Lec 3 Introduction to gender

concepts, gender segregation and

stratification, discrimination and
equity.
• Concept of Gender
The English-language, distinction between the words sex and
gender was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s by British
and American psychiatrists and other medical personnel
working with intersex and transsexual patients.

Since then, the term gender has been increasingly used to distinguish
between sex as biological and gender as socially and culturally
constructed.

Sex marks the distinction between women and men as a result of

their biological, physical and genetic difference.

While gender refers to the economic, social and cultural

attributes and opportunities associated with being male or
female at a particular point in time (WHO, 2001)
Sex Gender

Biological (sex organs, etc) Socially constructed roles ,

responsibilities and behaviors
Universal ( factors related to sex Cultural (elements related to
are same around the world) gender vary within and between
cultures)
Born with Learned behavior

It is universal and mostly It varies among cultures and

unchanging, without surgery. change over time.
Sex is created by the Gender distinctions are created
reproductive needs, that is by social norms
biological feature.
Sex = Male and female Gender= Masculine and feminine
• Gender Socialization
Socialization is a process of transferring norms, values, belief and
behavior to group members. Gender socialization is the
process of educating and instructing male and female as to
norms, values, behavior and belief as a social group member.
Gender socialization is started with birth.

Gender stereotyping
refers to the practice of denoting to an individual woman or
man specific attributes, characteristics, or roles by reason
only of her or his membership in the social group of women
or men.
• Some traditional Gender stereotypes
Men are considered as; Women are considered as;

More active More passive

Aggressive Tolerative

Strong Weak

Rational Emotional

Judgemental Supportive

Competitive Cooperative

Independent Dependent

More mechanical Artsy

 Gender Segregation

• Thus gender segregation in a society is separation of a group for

their role accordance to their sex.

• Segregation is seen while distributing resources, task and

responsibility in the society. It starts from birth, as perceived
and understood by parents for girl and boy. Segregation is
clearly seen when society is teaching norms and values to a
child for their future role and responsibility in a society
• Gender Stratification
Stratification is a social process of rewarding and distributing the
resources such as wealth, power and prestige according to
hierarchy given by the society, so is gender stratification. Simply
gender stratification provides status to male and female in the
society.
OR
Refers to the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and
privilege between the sexes. Gender stratification: cuts across
all aspects of social life and women's unequal access to power,
prestige, and property on the basis of their sex.
• Gender stratification
1. Un-equal Pay for Equal Work against the philosophy of "Pay
Equity”
2. Differential access: Men have greater access to the labor market
than do women and also women are getting lower paying levels
than men.
3. Women typically do household works after they come home
from their paid employment.
4. Invisible barrier: To move into the very top positions in business
and government, which makes it difficult for women to reach the
top of their professions.
5. Blocked opportunities: Structural barriers that minorities
encounter that prevent their advancement in an organization.
6. The lower status of women within the family parallels the
position they hold in the job.
7. Gender inequality is historically related to the subordinate
position of women within the family in terms of rule making and
control of resources
• Gender discrimination,

Also known as sexual discrimination, is the practice of letting a

person's sex unfairly become a factor when deciding who
receives a opportunity, service, job, promotion, or other
employment benefit.

• It most often affects women who feel they have been unfairly
discriminated against in favor of a man. But there have also been
cases where males have claimed that reverse discrimination has
occurred—that is, the woman received unfairly favorable
treatment at the expense of the man.
Some aspects where gender discrimination is evident in society are;
1. Education: Traditionally parents prohibited their daughter in
sending school or preferred public school for daughter compared
to their boy, who were sent to boarding school
2. Nutrition and health: Maternal and infant mortality shows
discrimination in health.
3. Social: Society has allocated subordinate roles to women thus are
discriminated in other community development activities.
4. Political: Any of national organization women's contribution in
change has been neglected.
5. Economic resources:
• Discrimination can come in one of the following forms:
1. Direct discrimination: Treating someone with a protected
characteristic less favorably than others
2. Indirect discrimination: Putting rules or arrangements in place
that apply to everyone, but put someone in situation of an unfair
disadvantage
3. Harassment: Unwanted behavior that violates someone’s dignity
or creates an offensive environment for them
4. Victimization - Treating someone unfairly because they’ve
complained about discrimination or harassment
Gender Equity:
• Gender Equity is appropriate and fair allocation of human, material
and financial resources in function of the specific needs and
problems of women and men in a given context.

Equity is means/strategy whereas equality is outcome.

• Gender equity focus for providing equitable access for both
women and men to:
 adequate food and water to increase personal security
 ecosystem services thus creating economic opportunities
 information they need about their environment

• Gender equity helps to empower women which will certainly

help in:
 Increase household income and assets.
 Strengthen human and social capital.
 Conserve the natural environment.
 Strengthen project sustainability.
• Gender Equality:
Gender equality does not necessarily mean equal numbers of men
and women or boys and girl in all activities, nor does it
necessarily mean treating men and women exactly the same. It
means giving women equal opportunity to work.
Enjoy power by the women equal to men in all social groups.
Equal treatment of men and of women - equal pay for equal
work, equal allocation of budget and other resources equal
rights, responsibilities, opportunities and treatment of women
and men.
It is not about one group gaining more power to the detriment of
the other; rather it is about ensuring that all persons are treated
with dignity and can develop to their full potential.
Where there is greater equality, there is less poverty. Gender
equality benefits everyone.