriguez, Agustin Martin G. and Rodriguez, Ara Marie Leal
https://www.sketchbubble.com/en/presentation-gender-inequality.html
https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-and-deped-launch-2020-global-education-
monitoring-report-philippines
https://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/women/wrgs/pages/healthrights.aspx
Emmaline Soken-Huberty- 10 Causes of Gender Inequality; Human Career Rights;
https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/causes-gender-inequality/
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/culturalanthropology/chapter/gender-inequality