Module 2 Social Construct With St. Scho.

MODULE 2
Session 2
GENDER as a Social Construct

GENDER as a Social Construct
This session will aim at deepening our

understanding and appreciation of GENDER.
We have defined GENDER as a socially learned behavior.

We shall look further into the
DIFFERENT SOCIAL STRUCTURES
that influence our GENDER
BELIEFS and PRACTICES
Gender roles are highly
resistant to change.
Why?
Due to continuous
•exposure
•reinforcement
of Gender Differentiation
Once internalized,
Gender Roles are:
•Further reinforced
•Maintained
•Sanctioned
through the pervasive

mechanism of social/
control.
Mechanisms of
SOCIAL CONTROL
• Family
• Language
• School
• Church
• Media
Four Processes in A Child’s Learning of
Gender Bias
FAMILY socialization starts when baby is born,

influential in formative years
Socialization - the process by which an individual
learns to conform to the norms of the group: one
-is born with
-internalizes these norms
-to acquire status
-to plan corresponding roles
MANIPULATION
First Stage - where people treat boys and girls

differently
Manifested in the ways infants are
handled differently
Female infants more delicately

handled than males.
CANALIZATION
SECOND Stage - people direct children’s attention

to gender-appropriate objects -
exemplified by choice of TOYS
Association - teach them prescribed

roles in life in the future
VERBAL APPELLATION
THIRD PROCESS - Words used to tell children

what they are:
- “brave boy”
- “pretty girl”
-Words used in what are
expected of them:
-“boys don’t cry”
-“girls do not climb trees”
ACTIVITY EXPOSURE
FOURTH - children familiarized with gender

appropriate TASKS:
- Girls expected and encouraged to:
- help mother in household tasks
- taking care of younger siblings
- Boys are allowed and encourage to

play or work outside the home
The Family
• The primary social
context for human
development
• Defines gender through
its child rearing practices
• Initial expectations and
role assignments of boys
and girls
• Games and toys we
played
The Family
• Patriarchal family
system: male
headship, task as
provider placed on
men, preference for
sons,
• Domestic role of
women: maternal,
housework [devalued]
• Love, marriage, family
and relationship as
women’s sphere
Educational System
• The most organized
and systematic
institution
• Transmits culture and
tradition – including
gender definitions
• Potential to create new
knowledge and
transform traditions
Educational System
• From its inception,
formal education was
meant for men
• It was only at beginning
of the 19th century that
women gained
entrance to higher
education – mostly in
teaching, nursing and
secretarial courses
• Gender tracking of Classroom and
subjects – math,
science and sports for Gender
boys
• arts, literature and
home arts for girls
• Different sets of
“appropriate” behaviours
for girls and boys
• Boys assigned to
leadership and active
roles
Texts and
• Teaching materials
Books remain sexist,
stereotypical, male-
centered
• Language not gender
sensitive – policeman,
fireman, lady dentist,
lady doctor...
• Generic male...
• Teachers pay more
attention to boys – both
positive and negative
attention
Images of Girls and Boys
Images of Women and
Men
‘Hidden Curriculum’
Subtle and It impairs boys
unintended and girls efforts
messages can to find their
create the idea voices,
among girls
and boys that discipline their
there are fields minds and
they cannot be prepare
successful themselves for
because of their futures.
their sex.
• The illiterate of the 21st century
will not be those who cannot
read and write but those who
cannot learn, unlearn, and
relearn.
• -Alvin Toffler-
Religion
• A personal and • A social institution
basic life that forms and
orientation informs the belief
system of a group or
organization
• Based on a • A meaning-giving
religious system that sets
experience standards, norms,
directions
• Forms and informs
our core psychic Religion
structure
• Provides meaning to
our life
• Sets the orientation
and direction to our
actions
• Sets the norm and
standards of human
behaviour and lifestyle
Institutional
Religion
• Stereotyped roles for women –
as mothers, wives, sisters
• Traditional views on women –
good women to be submissive,
dutiful and loving
• High moral expectations on
women – virgin when unmarried
and faithful when married
• Women’s sexual sins are seen
as worse than men’s
Institutional Religion
• Leadership roles expected
from men: priest, king,
prophet, ruler, messiah,
father, head, elder
• Lower moral expectation:

sexual sins excused
• Value of physical strength,

virility and manliness
Media
• Most powerful and
influential institution
• Source of information,
entertainment and tool of
communication
• Ubiquitous, 24/7,
invasive
• Multimedia technologies
Media
• Representation of women
as young, fair, thin & sexy
• Women in mostly domestic
• roles
• Women’s spaces confined
• in the home
• Women’s activities mostly
• domestic chores
• Women in subordinate
• position to men
GENDER ISSUES
Problems that women and men
experience as a result of
societies definitions and expectations

about
feminine and masculine
Roles rights and capacities

GENDER ISSUES
 problems that stem from the way women and men

have been socially constructed
 commonly shared experiences brought about by

structural/societal causes
 recognized as undesirable and unjust
 have to do with gender inequality, with practices that

marginalize, discriminate and violate women’s rights.
However,
the good news is
Gender Roles
do change.
What is
so good about Gender
Roles
changing?
Gender Roles and Housekeeping
Childbearing will always fall on

the female.
However, child rearing

and house keeping
need not.
In reality, there is a female

monopoly of the housekeeping role.
Gender differentiation keeps women in
occupations deemed culturally appropriate.
Filipino women are…

*nurses *nutritionists
*teachers *accountants
Gender tracking of professions

continue the:
household socialization
assignment of nurturant
tasks to women.
Even in higher professions….
Areas of medical specialization

more open to women are:
 Pediatrics
 Obstetrics
 Gynecology
Occupational ghettoes:
Semi-profession - where
we find large clusters of
women
As a consequence, these
jobs receive:
Less recognition
Are assigned lower value
Commonly lower wages
At lower levels, women work not from
choice but from necessity.
Women are found in

households that are not their
own.
Traditional gender roles divide men and women from each
other.
Deny women access to the

public world of:
*Work *Power
*Achievement *Independence
Deny men access to:
*Emotive
*The Nurturant
Other oriented world
of domestic life.
Therefore,
traditional gender
roles limit the
psychological and
social potentials of
human beings.
GENDER as a
Social Construct
Gender roles are deep-seated in the

culture as well as belief and value
systems of the society. Pervasive social
control further reinforce, maintain and
sanction the gender roles.
THEREFORE….
All of us need to be conscious of our

BELIEFS and ASSUMPTIONS
as these often impede the attainment of
of our full potential as human beings
and of those for which we are
responsible.
GENDER SENSITIVITY
It is the ability to recognize
 gender issues
 women’s and men’s different
perceptions and interests arising from
their social location and different role
To be gender responsive is:
• To realize that social norms have led to differences in
the roles and expectations of women and men,
resulting in discriminatory practices against women
and men, especially women.
• To believe that human relationships should be

guided by the principles of equality, equity and active
non-discrimination in all spheres of interaction.
• To work for the eventual elimination of these sources

of discrimination in the home, the workplace , the
community and the society as a whole.

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MODULE 2

GENDER as a Social Construct

This session will aim at deepening our

We have defined GENDER as a socially learned behavior.

through the pervasive

FAMILY socialization starts when baby is born,

First Stage - where people treat boys and girls

Female infants more delicately

SECOND Stage - people direct children’s attention

Association - teach them prescribed

THIRD PROCESS - Words used to tell children

FOURTH - children familiarized with gender

- Boys are allowed and encourage to

• Lower moral expectation:

• Value of physical strength,

Problems that women and men

societies definitions and expectations

feminine and masculine

Roles rights and capacities

 problems that stem from the way women and men

 commonly shared experiences brought about by

 recognized as undesirable and unjust

 have to do with gender inequality, with practices that

the good news is

so good about Gender

Childbearing will always fall on

However, child rearing

In reality, there is a female

Filipino women are…

Gender tracking of professions

Areas of medical specialization

Women are found in

Deny women access to the

Gender roles are deep-seated in the

All of us need to be conscious of our

• To believe that human relationships should be

• To work for the eventual elimination of these sources

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