Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Gender Issues

Gender Equality

 

When we say 2+2=4, we mean that the value of 2+2 and the value of 4 are the same.  In gender equality, we are interested in the same valuation of men and women and sameness of enjoyment of rights, power, opportunities, treatment and control of resources between males and females in society. We are also interested in the sameness in enjoying of the benefits from resources. Gender equality is therefore not only the absence of discrimination and bias, but “… the equal valuing by society of both the similarities and differences between women and men and the varying roles that they play” (Gender Equality Analysis Policy-Status of Women Canada page 5).It does not mean that men and women will become the same. No. But they will have same opportunities in life. An example of practicing gender equality is according men and women enjoyment of same voting rights. Gender equality, therefore, “denotes the equivalence in life outcomes for women and men, recognizing their different needs and interests and requiring a redistribution of power and resources” (Bridge Report No. 55:10).

 

 

Gender Equity

Gender equity is a process of achieving fairness and justice among men and women. The fairness and justice is in relation to distribution of opportunities, responsibilities and resources as well as in accessing and controlling the benefits from the resources. “To ensure fairness, measures must often be made available to compensate for historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing field” (Gender Equality Analysis Policy- Status of Women Canada page 5).
Gender equity also entails proportional distribution of social resources and services, as well as proportional representation of men and women in the development process, that is, the composition of males and females at all levels should closely represent the general population. What we mean here is that, if we are practicing gender equity, say in our enrolment of male and females into university then the ratio of males to females should be commensurate with the national population ratio of 48:52. Gender equity leads to gender equality.

Gender bias

Gender bias is the tendency to be in favor of, or against males and females on the basis of their gender rather than on anything else, like what some teachers do when they take only females for fashion and fabrics because of their stereotypical belief that women are better at sewing than men.



Gender Discrimination

Gender discrimination is an act of unfair treatment directed against an individual or a group on the basis of their gender which denies those rights, opportunities or resources. When universities lower entry points for only female students, (whatever the reasons may be) they will be discriminating against the male students. Gender discrimination can be positive or negative and whether positive or negative, differential treatment is given to males and females on basis of their gender.

Gender Neutrality

This is the claim that one is indifferent to issues of gender as he/she has no ultimate gender practice. It assumes that all people are affected by programmes or polices in the same way. “It is premised on the theory that all people are already equal, therefore    treating all people the same way is fair,” (Women’s Policy Office, Government of Newfound land and Labrador (undated) Facilitator’s Guide, Gender Inclusive Analysis….An Overview St Johns, NF, p.14) like what most universities do when they give one tissue roll to every student in residence for a specified period of time. Female students, by virtue of their biology require more tissue paper. It thus may not allow for sensitivity to disadvantages, hence it replicates stereotypes and restrictive views of males and females.

Gender Blindness

When one is blind one cannot see. Gender blindness is total failure, out of sheer gender ignorance, to recognize the differences between males and females and subsequently leads to failure to provide or cater for the differences.
Gender blind people fail to realize that policies, programmes and activities can have different effects on men and women and this often leads to rigidity and unchanging attitudes. It is a characteristics feature of conservative societies, where gender bias and discrimination is orchestrated on ill knowledge and innocence. A good example is what happened at a certain school which had been originally a boys’ only school and then decided to become co-educational. The school administration made girls stay in hostels that were previously boys’. The toilets in these hostels had urinals and the administration did not see anything wrong with that. This is gender blindness.

Gender Sensitivity

 Imagine entering a bus which is ferrying students from your university home and you find that 90% of the bus load is males and the majority of those that failed to enter the bus are females. You will obviously sense a gap of something between male students as a group and female students as a group. What is it that you are sensing? You are right!-that, whatever the reason, there is a gender gap between men and women. You see, you are becoming gender sensitive. Gender sensitivity is the mere ability to perceive existing gender inequalities. It is gender perceptiveness or gender consciousness, which is, looking at an issue with a gender eye. It is the beginning of gender awareness.


Gender Awareness

In the example of the bus situation given immediately above, what do you think is the cause of the problem given that the passengers in the bus were self drawn from a population of equal numbers between males and females? You are now searching for the possible gender problems. You are now becoming gender-aware. Gender awareness is, therefore, the ability to identify problems arising from gender discrimination and bias which affect men’s and women’s ability to access and control resources and /or even access and control of benefits from the resources is gender awareness. It is still gender awareness even when and where the problems are disguised and defended as culture and tradition.

Gender Responsiveness

What solutions would you offer in the transport problem above so that females are not discriminated against? You are now becoming gender responsive. Gender responsiveness mainly constitutes responding to gender issues with a view to eradicate the bias and discrimination in order to ensure equality and equity (FAWE, 2004).It is the ability to visualise and practicalise gender equity and gender equality. You see, it starts from gender sensitivity to gender awareness then to gender responsiveness. For detail we refer you to Unit 7.

Patriarchy    

Patriarchy is a social system that propagates male superiority, power and control over women as natural. It oppresses exploits and subordinates women. In patriarchal society’s leadership roles, control of valuable resources and decision making is a male preserve. Patriarchy draws a clear demarcation line between males and female. It also creates a social stratification with males always on top. Meena (1992) says that, in patriarchy, even the weakest man has a woman to oppress and exploit. In patriarchy women are perceived as perpetual minors who cannot take independent decisions. It is in short, “systematic societal structures that institutionalize male physical social and economic power over women” (Bridge Report No. 55:29). For detail we refer you to Unit 2.

 Gender Mainstreaming

“…..is the process of assessing the implication for women and men of any planned action; including legislation, policies or programmes, in any area and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the policies and programmes in all political, economic, and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.” (Towards Earth Summit, 2002: 2).It is a strategy to achieve gender equality that was universally adopted at the fourth world conference on women in 1995, at Beijing- a means to the bigger end of attaining gender equality. For detail you go to Unit 7.

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Gender Empowerment  

This is one of the words that are difficulty to define because of taking different forms in different people and different contexts. Babikwa (2004:72) says “empowerment does not mean individual self assertion, upward social mobility or increased disposable income or when psychological experience of feeling self realized….it means....an understanding of the causes of powerlessness, recognizing systematically oppressive forces and acting individually and collectively to change the conditions of life” Basically, then, it is to do with one’s participation in decisions and processes affecting one’s life. It is a process about people, taking control over their own lives, setting their own agendas, building self confidence, solving problems [Kabeer, (1994) in March et al 1999:25] “Empowerment cannot be given, it must be self generated” because such change must be believed in, initiated, and directed by those whose interests it is meant to serve. What other external forces like education can do is to provide those who need empowerment with an enabling environment and resources which will allow them to take greater control of their lives; determine what relations they would want to live within and devise strategies to help them get there (Naila Kabeer, in March, Smyth and Mukhopadhyay, 1999:.25).For detail you go to Unit 9.

Gender Affirmative Action

Gender affirmative action is a corrective or compensatory measure for past injustices or gaps and an accelerator for the process of equitable development. It is an intended justice measure through deliberately according the previously excluded or disadvantaged sex group preferential treatment to increase the group’s representation in areas of education, employment, business and politics among others. It entails gender discrimination because it gives unfair, though justifiable, advantage to the once discriminated sex group. It is therefore positive or reverse discrimination. Gender affirmative action is meant to redress the effects of past discriminations rather than discriminate. An example of gender affirmative action is the practice done by most universities when these institutions lower their entry points for female students only. For detail you go to Unit 7.     

Gender Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes are socially constructed ideas or beliefs about men and women which are not necessarily true but taken as truth by society. They are maintained, perpetuated and transmitted from generation to generation by social institutions like the family, the school, the media, religion, the culture among others. Most common gender stereotypes are based on:
           Sex, for example, males are aggressive while females are affectionate
           Personality, for example men are cheerful while women are nervous
           Age, for example, young men are rebellious while older women are conservative
           Ethnicity, for example, Ndebele women are good home managers while Shona women are good fieldworkers
           Class for example upper class men are playful while lower class men are ambitious
           Occupations, for example male nurses are kind and loving while female nurses are rude and short hearted with women in labour.
 Stereotypes can be positive or negative.

Gender Identity

‘….it is how an individual adapts the prescribed sex role to his or her individual identity.’


Gender Relations

These are “the range of gendered practices, such as the division of labour and resources and the gendered ideologies such as ideas of acceptable behaviour for men and women” (Bridge Report No. 55:18.).They are simply the social relationships between men as a sex group and women as a sex group. They determine what is socially accepted and what is socially inappropriate. They work in most cases to subordinate and discriminate against women.

Gender practical needs

These are the concrete, immediate and often essential needs/wants for human survival. The men and women survive better in their socially accepted roles, within their gendered power structures. Practical gender needs include food and shelter among other things.

Gender strategic needs

These are human requirements which when met challenge and change power relations between men and women. They are often less visible than the practical ones and are long term, one example being access to decision making positions.


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