GENDER AND SOCIETY

• Sex


  Biological term referring to the act of mating between two organisms as part of the process of biological reproduction
• Gender


  Differentiated social roles, behaviors, capacities, and intellectual, emotional and social characteristics attributed by a given culture to women and men
• There are two genders: masculine, ascribed to the male sex; and feminine, ascribed to the female
• Definitions of masculine and feminine often vary from one race and culture to another
• Gender expectations also vary in degree among different social classes within the same ethnic group
• Gender changes through history
• Production-reproduction distinction


  • Assignment to women of the primary responsibility for caring for children and the home, and to men of the task of providing the income on which their families live
• The production-reproduction distinction manifests itself not simply as a family-work distinction, but also in the work men and women do outside the home
• The production-reproduction distinction also has implications for gender roles in political life
• Gender roles also interact with sexuality
• Sexual virility is a much a part of our culture's definition of masculinity as sexual attractiveness is of feminity
• Real-life examples depicting the concept of sex


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• Real-life examples depicting the concept of gender


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• Gender subordination is the secondary position of women vis-a-vis men in society
• The production-reproduction divide is the sexual division of labor that prevails within the capitalist system
• Gender subordination in the political system means more than exclusion of women and their concerns from political life
• Rape is an extreme illustration of the subordination of women's sexuality
• The gender system encourages the development of different personality traits for women and men, stunting the personal growth of both sexes
• Because the traits developed by men are those on which society places greater value, women are subordinate in this area as well
• Gender subordination


  The exclusion of women and their concerns from political life, where the state uses gender to perpetuate itself in power
• Rape


  • An extreme illustration of the subordination of women's sexuality, where women are perceived as being to blame for it
• Double standard of morality

  Condones male promiscuity while demanding female chastity
• Friedrich Engels rejected the theory that women's subordination existed from the beginning of human society, tracing it to the evolution of private property
• Margaret Mead indicated that male dominance is not a universal phenomenon
• Feminists espoused the view that the role of hunting in early human activity led to the development of gender subordination
• Maria Mies postulates that differences in the relationship that men and women developed with nature led to gender subordination
• Early religions placed male gods as supreme, portraying men as masters of nature and women as part of nature to be dominated
• At the time of Spanish arrival, women in the Philippines were active in agriculture and other economic activities, with men participating in household work
• The missionaries transplanted Roman Catholicism with its misogyny into the native culture, leading native women to embrace the new role circumscribed for them
• The elite in 19th century Philippines drew wealth from land cultivated by small tenants, and were exposed to European gender ideology
• Women were denied full membership in the revolutionary Katipunan organization and the right to vote in the 1898 Constitution
• American colonization brought a more liberal ideology and the first wave of women's agitation for equality, leading to the suffrage movement
• The integration of the Philippines into US capitalism resulted in women entering the formal workforce, but they were still expected to be loving and dutiful wives at home
• The sexual objectification of women worsened during the period of formal independence, alongside military and economic intervention by former colonizer nations
• The tourism programs of 1972 expanded the market for prostituted women to foreign tourists and businessmen
• Feminism


  The advocacy of social equality for men and women, in opposition to patriarchy and sexism
• The "first wave" of the feminist movement in the United States began in the 1840s as women who opposed slavery, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, drew parallels between the oppression of African Americans and the oppression of women
• The primary objective of the first wave of feminism was to secure the right to vote, which was finally achieved in 1920
• A "second wave" of feminism arose in the 1960s and continues today
• Basic feminist ideas


  • The importance of change
  • Expanding human choice
  • Eliminating gender stratification
  • Ending sexual violence
  • Promoting sexual autonomy