How good you know yourself regarding how confident you are
Self-esteem
How much you like yourself
Self-development
How you improve yourself by building up your strengths, improve your interests, skills, strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, goals, values and beliefs, and become the best person you can be
Healthy self-esteem
Views failure as an opportunity for growth and learning
Unhealthy self-esteem
Views failure as a reflection of personal inadequacy, leading to self-blame and self-criticism
Factors that influence self-awareness and self-esteem
What other people say about you
What happens in your life
How well you cope with challenges
How you respond to successes and failures
How popular you are
The media
Good communication skills
Express yourself clearly so that others don't misunderstand you or get the wrong idea
Assertive attitude
Say what you want to say clearly
Be positive and respectful
Know what you want
Have a tall and straight body posture
State your viewpoint clearly
Be polite
How to make good decisions
1. Evaluate your situation
2. Get information about the different options or choices you have
3. Carefully think about the effects or consequences of each choice or decision
4. Decide what would be the most informed and responsible decision
5. Act on your decision: do what you decided
Gender
The role in society that you are expected to play depending on whether you are a woman or a girl, a man or a boy. Gender is a social construct.
Sex
Biological and physiological qualities that define women and men such as your reproductive organs, chromosomes, hormones etc.
Female and male
Groupings according to sex
Feminine and masculine
Grouping according to gender. Femininity - having qualities that are associated with women. Masculinity - having qualities that are associated with men.
Power
To have control or authority over another person or your environment. Also refers to force, strength, or might.
Power relations
Sharing of power between people in a relationship. You may have a dominant and a submissive partner in a relationship. Dominance is often determined by gender and sex. Men traditionally have more power than women.
Unequal power relationship
Where one person has the power to either give or deny something to the other person. Often money, violence, emotional abuse and sexual intimacy are used to control the other person.
Stereotypical
Having a fixed and very simple idea of a particular type of person or thing.
Differences between a woman and a man
Menstruate
No menstruation
Ovaries that produce eggs
Testicles that produce sperm
Have two x chromosomes (XX)
Have one X and one Y chromosome (XY)
Vagina is inside the body
Penis is outside the body
Give birth
Do not give birth
Smaller and lighter with less bone mass
Taller and heavier with more bone mass
Less upper body strength
More upper body strength
More white blood cells
More red blood cells
Puberty starts two years before boys
Puberty starts two years after girls
Fertility lessens after the age of 35
Fertile till old age
Higher levels of the hormone oestrogen
Higher levels of the hormone testosterone
Less body hair
More body hair
Skull is thinner and weaker
Skull is thicker and stronger
Have to work harder to build muscle
Build muscles easily
Traditionally women were the caregivers and homemakers, but these roles are changing. In many modern households, men share both parenting and housekeeping duties. Just because it is the woman who gives birth does not mean that the man has no parental duties.
Examples of gender differences as decided by societies
Women may earn less than men for certain work
Men are promoted to positions of power instead of women
Men are allowed to smoke, drink and have affairs in some societies, while women are not
Male sports teams get more funding and media coverage than women teams
Women have to do more housework than men
Women play a larger role in parenting
Some careers are traditionally seen as just for men
Gender inequality
Sexual abuse and violence
Teenage pregnancy
STIs including HIV/AIDS
When women/girls are involved in relationships where power is not equal, men may decide on the conditions under which sex happens. This may mean forced sex.
Unwanted teenage pregnancy may happen because of peer pressure, lack of information on safe sex and contraception, poverty, rape, and wishing to have a baby to feel loved and have somebody to love, but not wanting the baby once it is born because you are not ready for such responsibility.
Gender customs may force women to be passive or obedient in sexual relationships. This means women may not discuss or negotiate for safer sex such as condom use, or abstention. Hence they will not be protected against STI's such as HIV.
HIV is spread quickly when women have no say in the use of protective measures during intercourse, such as the use of condoms, there is age-mixing in a relationship, there are more than one partner, there is transactional sex, and rape occurs.