………………...…………………………………………………… Understanding Sex and Gender and Social Construct Module: Sex and gender

………………...…………………………………………………… Sex and Gender Sex refers to your biological roleSex refers to your biological role Gender refers to your gender to roleGender refers to your gender to role

………………...…………………………………………………… Sex and Gender Sex: refers to the biological differences between male and female. Women can bear and breast-fåed children and men impregnate women. These sex-related capacities are genetically determined, universal and unchanging. (Source,Gender Briefing Kit 2000 UNDP Mongolia)

Gender and their Implications Men are supposed to be… Men often behave… Larger Implications… -Strong and brave - By engaging in risk-taking acts, often using violence - Increased violence against children, women, and men ………………...……………………………………………………

Gender and their implications Gender is also a relational concept and implies a relationship between men and women. Gender is not about women: it refers to a structural relationship between men and women. Gender is the socio-economic and political conditions that determine roles, responsibilities, constraints and opportunities of women and men which is linked to the state, the economy, and to other macro- and micro-processes and institutions.

………………...…………………………………………………… Gender and Their Implications A Woman’s Place is in the house Her Role: -Care of others -House hold work Limitations: - Lack of decision-making power - Cases of violence going unreported due to lack of economic security or options

………………...…………………………………………………… Gender roles: Creating Hierarchies Gender roles existing structures = POWER = CONTROL = BENEFITS = OPPORTUNITIES

Gender roles and their implications Society Community Relations Individual Laws, culture, norms Work, religion, media, education Family, peers, friends Attitudes, roles NOT HOMOGENOUS CATEGORIES ………………...……………………………………………………

Gender roles Gender roles are the assigned activities and relative position in society of men and women. These roles are constructed through forces such as culture, tradition, politics, and norms, varying from culture to culture While one’s sex does not change, gender roles are learned and change over time. Education, technology, economics, and sudden crises like war and famine can cause changes in gender roles.

Gender roles Gender roles have three aspects: Positions within the social structure indicating where women and men belong or are expected to belong; Rules for behavior and interaction prescribed for men and women; Relationship between women's and men’s roles. ………………...……………………………………………………

Gender Relations Gender relations are constituted, like all other social relations, through the rules, norms and practices. Gender relations, in other words, do not operate in a social vacuum but are products of the ways in which institutions are organized and reconstituted over time. Gender relations are, more often than not, unequal. They often signify a relation of subordination and domination between women and men. The condition of their existence and transformation depends upon existing and changing power relations, upon the material conditions which give rise to existing and new forms of gender relations. ………………...……………………………………………………

Gender Inequality To overcome inequality it is important to recognize that unequal relations are made in history through social construction and not in nature and hence can be changed through development intervention by which resources are allocated, tasks and responsibilities are assigned, value is given and power is mobilized.

Summary In most societies, men tend to have broader options, more opportunities and greater access to society’s resources than women. This is the result of a framework of legislation, policies and institutions that incorporate attitudes and practices about what is appropriate to being male and female in a given society ………………...……………………………………………………