Gender and Development

Prepared by:
Charlayne Anne Narzabal
Eileen Pagaduan
JC Bell Torres
WHAT IS GENDER?

 Gender refers to the different ways men and

women play in society, and to the relative power
they wield.
 Gender is expressed differently in different
societies.
 Gender
 refers to the specific set of characteristics that
identifies the social behavior of women and
men and the relationship between them.
 is the range of physical, biological, mental and
behavioral characteristics pertaining to, and
differentiating between, masculinity and
femininity.
THEORIES OF GENDER DEVELOPMENT

3 Theories about gender development:

1. Social learning theory

 A cognitive process that takes place in a social context
and can occur purely through observation or direct
instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or
direct reinforcement.
 Learning or imitating behaviors in other people.
2. Cognitive Developmental Theory
 Process of acquiring gender-appropriate behavior.
 Emphasizes the child’s understanding about gender roles and the
permanent places in it.

3 Stages of Cognitive Developmental Theory:

a. Gender Identity- the child recognizes that they are either a boy or a
girl and possesses the ability to label others.
b. Gender Stability- the identity in which they recognizes themselves as
does not change.
c. Gender Consistency- the acceptance that gender does not change
regardless of changes in gender-typed
appearance, activities, and traits.
3. Gender Schema Theory
 cognitive theory to explain how individuals become
gendered in society, and how sex-linked characteristics are
maintained and transmitted to other members of a culture.
 A mental blueprint for organizing information and children
develop and formulate appropriate gender.
GENDER STEREOTYPING

Gender Stereotyping

 Defined as the beliefs humans told about the

characteristics associated with males and
females.
 Discrimination based on one’s sex.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
Characteristics Gender differences
Physical differences Although almost all girls mature more rapidly than
boys by adolescence, boys have surpassed girls in
size and strength.

Verbal ability Girls do better on verbal tasks beginning in the

early years. Boys exhibit more language problems
than girls.

Spatial skills Boys display superiority on spatial tasks.

Mathematical ability Boys begin to demonstrate superiority during the
high school years.
Science Females are falling behind while the performance of
male is increasing.
Achievement motivation Boys do better in stereotypically in math and
science and girls in arts and music.
Aggression Boys appear to be more aggressive than girls.
GENDER EQUALITY
 Gives men and women the same entitlements to all aspects
of human development including economic, social, cultural,
civil and political rights, respect, opportunities and level of
power.
 Men and women should receive equal treatment and should
not be discriminated based on gender.
 Equal representation of men and women.
GENDER INEQUALITY

Refers to unequal treatment or

perceptions of individuals based on
their gender. It arises from differences in
socially constructed gender roles as well
as biologically through chromosomes, brain
structure, and hormonal differences.
FOUR THEMES THEORIZING GENDER
INEQUALITY
 Men and women are situated in society not only differently
but also unequally.
 Inequality results from the organization of society, not
from any significant biological or personality differences
between men and women.
 No significant pattern of natural variation distinguishes the
sexes.
 All inequality theories assume that both men and women
will respond fairly easily and naturally to more egalitarian
social structure.
10 EXAMPLES OF GENDER INEQUALITY
1. Educational attainment
2. Political participation
3. Freedom to marry and divorce
4. Access to health care
5. Feminization of poverty
6. Restricted land ownership
7. Feticide and Infanticide
8. Violence
9. Limited mobility
10. Professional obstacles
WHAT IS POWER?

Power is a basic fabric of society and is

possessed in varying degrees.
Power becomes abusive and exploitive
when independence of a person/s become
so dominant.
GENDER AND POWER

 Women and Children have often been on the

abusive side of power.

CAUSES:
1.Physical strength of men
2. Abuse of power by men
GENDER AND POWER

 Max Weber defined power as the likelihood a

person may achieve personal ends despite possible
resistance from others
 Authority is power which people determine to be
legitimate rather than coercive.
Factors act as determinants of amount of power a
person holds:
 Status resources
 experience
 self-confidence

 Men have more legitimate power(based on rank

or position)
Gender and
Education
 Investing in education is seen as one of the
fundamental ways in which nation states and
their citizens can move toward long-term
development goals and improve both social and
economic standards of living.
 Boys are far more likely than girls to be given
specific information that guides improvement of
their performance. ( Boggiano and Barrett,1991)
REFERENCES:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender
 www.simplypsychology.org
 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_development
 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_schema_theory
 www.ask.com
 http://www.ask.com/question/gender-role-and-stereotypes
 http://fos.iloveindia.com/stereotypes-examples.html
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_equality
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_inequality
 http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/examples-gender-
inequality-around-world.htm