Mekong Institute/UNESCO Training Course on
“Decentralized Education Planning in the Context of Public Sector Reform”
Reform”
Khon Kaen
Statements about Women and Men
Quiz
Gender Team, UNESCO Bangkok
Sex and Gender:
What is the difference?
SEX
Born with
Biological
characteristics
Universal
Not changeable
GENDER
Learned
Social
characteristics
Diverse,
culturally
different
Changeable
Gender or Sex?
S 1. Women give birth to babies, men do not.
_____
G 2. Girls are gentle; boys are rough.
_____
S 3. Women breastfeed babies; men can
_____
bottle-feed babies.
G 4. Doctors are men; nurses are women.
_____
Gender or Sex?
G 5. Boys don’t cry.
_____
G 6. Boys are good at math and science and
_____
girls are good at language and history.
G 7. When one thinks of an engineer, one
_____
hardly ever thinks of a woman.
_____
G 8. Women work two-thirds of the world’s
working hours, produce half of the
world’s food and yet earn only 10% of the
world’s income and own less than 1% of
the world’s property.
Gender or Sex?
S 9. Boys’ voices break at puberty, girls’ do
_____
not.
G 10. A girl gets expelled from school for
_____
being pregnant, while the boy who
impregnated her is neither judged nor
expelled.
G 11. Kindergarten teachers should be
_____
women; men are not good at taking care
of young children.
Your statements…
Some more statements on gender
relations from our countries
Men are the front legs of an elephant and
women are the hind legs
Men should not step into the kitchen
Women should walk 3 steps behind men
Women are flowers of the world
But… also
Women hold up half of the sky
Human race is a two-winged bird – one wing is
female and the other is male. Unless both wings
are equally developed, the human race will not
be able to fly.
Gender: the definition
Gender, refers to the roles and
responsibilities of men and women that
are created in our families, our societies
and our cultures. The concept of gender
also includes expectations held about the
characteristics, aptitudes and likely
behaviours of both women and men
(femininity and masculinity).
To sum up…
Gender ≠ Women/female
=social and cultural construction or
interpretation of differences between the
sexes (masculinity/femininity)
Sex = biological distinction/differences
(male/female)
What will you wish for….??
Gender Parity and
Gender Equality
Gender Parity
Parity requires equal proportions of girls and
boys being enrolled in school
This is a numerical concept
MDG Goal 3 Target 4 only
talks about gender PARITY
Gender Parity
Parity requires that equal proportions of
girls and boys are enrolled in school
This is a numerical concept
Example of Gender Parity
“50% of eligible school-age girls and 70%
of school-age boys are enrolled”
This is gender disparity
“70% of girls and 70% of boys enrolled”
This is gender parity.
The Ultimate goal should be to have 100%
enrolment for both girls and boys!!
Gender Equality?
NOT about having
same number of
men and women in
all spheres &
activities;
NOT about treating
men & woman
exactly the same;
Gender Equality means
= Different behaviours, aspirations and
needs of women & men are considered
and valued equally;
= their rights, opportunities and
responsibilities will not depend on whether
they are born male or female;
= free to develop their personal skills and
make choices without limitations set by
stereotypes, rigid gender roles and bias.
=women and men can live equally fulfilling
lives
Example of Gender Equality
If a family has limited funds, and both daughter
and son need new pair of shoes for the new
school year, but only one can get new shoes this
year. If the family decides (and who in the
family decides?) which child to get the new
shoes based on the child’s NEED, and not on the
child’s sex, this is an example of gender
equality.
If the parents decide to give priority to the son to buy
the new pair of shoes, just because he is a boy, then
that is gender inequality…