GENDER
Genevieve Depelteau
Columbia College





What is gender?
Gender as a social construction
Gender in geography: space and place
Gender in geography: inequalities in both
developing countries and developed countries
Gender equality versus gender equity
Gender


Sex is biological. It includes our genetic makeup, our
hormones, and our body parts, especially our sex
and reproductive organs
Gender refers to the socially constructed roles,
behavior, activities and attributes that a particular
society considers appropriate for men and women
Gender or Sex?








Men have beards
Women have breasts
Women are not good leaders
Men are better decision makers
Women are able to give birth
Men are often taller than women
Women are better suited for taking care of
reproductive activities (housework, cooking, cleaning,
taking care of children and other family members,
etc.)
Men should be the heads of households
What is Gender?


Our gender includes a
complex mix of beliefs,
behaviors, and
characteristics.
How do you act, talk,
and behave like a
woman or man? Are you
feminine or masculine,
both, or neither? These
are questions that help
us get to the core of our
gender and gender
identity.
Gender


Gender refers to society's
expectations about how we
should think and act as girls
and boys
How we express our gender
and gender roles — clothing,
behavior, and personal
appearance. It is a feeling
that we have as early as
age two or three.
Gender

Children learn gender roles from an
. their parents and
early age — from
family, their religion, and their
culture, as well as the outside world,
including television, magazines, and
other media. As children grow, they
adopt behaviors that are rewarded
by love and praise. They stop or
hide behaviors that are ridiculed,
shamed, or punished. This happens
early in life. By age three, children
have usually learned to prefer toys
and clothes that are “appropriate”
to their gender













I was sitting at the computer in the
classroom wearing a Batman cape when
Kye spoke to me:
Kye: Take that off (pointing to the cape).
Tracey: Why?
Kye: You can't be Batman.
Tracey: Why not?
Kye: 'cause you a girl.
Tracey: But I like Batman.
Kye: You can't, you have to do girl things.
Tracey: What are girl things?
Kye: You know.
Tracey: No I don't, what are girl things?
Kye: girls look after babies.
(And he ran off, arms spread out flying
around the room.)
Gender socialization


Gender socialization is the process by which people
learn to behave in a certain way
Janey may see Mom cook most of the meals that her
family eats. She also watches Grandma, Mom, and Aunt
Nicole fixing Thanksgiving dinner while the men are in
the other room. As a result, Janey soon learns that
cooking is a woman's job. Meanwhile, Jake sees his Dad
fixing things around the house, and repeatedly hears his
mother ask his dad to repair something. Jake may start
to believe that repairing things is a man's job and start
"helping" Dad or pretend to fix things around the house
Gender role and Walt Disney

If you are
currently
between the
ages of 18-34,
then you were
raised during
the Disney
Renaissance.
Gender Stereotypes
Stereotypes of masculine and feminine behaviors and characteristics permeate
our culture. And when a child's aptitudes and interests deviate from these
accepted norms, he is often subjected to discrimination and ridicule
FOUR BASIC KINDS OF GENDER STEREOTYPES




Personality traits — For example, women are often expected to be passive
and submissive, while men are usually expected to be self-confident and
aggressive.
Domestic behaviors — For example, caring for children is often considered
best done by women, while household repairs are often considered best
done by men.
Occupations — For example, until very recently most nurses and secretaries
were usually women, and most doctors and construction workers were
usually men.
Physical appearance — For example, women are expected to be small
and graceful, while men are expected to be tall and broad-shouldered.
Gender inequality

The distinct roles and behavior
may give rise to gender
inequalities, i.e. differences
between men and women that
systematically favor one group. In
turn, such inequalities can lead to
inequities between men and
women in different spheres of the
society (access to health care,
opportunities for employment and
promotion, levels of income,
political participation and
representation, and education.)
Statistics
Gender, Space and Place



A critical concept in the
geography of gender is the
idea of gendered spaces.
Gendered spaces are areas
in which particular genders,
and particular types of
gender expression, are
considered welcome or
appropriate, and other types
are unwelcome or
inappropriate.
Gendering of spaces is an
important means by which
social systems maintain the
organization of gender
Gender inequality in space



Like most Americans in the
early Cold War years,
believed that the nation's
economic, social, and
moral stability depended
upon the restoration of
patriarchy in the home.
e.g. women stay home in
suburban house, women in
workplace and public
space
Reinforced the believe
that men should control the
finance and important
decision making
Private/Public Divide

One very common
form of gendered
spaces is referred to
as the public-private
divide. The traditional
view in most Western
and Islamic societies is
that private space
belongs to women,
while public space
belongs to men.
Street Harassment/ Catcalling


https://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=b1XGPv
bWn0A
Street at nights,
women often told not
too go out at night.
And “victims blaming”


Public Transportation
in many places in the
world are a space
dominated by male
privilege
« Meanspreading »
#mentakingtoomuchspaceontrain

"Man-spreading" refers
to male passengers who
sit with their legs parted
in a V-shape on
crowded subways and
buses
e.g. Bathroom


In subsistence agricultural
societies, for example, farmland
is often divided up between
genders. Men control certain
types of land to grow certain
crops, while women get control of
other land for other crops.
For example, in many such
societies women are assigned to
the crops that are basic staples
of the household, while men grow
the cash crops that bring in
money for the household -- giving
men greater control of the
family's finances, while women's
roles as keepers of the household
are reinforced.
The wilderness


the wilderness is a
masculine space, so
men should be strong
and tough
Women stay around
the house, in the
garden, so should be
delicate and caring
Gender in place


Gendered role and
expectations varie from
culture to culture, thus to place
to place
E.g. While equal proportions
of the population of New
England and the southern
Atlantic coast may be women,
the experience of being a
woman is going to be quite
different in a place where
there is a strong expectation
that you will be a homemaker,
as compared to a region
where there is not this
expectation
Geography and gender inequality


The difference in the
construction of gender
relations across,
ethnicities, ages,
religions, sexualities, and
nationalities become
interesting for feminist
geographers
Gender inequality
refers to unequal
treatment or perceptions
of individuals based on
their gender
Gender inequality in developing
countries

Imagine the following scenario: a young pregnant
woman is about to have her first child. When asked
whether she wishes to have a girl or boy, she replies
that it doesn’t matter. But, sitting next to her is an
older women relative who says “Oh, hopefully it will
be a boy.”
Among people living with less than 1$ per day, what percentage represents women?
a) 50-55%
b) 70-75%
c) 80-85%
On the total of loans given from banks around the world, what percentage was given
to women in 2005?
a) less than 5%
b) less than 20%
c) less than 40%
In Vietnam, what percentage of ever-married women have suffered physical or
sexual violence from their husbands?
a) 25%
b) 34%
c) 11%
Majors gender equality issues in
developing countries




Gender-based violence
Women participation in
decision making
Equitable access to life’s
resources
Gender and health in
disaster
United Nations – Violence in Asia
ex: gender-based violence
10,000 men and 3,100 women were
interviewed in Bangladesh,
Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Sri
Lanka and Papua New Guinea
 Almost a quarter of the men
interviewed admitted having
raped a women or a girl once in
their lifetime
 20 women are raped every day in
Indonesia
 Reasons: 73% believed that it was
their right, 53% mentioned for
entertainment
Gender and natural disaster
Link between Gender and
Vulnerability
Women are more likely to become
direct victims of climate-related
disasters due to:
1.
2.
3.
4.
traditions that mean they
have not learned to swim
they are more likely to be at
home when disasters occur
They try to protect their
children before themselves
they receive less critical
information for emergency
preparedness and warning
information transmitted to
the public
Women are not only victims; they
have the power to change their
situations
Gender and natural disaster

During the 1991 cyclone
that killed 140,000 in
Bangladesh, 90 percent
"
of victims were
women.
During the 2004 Asian
tsunami, 70 to 80
percent of those who
died were woman,
according to the New
York-based Women's
Environment and
Development
Organization
Activity 3 – Integrating gender in
disaster response



Risk Reduction: You are part of a humanitarian team
responsible to reduce vulnerability to natural
disaster among women in a specific community
The area you work in is mostly affected by the rise
in sea-level and flood
It is an Islamic country in coastal area
Gender equality

Gender equality, also
known as sex equality,
gender egalitarianism,
sexual equality or
equality of the genders,
is the view that men and
women should receive
equal treatment, and
should not be
discriminated against
based on gender
Gender Equity


Targeted measures are often
needed to compensate for
historical and social
disadvantages that prevent
women and men from
otherwise being equals.
These measures, such as
affirmative action, may
necessitate different
treatment of women and
men in order to ensure an
equal outcome.
Men needs to be involved in gender
mainstreaming


So Clearly, men need to
be involved if gender
equality is .to be achieved
and reproductive health
programs are to succeed
research shows that men
also want to be involved,
and that many welcome
the idea of mutually
satisfying relationships
built on trust and
communication.
Gender neutrality
Gender mainstreaming in developing countries – we need to be
careful of western dominated ideology