Gender and Society
MODULAR APPROACH
Marcelino C. Decena
GENDER AND SOCIETY: MODULAR APPROACH
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Chapter 1:Introduction to Gender and Society
LEARNING OBJECTIVES: The learners are expected to:
1. Recognize the changing norms on gender role in history as
influenced by three essential factors;
2. Identify the three major crucial perpetrators of gender inequality;
3. Solicit the inclusive and favorable attitude and suggestion from the
students to strengthen the resolve of gender equality in their
immediate environment;
4. Familiarize with the landmark jurisprudence, agreed principles,
and polices that enhanced the causes of gender equality both in
the local, national, and international setting.
LEARNING CONTENT:
Topic 1: Gender Role in History
Gender role comes along with a very colorful chapters in the historical
timeline which entails rigidity, uniformity, mockery, repression, and
ultimately liberation. Though women of Sparta enjoyed more rights and
autonomy in comparison to other Greek women, their fundamental role
were to bear and raise healthy children as imbued in the Spartan
ideology. Now, women can demonstrate their vital responsibilities in
nation-building apart from their reproductive capacity. The classic
teachings of Confucius reinforced the dominant patriarchal culture in East
Asia making women involuntarily cast aside in the family and society as a
whole. But this rigid hierarchical structure is beginning to loose as South
Korea elected its first woman president, Park Geun Hye, and Japan’s
womenomics sparked a little hope for the country after being lulled in
economic recession for so long. In the old days, homosexuality was
considered as a form of disease or a sort of mental disorder.
Furthermore, it was treated with utmost cruelty and barbarity. As of today,
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about 29 sovereign states legally recognized and performed same sex
union. The scope of rights, protection, and privileges conferred to LGBT
community are keep expanding. In his letter for the women of Malolos,
Jose Rizal extolled them for being bold, industrious and determined to
become learned individuals contrary to the prescribed role performed by
Filipino women during his time which were made to stay in the household
and merely asked to reproduce children. Indeed, women undertook very
difficult journey before society came to realize their priceless and
monumental value to the well being of the community. Unbearable to
remember, women then were not allowed to cast their votes nor express
their voices on social issues which also affected them Their potentialities
to demonstrate leadership role at any given call were immediately
undermined mainly on the account of their gender identity.
The winds of changes that revolutionized the norms for gender roles are
primarily influenced by three salient factors:
1. Colonialism- It simply connotes that the encounter of two unique
cultures of which the culture of the conquered land shall have a contact
with the culture of the conquering country. Typically, the cultural psyche
and ethos of the colonizer shall be religiously enforced to its colonized
subjects. Prior to the arrival of colonizers, women in Africa were said to
have enjoyed much autonomy in the community and performed
complementary roles to that of men. Unfortunately, that equation
suddenly changed as colonial institutions gave more recognition to men
than were given to women.
On the other hand, the implantation of
Christian faith in many colonized territories abolished and prohibited the
widespread practices of cultural taboos that violate the dignity of women
such as genital mutilation. In the Indochina Peninsula, the French were
eager to promote European style of women, who exude respectability and
domesticity, among Vietnamese women as they disdainfully viewed that
men and women in Vietnam were looked alike.
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2. Feminism- Feminist movement is a product of long period of struggle
for women’s dignity in a society immersed in bigotry and in-deference
against them. The revelation of their plights in public resulted to the
widespread and systemic inquiry to their conditions. The arduous crusade
that this movement waged bore good fruits as reflected in the legislative
measures and administrative policies adopted en masse to ensure the
protection and enforcement of women rights’ ranging to casting their
votes and to the dress they wear. One should bear in mind that
feminism does not only implies being pro-women. Feminism also
implies being pro-change. Thereby, feminism is a cause worth
fighting for anyone at anywhere.
3. Modernization- There are two fundamental aspects of modernization
that brought sudden alteration of gender roles:
a. Political Modernization- As society gets more opened and
liberalized, intolerable and misogynistic attitudes over marginalized
gender based groups in the community will be alienated in a gradual
fashion. Evidently, advanced and matured democratic states in
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Europe with specific emphasis to Scandinavian countries exhibit an
impressive performances in terms of promoting gender equality
atmosphere by institutionalizing globally worth emulating measures
that placed women in equal footing with men in many ways. Political
modernization is often equated to the installation of democratic and
liberal political system. In a liberal political regime, the observance for
the respect of human rights and dignities is more of a norm.
b. Economic Modernization- It is presumed that economic growth
and gender equality has a very strong correlation. India’s gender
disparity in education is appallingly scandalous. Fortunately, the
forces of economy timely intervenes in favor of Indian women. India
decided to abandon Nehru’s socialist policy and embrace free market
system which eventually flooded the country with multi billion dollar
investments in information and communication technology
transforming Bangalore as India’s version of Silicon Valley. This fact
alone opens unparalleled opportunity to Indian women by pursuing
much higher education and be part of the growing workforce of IT
industry in the country. India is now acknowledged as the world’s
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most favored destination for technological outsourcing. Agricultural
based economy in the past was a culprit to gender inequality as
women were asked to confine domestically and perform household
chores.
Topic 2: Perpetrators of Gender Inequality
Incontestably speaking, the pages of history is littered of injustice towards
women. Man’s first sin is persistently attributed to a woman’s epic
seduction. The fall of noble men in history such as Julius Caesar and
Mark Anthony were said to have been caused by a woman. Numbers
from time immemorial shall convincingly tell us that more women were
killed in a grand chessboard of wars driven by emperors, kings,
presidents, delusional, and egoistic leaders intoxicated by masculine
superiority. Cruel edicts were put in placed to purify and exorcise the
perceived bewitching spirit and demented mind of women. The list of
injustices and crimes perpetrated against women is definitely massive.
The question is why this gender injustice persists in the corridors of
timeline and the perpetration of it is systemic and structural. The are three
crucial institutions that may render clarity to this puzzling question.
1. Religion- It is very indulging to ask the question:”What is the true
gender of God?’. If God is man by his gender then this fact itself might
exploit by a religious cult leader toying the idea that man should always
be five steps ahead of women and would perceive her female followers
as mere object of lust. The aforementioned scenario is unthinkable but
case like that is well accounted in the news today. The classic phrase
derived form the Bible, “ang babae ay hinugot lamang sa tadyang ng
lalake”, aroused different schools of interpretations regarding the
controversial wordings from religious leaders, gender activists, and
academicians up to date. The Divine Right Theory which states that God
bestows immense and infallible power to kings and emperors in ruling
earthly matters in his name perpetuates the notion that leadership is
indeed an exclusive league for men. Zeus in Greek mythology indulges
into extramarital affair with mortals against the ire of Hera. Polygamy is a
matrimonial set up identical to some religious organizations. The
Confucian value system which is more of an ethical commandment
assumes that woman is inferior to man.
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2. Culture - For centuries, China has a bloody history of killing female
babies(female infanticide). Having a female baby in a family shall bring no
amount of luck which is a clear symptom of bad mana from heaven but
only to find out that the practice of killing female babies will have gloomy
repercussion in the future resulting to chronic gender imbalance
(abnormal ratio of man over woman).This crisis was further amplified by
One Child Policy. China today has a surplus of more than 30 million men.
In a society where fertility rate is rapidly declining and a population which
is fast ageing, it can not afford to have a dwindling population of women
as the country needs exponential reproduction of babies to ensure its
good standing in the approaching future.
3. Laws- Islamic law is definitely unique in its own sense as the science
of jurisprudence and the eternal wordings of Koran are fused into one.So
when the state urges its women to inhibit from performing roles
exclusively assigned to men as inspired by the Islamic scripture, it shall
become part of the law of the land. Women in the Arab World have less
mobility compared to its counterpart in Europe. It is no secret that woman
of independent thinking in Middle East is immediately cut off from the
public space if her assertiveness found to be very infectious to others.
Likewise, professing homosexuality in the region is punishable by death.
In the same vein, several feminist activists resented the fact that woman
who is guilty of matrimonial crime (bigamy) typically receives a very
burdensome punishment as opposed to her counterpart.
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Topic 3: Landmark Victories for Gender Equality
The history of struggle over humane and dignified social change is the
history of women’s struggle.The annual celebration of International
Women’s Day, March 8, in the calendar is the penultimate
commemoration of that struggle. But prior to this gender coup d’etat,
women endured untold stories of humiliation, suffering, and indignities to
which their heroic and noble exploits are worth telling today and re-telling
in the coming future.
Moreover, these institutionalized changes are
made possible by enacting series of meaningful legislative measures,
landmark judicial decisions, decisive administrative policies, and
strengthening the accepted and agreed principles principally anchored in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights all courtesy of local, national,
and international initiatives.
National Initiatives
1. The Anti Sexual Harassment Act (RA 7877) which declares sexual
harassment in workplace, training and education environment as
unlawful.
Please refer to the link below to access the full content of the law:
http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/Philippines/RA%207877%20-%20AntiSexual%20Harassment%20Law.pdf (full discussion of this topic will be
taken in the subsequent chapter).
2. Anti Rape Law of 1997 (RA 8353) provides for the expansion of the
definition of rape
Please refer to the link below to access the full content of the law:
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https://www.ombudsman.gov.ph/GAD/Laws%20and%20Mandates/republi
c_act_8353.pdf (full discussion of this topic will be taken in the
subsequent chapter).
3. Anti Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004 (RA
9262)-which defines violence against women and their children, provides
protective intervention for victims, and imposes penalty.
Please refer to the link below to access the full content of the law:
http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/Philippines/RA%209262%20%20Law%20Against%20Violence%20Against%20Women%20and%20Th
eir%20Children.pdf (full discussion of this topic will be taken in the
subsequent chapter).
4. Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710) - enumerates the comprehensive
human rights of women which aims to eliminate unlawful discrimination
against women most specifically those in the marginalized sectors.
Please refer to the link below to access the full content of the law:
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2009/08/14/republic-act-no-9710/
5. Reproductive Health Law (RA 10354)- ensures the citizens which
include those who are living in the impoverished areas to universally
access nearly all modern contraceptives at government health center
incurring no cost at all.
Please refer to the link below to access the full content of the law:
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2012/12/21/republic-act-no-10354/
Local Initiatives
Quezon City, the City of Star, is also dubbed as the Gender Fair City and
the Rainbow Capital of the Philippines. Several LGBT groups in the
country lauded the much needed efforts exerted by the QC government in
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passing a monumental piece of ordinance, SP-2357, S-2014 otherwise
known as Gender Fair Ordinance, which prohibits unwanted
discrimination against LGBT+ members in the workplace, educational
institution and in the delivery of goods and services and accommodation.
Several years later, an incident took place in a mall in QC where an
LGBT+ member was prevented from using comfort room for women. The
incident earned outright public condemnation. To ensure that similar case
will no longer recur in the future, Mayor Joy Belmonte pledged to
strengthen the enforcement of Gender Fair Ordinance in the city.Totoo
ngang may nakapagsabi na nasa QC ang Dulo ng Bahaghari. But
prior to the passage of the said ordinance, QC is already acknowledged
by many as one of the most Gender Friendly Cities in the Philippines, the
establishment of QC Protection Center and the city legislation of Gender
Development Code (SP 2501, S-2016) shall prove that QC deserves to
have another reputable title, the Gender Friendly Capital of the
Country.
International Initiatives
1. UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW) - December 18, 1979 was recorded as a red
letter day for feminist advocates in which the United Nations adopted the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against
Women. Afterwards, 12 countries put it into force as an international
agreement in 1981. By a leap of bound, nearly one hundred states
pledged commitment to observe and follow the provisions of CEDAW in
1989, ten year after the UN’s historic adoption. Discrimination against
women takes place in a variety of context such as gender stereotype,
gender toxicity, sexist jokes, unequal pay and the likes.
2. The Beijing Platform for Action in 1995- It was in Beijing where
feminist movements and activists demonstrated their collective will in
creating a world where women can live up to her freedoms and choices,
and realize all her rights and potentialities. In an unprecedented show of
determination, around 47,000 participants from diverse background
across the world converged to Beijing and affirmed the universal principle
of gender equality and empowerment for all women, everywhere.
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3. Millennium Development Goals (MDG)-comprised of 8 ambitious
goals of which its gains exceeded the expected targets after 15 years in
waiting (2000-2015). The aura of optimism blanketing the MDG drove the
successful launching of Sustainable Development Goals with a similar
timeline.
4. Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)- Like the MDG, SDG has a
lifespan of 15 years (2016-2030) which is comprised of 17 ambitious
goals set to be accomplished by the end of 2030. One may not notice,
that SDG 1, 2, 3, and 4 are in consonant with the plights and suffering
endured by many women across the continents most specially those
living in the least developed countries, famine stricken regions, and war
infested areas. Of the billion people living in the poverty threshold, huge
chunk of it are women. More women died every day due to chronic
hunger. There are more illiterate women than men. The education of
illiterate women will mean building a community with bright future. More
women claimed their lives due to health related causes exacerbated by
lack of health care and medical related intervention. To top it, SDG 5 puts
the issue of gender equality closely at the radar of global community.
Women and Climate Change. Should climate change accelerates and
globally concerted efforts are not enough to address the crisis, its
repercussion will have dire impact on the lives of women. The positive
momentum attained by MDG will probably upset and the ambitious goals
envision by SDG will be trapped in a fragile condition. It is in this very
circumstances that we need to give women more opportunity to call the
shot in crafting a decisive decisions that are responsive to the impending
crisis of global proportion. Women are mothers too and they can definitely
relate very well to the depressive feeling of our Mother Earth. Women’s
participation in formulating climate policies will lend nurturing care of a
mother to an ailing Mother Earth itself. We know for a fact that the most
embattled environmental secretary in the Philippines was a woman. She
was not accustomed to beating around the bush. Her directive was simple
and clear: shut down all the mining operations and industrial entities that
are destroying the wonderful ecosystem of this beautiful archipelago.
Unfortunately, her shining moment was choked to death by a bunch of
hypocrites in the Congress who either have own mining operation or
merely in the payroll of mining moguls. We know for a fact that a
teenaged girl named Greta Thurnberg, not to mention her Nobel Prize
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award for Peace, put state leaders in spotlight for showing no care and
doing nothing amid the wearing condition of the planet’s biosphere.
Women are no only for changes but they are also for conservation
and preservation of all the things in this planet that breathe and
sustain life.
We have all the reasons in this world that call for celebration on every
inch of victory scored by advocates of gender equality but the fight is not
yet over. There will be much bigger battles in the coming days as women
seek for more equitable provision in terms of protection, representation,
inclusion, and participation and without a shadow of a doubt, women are
bent prepared to use again the sword of Damocles no matter how bloody
the battles will be.Gaano man kabigat ang laban, handang lumaban
ang mga Kababaehan!Abante, Babae!
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1. Research on the gender roles performed by Filipino women prior to
colonization. What were the impacts of colonization to the standing of
Filipino women in society during the Spanish and American era?
2. Conduct an interview with an activist leader of a gender equality
movement and find out the following information:
a. What sort of difficulties encountered by the movement in pursuing
specific cause for gender equality?
b. What strategies did the movement employ towards accomplishing
the goals?
c. What inspiring messages can the movement impart to emerging
leaders who are passionately fighting for sweeping but humane
changes in their immediate environment?
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References
Peter N. Stearns, Gender in World History Third Edition, Routledge Taylor
and Francis Group, 2015
Jennifer Coates, Lucy Fraser, and Mark Pendleton, The Routledge
Companion to Gender and Japanese Culture First Edition, Routledge
Taylor and Francis Group, 2020
Margaret Alston, Women and Climate Change in Bangladesh First
Edition, Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2015
Barbara Crandall, Gender and Religion: The Dark Side of the Scripture
Second Edition, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2012
https://pcw.gov.ph/ - website for Philippine Commission for women
https://sdgs.un.org/goals - website for UN SDG
https://www.unwomen.org/en - website for United Nations Commission
for Status of Women
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