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GENDER AND SOCIETY WITH PEACE EDUCATION

Accountancy (Saint Ferdinand College)

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Sta. Ana St., City of Ilagan, Isabela

Tel. No. 622-20-73 or 624-21
School Year 2020-2021

PRELIM PERIOD
GE 1 ELECT – GENDER AND SOCIETY WITH PEACE EDUCATION

Course Code GE Number of Units 3

Course Title Gender and Society with Time Allotment 54 Hours
Peace Education
Prerequisite None Consultation Hour
Instructor Marimar U. Baquiran Consultation Venue CAS Faculty Office
Construction Date June 2020 Revision

Vision: SFC is a dynamic Catholic Educational Institution that develops individuals of competence and
character through holistic education and dedicated service towards a just and humane society.

Mission: St. Ferdinand College, as an evangelizing arm of the church provides relevant knowledge,
enhance practical skills, and inculcates Christian values that promote personal development and social
responsibility among people in school and community.

Course Description: This course will explore the systems of power as they relate to women, men, gender
non-conforming people, and constructions of gender more generally, in Western society. To do so, we will
learn to view these phenomena through the lenses of foundational theoretical approaches in Women’s and
Gender Studies, including feminist theory, queer theory, critical race theory, and more. This course will
encourage us to reflect on how our intersectional positionalities inform how we gender ourselves and
gender others, to become critically attune to the ways in which media, policy, structures, and institutions
construct gender, and to acknowledge that gender is socially constructed through multiple methods of
disciplining. These issues will be contextualized in an understanding of systems of power, privilege, and
oppression. Because gender is contingent upon race, class, sexuality, citizenship, ability, etc., we will
address all of these particularities throughout the semester. We will also explore historical and
contemporary social movements that organize around gender issues. Throughout the semester we will
consider not only what is in terms of gender roles, but also what might be and how we, as change agents,
may act to improve our individual and collective lives. Your experiences, self-reflective insights, questions
and ideas are a key part of this course and participation is integral to your success.

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MODULE 1
Levelling Off”: Gender and Sexuality

Learning Outcome

At the end of this module, you are able to:

1. Differentiate gender from sexuality;

2. Explain gender socialization;
3. Identify gender stereotypes and the problem stereotyping brings; and
4. Discuss sexual orientation and gender identity and expression or SOGIE.

Pre Work for the Module:

Name:_____________________ Date:_______
Year/Course:_______________

Complete the following Statement:

1. I think girls are ______________________________________________

2. I think boys are______________________________________________
3. I think girls should___________________________________________
4. I think boys should___________________________________________
5. Society thinks that girls should__________________________________
6. Society thinks that boys should__________________________________

Outline the similarities and differences in your answers. What should girls or boys be or do?
Discuss what roles society thinks boys and girls should play.

______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 1. Gender and Sexuality

Sex and sexuality are two very essential yet underrated parts of human life. They affects all aspects
of our lives, from how we look at and act in the jobs we take to how we regard the laws and values of our
society. This module will establish the difference between sex and gender, define gender roles and

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relationship according to the United Nations and other relevant national bodies, and determine the gendered
interaction affects one’s everyday lives.

What is Sex?
While sex is often referred to as the act pf reproduction, it is nonetheless, an important notion of how
pop culture sees sex. According to popular culture, sex is something done for pleasure, and perhaps in a
more Freudian sense, it is what drives people to do certain things. The association of sex with pleasure and
vice versa may make people dismiss it as a serious topic for study. Meanwhile, because sex is often so
equated with and related to gender, gender as a topic for discussion is likewise disregarded. Yet, by
showing the difference between sex and gender, and laying the groundwork for this difference, perhaps you
as the reader may start questioning discriminatory practices in society that relate to sex and gender.
Sex in a biological sense is a category for living beings specifically related to their reproduction
function. For most living creature, there are two sexes, the male and the female. The female sex is
determined by the following characteristics: produce egg cells which are fertilized by another sex, and
bears by the offspring. The male sex, on the other hand, produces sperm, cells to fertilize the egg cells.

Chromosomes determines one’s sex. Chromosome XX equates to female, and XY equates to male.
These pairs of chromosomes are distinct because the difference in their characteristics are necessary for
reproduction. Copulation, or the union of the sexes (XX and XY or male or female) produces offspring.

Genitalia, or the organs used for reproduction, and secondary sex characteristics are largely
influenced by one’s X and Y chromosomes. These chromosomes determine whether someone’s body will
express itself as as “female” or a “male.”
Hormones also play a large part in the definition of one’s sex. The exposure to hormones in the
wombs affects how the organism develops as a male or a female. Physical features related secondary sex
characteristics are also influenced by hormones. Both males and females have estrogen, testosterone, and
progesterone but in varying amounts. Usually, males have more amounts of testosterone, and females have
more amounts of estrogen. Hormonal imbalances, both natural and induced, can result in someone born as
a female to have more testosterone than her male counterpart.

Activity 1 – What about your Gender

Name:____________________________ Date:_________________
Year/Course_______________________

Complete the following sentences:

1. When I was a child, my favorite toy was _________________________________

2. I first found out I was girl/boy when_____________________________________
3. Because I am a girl/boy,_______________________________________________
4. Because she/he is a girl/boy,___________________________________________
5. Because X are LGBT,_________________________________________________

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What were your favorite toys growing up? Why where these toys your favorite? Were toys you shied
away from because you felt they were not for you?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

When did you realized that you were a boy or a girl? For non-binary students, when did you realized
that you fell outside the boy and girl label? What are the different expectations for girls, boys, and LGBT
according to your families and school?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

What is Gender?
Gender is a socially learned behavior usually associated with one’s sex. It is short of gender relations
between the sexes, or how the male and female relate to one another. Gender is also based on how people
see themselves and on their tendency to act along either the masculine or the feminine line.
Gender is a social construct that determines one’s roles, expected values, behavior, and interaction in
relationships involving man and woman. It affects what access is available to men and women to
decision-making, knowledge, and resources. Sex and gender are two different things, but one’s gender is
usually associated with one’s sex. Note the difference between sex and gender in the following table.

Table 1. Main Difference Between Sex and Gender.

Sex Gender
Physiological Social
Related to reproduction Cultural
Congenital Learned Bahavior
unchanging Changes overtime
Varies within a culture/among cultures

Does Sex Correspond to Gender?

Many scientists, psychologists, and sociologists believe that sex does not determine one’s gender.
Femininity, or the behavior that associates with females, may not actually be tied to a woman’s sex.
Similarly, masculinity is not tied to one’s gonads. The whole idea of being a woman, therefore, is based on
gender and society’s belief in how a woman should act, instead of biological functions that are inescapable.
The notion that pone’s biology predetermines the roles one must have in life should not be the case at all.

Gender role socialization is defined as the process of learning and internalizing culturally approved
ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. It starts as soon as one is born and manifests from the color
associated with one’s gender to the roles one’s sees his or her gender performs the most. Socialization
affects all parts of one’s identity by dictating what is acceptable to do because of one’s educational
background, class, religion, and gender. Thus, female and male gender roles develop.

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Activity 2 – Gender Socialization

Name:___________________________ Date:__________
Year/Course:_____________________

Discuss what is expected of girls and boys in the following situation:

1. Your School (high school or college)
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

2. Your household
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

3. Your church
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 2: Gender Stereotypes

Gender stereotypes develops when different institutions reinforce a biased perception of a certain
gender’s roles. These institutions includes the family, the church, the state, and the media. These belief can
be limiting if seen as perspective of a gender’s role rather than descriptive of the many possible roles one
can have.

Gender stereotypes are of four types:

1. Sex stereotypes are a generalized view of traits that should be possessed by men and women,
specifically physical and emotional roles. These stereotypes are unrelated to the roles woman and men
actually perform.
2. Sexual stereotypes involves assumptions regarding a person’s sexuality that reinforce dominant
views. For example, a prevalent view all men are sexually dominant.
3. Sex-role stereotypes encompass the roles that man and woman are assigned to base on their sex
and what behaviors they must possess to fulfil these roles.
4. Compounded stereotypes are assumptions about the specifics group belonging to a gender.
Examples of group subject to compounded stereotypes are young woman, old men, single, men and women,
women factory workers, and the like.

Activity 3 – Point of Reflection

Name:______________________ Date:_____________
Year/Course:________________

How does your society or culture teach you think, feel, and act based on your gender? How is it
limiting? How is it liberating?

_____________________________________________________________________________

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_____________________________________________________________________________
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Lesson 3: SOGIE
The abbreviation SOGIE stands for sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Sexuality is
different from sex, as the former is the expression of a person’s thoughts, feelings, sexual orientation and
relationships, as well as the biology of the sexual response system of that person. The different terms
standing for SOGIE are further defined below.
1. Sexual orientation covers the three dimensions of sexuality namely:
a. Sexual attraction, sexual behavior, sexual fantasies;
b. Emotional preference, social preference, self-identification; and
c. Heterosexual or homosexual lifestyle.
Sexual orientation involves the person to whom one attracted and how one identifies himself of
herself in relation to this attraction which include both romantic and sexual feelings.
2. Gender identity refers to one’s personal experience of gender or social relations. It
determines how one sees himself or herself in relation to gender and sexuality. A person could identify
himself or herself as masculine or feminine.
3. Gender expression determines how one expresses his or her sexuality through the actions or
manner of presenting oneself.

LGBTQIA
The abbreviation LGBTQIA is short for lesbian, gay, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual.
This category describes distinct group outside of her heteronormativity who are usually defined by their
SOGIE. Heteronormativity is defined as the notion that being heterosexual, or the attraction to the
opposite sex, is the standard for correctness. Heterosexual, or straight, refers to people who have sexual
and romantic feelings mostly for the opposite gender - men who are attracted to woman, and women who
are attracted to men. Homosexual describes people who have sexual and romantic feelings for the same
gender - men who are attracted to men, and woman who are attracted to women. Cisgender is someone
whose gender identity corresponds with his or her biological sex. A person can be a homosexual and at the
same time a cisgender (identify with the gender they were assigned to at birth because of their sex).
In addition, lesbian pertains to woman who are attracted to other woman. Gay refers to men who are
attracted to other men. It can also be used as an umbrella term for homosexuality. Bisexual or “bi” denotes
people who are attracted to both genders. Finally, transgender is an umbrella term that refers to someone
whose assigned sex at birth does not represent his or her gender identity.
The labels were created to recognize the identity of those who are considered outside the norm of
society. These words and terms were popularized to show those who fell outside the norm that they are not
alone, and that there are others facing the struggles. While these are the usual words when discussing
LGBT issues, they are in no way stable, fixed, or exclusive. They are temporary, as the terminologies for
sex can change depending on the direction of the LGBT movement.

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These scenarios are brought to light of how trans issues are slowly coming to public awareness, but the
same issues have been faced by woman throughout history.

Sample Case

A young woman, fresh out of college and ready for work, had trouble securing a job. Her friends
Could not figure out why. She graduated with honors and topped the board exam in her respective field.
She had applied to numerous jobs which granted her interview. jobs which granted her interview inter-
view with numerous potential employers, she was never contacted. When asked why, the company HR
merely stated that they do not allow “cross-dressing” for their employees. That young woman is a trans
woman who, while expressing herself as feminine, was recognized by professional institution as male.

The issue of discrimination based on gender is very prevalent for the LGBT. The women in the
scenario was a transgender, whose biological gender (male) did not reflect who she is (female).

Many post about trans rights and trans issues circulate in social media. These problems are
everyday issues that show how people who only wish to express themselves are prevented from doing,
so, and are blocked from academic opportunities.

Lesson 4: Why Equate Gender Issues with Women’s Issues

By definition, gender issue are equated, with women’s issues because of sexism and gender
stereotypes. Sexism is defined as the prejudice against a certain sex. Because we live in a patriarchal
society, men are still seen as dominant, leaders, and the “norm.” This notion places woman and the LGBT
at risk for discrimination.
Gender equality is defined as the recognition of the state that all human beings are free to enjoy equal
conditions and fulfill their human potential, to contribute to the state and society. It can also be defined as
equality of the sexes, visibility in public and private spheres, and full participation in society. Gender
equality is the opposite of gender inequality, not of gender difference, and aims to promote the full
participation of woman and men in society. While some may say woman have equal opportunities because
they are allowed to have education, livelihood, and political participation, woman still have “less access to
resources, opportunities, and decision-making. These asymmetries and inequalities for their own benefit
and for the benefit of the society as a whole.
This discussion is not to state that men do not face discrimination. However, men in a male-dominated
society have various advantages over woman and the LGBT in all spheres – economic, political, social, etc.
Discriminatory gender roles can be institutionalized through laws and policies. A historical view of the
women’s movement will help one situate women’s and gender issues as we know it.

Activity 4 – Answer the following question:

Name:_____________________________ Date:_________
Year/Course:_______________________

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1. How do gender, sex, and sexuality differ from one another?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

2. What roles does gender socialization play in the perception of gender roles?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

3. What are some examples of gender stereotypes and how do they affect society?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

4. Who perpetuate gender stereotypes and what does it say about society?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

5. What is SOGIE and how is it relevant to the Philippine society?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

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MODULE 2
Culture and Rationalities

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module, the students are able to:
1. Discuss how culture or rationality shapes people’s perception of reality;
2. State the effects of culture on a person’s perception of gender and sexuality; and
3. Explain how rationalities shape sexism and discrimination.

Pre-Work for the Module

Name:_________________________ Date:__________
Year/Course:___________________

Answer the following questions:

1. What for you defines maleness and femaleness?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

2. What do you think is the difference between gender and sex? How is this difference determined
by your physical bodies? By your culture?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

Lesson 1: Instinct and Culture

Human beings, unlike animals, are not heavily dependent on instinct. Certainly, instinctual aspects
are present in specific actions such as breathing, making sounds when surprised or shocked, upright
walking, or choosing between fight or flight. More than these instinct-driven actions, man are distinct from
other beings because they possess systems of meaning that tells what is right or wrong, and good or evil.
Most of what people do is shaped or determined by these systems. For instance, procreation as an instinct
as there is a drive in people toward procreation. However, this urge takes different form. A number of
people want to have many children while others want to have a few. Some people supress the instinct for
procreation altogether, such as members of religious orders. These decisions all depend on the meaning
people give to procreation.
This frame of understanding is what Clifford Geerts calls culture. Culture is the system of symbols
that allows people to give meaning to experience. It bears all the accumulated knowledge of people coded
into symbols that will help them interpret what is happening to or around them, and how they can give an
appropriate response to the experience. This system is necessary because when an event or phenomenon
takes place, people need to response to it in a way that is rational to them. The meaning of the stimulus and
the kind of response appropriate to it depend on one’s systems of understanding. Every person has

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internalized shortcuts for giving meaning and meaningful responses code into the system, specially
inherited culture.
Culture provides people with systems of shortcuts for meaningful interpretation and responses.
Because a culture is handed down through generations, everyone knows that doctors cure when you are
sick; that profit is always good; that woman raise culture;and that men should set time aside to drink with
their friends. These examples are ideas we do not even think about but merely accept as true because
culture has provided their meaning and the proper action with regard to them. This is what culture does: it
takes the place of instinct to give people a quick representation and response based on collective experience
to the things that confront them.

Culture Can Change

Culture is superior to instinct because it is malleable or adaptable. It is both learned and inherited
and readily determines how one understand and acts. It also changes when its framing of reality is no
longer useful. It is the main difference between culture and instinct. The system that shapes human
behaviour is malleable. Unlike instinct that is generally coded and needs generations of mutation to be
recorded, people in their lifetime can transform their culture and effectively reshape their being in the
world. Just imagine how in one generation, self-promotion and publicizing the self, such as in social media
websites like Facebook, have become acceptable behaviors. If it becomes necessary to become vegetarian,
a person can choose it without having to reconfigure his or her DNA. Thus, culture is a versatile system of
meaning-giving.
he problem in this set-up, however, is that when cultural system orient people to act in a certain way
that is harmful, individuals tend to act destructively towards others without conscious decision. If a
community devalues women and oppresses them, people are almost always programmed by their cultural
system to act this way. In can thus be said that treating woman badly and women being receptive to this
bad treatment are due to a cultural system. This thought is worrisome because it means that the unjust
things we do are not the acts of our free will. On the other hand, it is hopeful because it means that we
behave the way we do due to systems that can changed. Thus, we can work together to change these system.
After all, the superiority of the systems of culture versus instinct lies in the fact that culture can be
transformed without waiting for genetic mutation to take effect. Culture can change when its system of
meaning no longer serves human flourishing. We must understand how culture can be changed so that the
world becomes more just to women.
To illustrate this point, examine microaggressionas a form of violence. Microaggression refers to
“hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults that can cause potentially harmful or unpleasant
psychological impacts on the target person or group. It is a subtle form of aggression that often works
against historically marginalized social groups.Microaggression against gender involve everyday acts that
send subtle messages about one’s supposed inabilities and roles because of gender. Some effects of
microaggression include internalized emotions such as guilt, resentment, anger, as well as a negative
implication on relationships. Microaggression is also a form of social control.
Examples of microaggression include instances in which boys are teased for engaging in culturally
feminine activities such as playing house or playing with dolls. Girls are teased for engaging in sports. Men
are told to “man up” if they need to be tougher. Woman are admonished or ostracized when they are too
ambitious. Thus,bakla, the term for homosexual male, is used to berate and control men’s behavior. The
statement “parakangbakla,”when used on men, is used to challenged and to show that being woman-like is
bad, thus demeaning women as a gender. Although seemingly harmless, these instances are a form of
correction that ensures that people do not stray from the culture’s definition of the good. In this case, men
as strong and masculine is considered “good,”and men as feminine as “bad.”

Sample Case
Sean’s group of all-male friends makes sexist jokes at the expense of woman, stating that being a

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is a disability, and that woman are less logical than men. He shared that while he himself is pro-women
and a feminist ally, he get pressured into making these jokes to bond with his block mates.

The picture is similar to what is called the “boy’s club,” that uses “banter” to “marginalized women”
to keep its power, and inadvertently reminds women that they are only allowed in certain spaces.
Violations of this space merit reprimand through jokes that are essentially sexist and hurtful.

This form of control can be understood as violent because as violent because it curtails individual
freedoms by limiting people in narrow definitions that may not contribute human flourishing. However,
those who commits acts of microaggression do not in a way feel that they have violated the rights of others
because they are acting according to the good defined by their culture.
In the realm of women and their rights, this scenario illustrates the necessity for critical reflection.
At present, there is an awareness that women are unfairly treated in society such that their human
flourishing, even their basic survival as human beings, is threatened. Thus, everyone has to take a closer
look at the culture and systems that define social structure in order to bring about genuine development to
all the people of the world, especially oppressed woman.
It is difficult to change culture. How do people change the way they perceive things and the way they
value or devalue things?Humans are born into their ways of thinking. Sexist or misogynist thinking is
inherited, which is why sexist jokes or harassment come naturally to some. And so we must ask ourselves
how to transform destructive ways of thinking. One important way is by consensually proposing universal
standard by which societies can be measured. Ideally, these universal standards are put forward by
international bodies such as the United Nations. If the people of the world understand that there are certain
benchmarks of humane and just behaviour, then nations and their governments could be criticized and held
accountable for violating universally agreed upon rules. Today, with regard to human beings in general,
and woman in particular, there are two such universal standards. One is already accepted by most countries,
and another is being proposed by a philosopher especially for her advocacy of woman’s right.

Activity 1 – Answer the following questions.

Name:_______________________________ Date:__________
Year/Course:_________________________

1. How does culture shape people’s perception of reality?

____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the main difference between instinct and culture?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

3. How does the Philippine culture view women and the LGBT?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

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4. Why is a change in culture important in achieving gender equality?

_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

5. Why are sexism and discrimination associated with culture and rationalities?
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________

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