3. GENDER AS A CONCEPT
• Gender refers to the cultural and social distinctions between
women and men.
• These include the different attributes, statuses, roles,
responsibilities, opportunities and privileges accorded to
women and men - as well as their access to and control over
resources and benefits.
4. GENDER AS A CONCEPT
• According to UNESCO Gender Mainstreaming Implementation
Framework, Gender refers to the roles and responsibilities of men
and women that are created in our families, our societies and our
cultures.
• According to the Essential Medicines and Health Products
information Portal; Gender is described as, socially constructed sex,
be it female or male.
5. The gender concept implies
• A rejection of the underlying biological distinction in the word “sex”
and in the expression “sexual inequality”, which appears as “an
ideological alibi for maintaining domination, the alibi of nature”.
(Hurtig, Kail and Rouch, 1991). Women are no more part of nature
and no less part of culture than men;
• Grouping together all the differences identified between men and
women, be they individual differences, differences in social roles or
cultural representations, i.e., the grouping together of all that is
variable and socially determined;
6. The gender concept implies
• The non-homogenous nature of the category of women, which
is transcended by differences of class, ethnicity and age;
• The basic asymmetry and hierarchy between both groups, sexes
and genders - one of them dominating and the other dominated
- which is the basis of male power;
7. The gender concept implies
• The overriding need, regardless of the problem, to consider men in
relation to women, whether these relations are complementary or
conflictual. It is within these gender relations that power intervenes,
in its most virulent or subtle forms, and that it needs to be clarified
in order to understand the complexity of the situation. Gender
relations are power relations, and this is one of the determining
factors in women’s access to health and medicines.
8. CONT…..
• Gender implies knowledge of the difference between the sexes, yet
that knowledge is also a way of organizing the world and is
inseparable from the social organization of those differences.
• Knowledge, much like power, which is one of its pillars, is neither
determined nor finite; it is variable and subject to countless changes.
The same is true of complementarity and opposition between the
sexes which can change and come about through changes in society
9. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GENDER
AND SEX
• Sex refers to physical or physiological differences between males
and females, including both primary sex characteristics (the
reproductive system) and secondary characteristics such as height
and muscularity.
• "Gender" is more difficult to define, but it can refer to the role of a
male or female in society, known as a gender role, or an individual's
concept of themselves, or gender identity.
13. GENDER ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• The term gender role refers to society’s concept of how men and
women are expected to act and how they should behave.
• These roles are based on norms, or standards, created by
society.
14. GENDER ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
• One way children learn gender roles is through play. Parents typically
supply boys with trucks, toy guns, and superhero paraphernalia, which
are active toys that promote motor skills, aggression, and solitary play.
• Girls are often given dolls and dress-up apparel that foster nurturing,
social proximity, and role play.
• Studies have shown that children will most likely choose to play with
“gender appropriate” toys (or same-gender toys) even when cross-gender
toys are available because parents give children positive feedback (in the
form of praise, involvement, and physical closeness) for gender-normative
behavior
15. CONT….
• Gender roles are cultural and personal. They determine how males and females
should think, speak, dress, and interact within the context of society.
• Learning plays a role in this process of shaping gender roles. These gender
schemas are deeply embedded cognitive frameworks regarding what defines
masculine and feminine.
• While various socializing agents—parents, teachers, peers, movies, television,
music, books, and religion—teach and reinforce gender roles throughout the
lifespan, parents probably exert the greatest influence, especially on their very
young offspring.
16. COMMON GENDER HEALTH
PROBLEMS
• When individuals do not conform to established gender norms,
relations or roles, they often face stigma, discriminatory
practices or social exclusion – all of which negatively impact
health.
17. CONT…
• Gender norms influence access and control over resources needed to attain
optimal health, including:
• economic (income, credit);
• social (social networks);
• political (leadership, participation);
• information and education (health literacy, academic);
• time (access to health services); and
• internal (self confidence/esteem).
18. CONT…
• Gender norms, roles and relations result in differences between men
and women in:
• exposure to risk factors or vulnerability;
• household-level investment in nutrition, care and education;
• access to and use of health services;
• experiences in health-care settings; and
• social impacts of ill-health
