Gender and Parenting

Parenting is the process of raising a child. It includes the values and practices

instilled in a child. I has a great impact in a child’s mannerism, habits, and way of thinking.

There are different parenting styles: authoritarian parenting, permissive parenting,

authoritative parenting, uninvolved parenting, and gender-neutral parenting. Each type of

parenting produces different results in a child’s development. It shapes the child into what

kind of adult he/she will be including his/her thoughts about gender.

Parenting plays a vital role in a child’s perception of gender and sexuality. It molds

the child’s insights in gender related issues like gender inequality and introduces a child

in gender roles they need to take part of to fit in with the society we are living in.

Our society and its expectations are produced by parenting passed on from

generations to generations wherein parents of our generation raise their children like how

they were raised by their parents. To have an improving society, we should have

improving parenting: raising children who knows how to treat others the same regardless

of their gender and/or sexual orientation. Parents should introduce the concept of equality

and respect in whatever type of parenting they impose. That way, we can secure an

understanding future society for the next generations to come.

Gender and Religion

 It is no surprising that majority of the world’s population consider themselves as a

part of a certain religion. Religion has been a part of our society since c. 3500 BCE. It is

a part of our culture and has a great influence in our way of living.

Religion strongly affects people’s insights and practices. It is one of the factors that

dictates how a person should react about a certain issue. One of which is the

discrimination against a certain gender on a certain religion particularly the oppression of

women. Most religion are seen to favor men over women.

Contrary to popular belief, most religions do not support inequality and support the

equal treatment of both men and women. The idea of inequality in a religion is only

created by the society. Oppressive practices are not required by the religion but expected

by the society since these practices are done for a long time. Although there are some

religion requiring the inequality amongst men and women, there are more religion seen

as oppressive but does not support inequality.

Oppression in religion is caused by the social strata built a long time ago and we

still stick on to the practice until today. Religion, being the belief to a greater being who

leads us, should implicate an equal and peaceful living to its members.
Democracy to Federalism: Con
Current president Rodrigo Duterte claims that changing the Philippine government system
to federalism is the change our country needs. In a federal form of government, the country will
be divided into states wherein each state will be responsible for their own funds and resources
handing over only a portion of their earnings to the national government. A government which will
promote inequality amongst the states since resource amount varies in different states of different
demography and geographical characteristics. Dividing a small country like the Philippines into
states is not the best change to implement in our country. The better execution of our current
government system is better than changing the whole system.
One might say that a centralized form of government (our current form of government)
results in an unequal distribution of funds since funds from all over the country are brought to a
central government then redistributed to the people whereas federalism gives an equal
opportunity of development to each state by giving them the power over their own funds. But the
fact that some states may have more resources and/or means of funding to begin with proves
that equality through federalism is impossible.
Although being divided, federalism may help some states develop by giving them more
freedom on their resources. Funds may reach a state’s provinces faster since funds remain on
their local government. But this will only be possible if the state has funds to reach its provinces
to begin with.
The United States of America is one of the countries that implements a federal government
system. People depend on what they have in their own states. This creates a huge gap among
the citizens’ social statuses. Some may live in luxurious condominiums in California, some in
agricultural states like Idaho, some in mining states like Arkansas, and some may live in the ghost
towns and food deserts in Chicago. There will be states with more than enough resources and
there will be states with barely enough resources. With our current government system, the
national government can support those who need more using the funds from places that have
more.
Changing a government system may also cause confusion among the people of the
Philippines. A period of initial shock to the citizens is inevitable in executing such change. It is
costly, time consuming, and demands a great deal of effort from leaders and citizens.
Our current government system has more potential than federalism in creating an overall
development of the country. Federalism will allow only certain states to have progress leaving
some states in poverty. It is selfish and unfair. Why waste money, time, and effort on useless and
unsuitable changes?
Change is a very sweet word especially to those who are not contented on what they
currently have. But federalism is not the change appropriate for our country. In fact, we don’t need
change. We need the improvement of the implementation of our current government system. The
government should give more to those who need more not keep funds to develop one place.
We did not fight for this democracy just to change it a few years later. What we need is to
improve what we have not look for something else to implement. Let us not be blinded by the
word “change” but strive to improve.