Gender Equality

1. Gender Equality

2. Section 1: What is gender?

3. WHAT IS GENDER? Do you know what gender means? Is it different to sex? How?

4. Definitions Sex: The biological differences between men and women, determined at birth. Sexuality: is how people experience and express themselves in intimate relationships. This can refer to attraction and love as well as sexual contact. Gender: refers to the roles and responsibilities of men and women that are created in our families, our societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes the expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviors of both women and men (femininity and masculinity). These roles and expectations are learned. They can change over time and they vary within and between cultures. Gender Equality: means that women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full human rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political development. Gender equality is therefore the equal valuing by society of the similarities and the differences of men and women, and the roles they play. It is based on women and men being full partners in their home, their community and their society. Sexism: Discrimination against a person because of their sex

5. Quiz This quiz will test to see if you understand the difference between gender and sex. Read the statement and then choose whether you think it is because of biological reasons or social reasons. If you think it is biological, click sex. If you think it is social, click gender.

6. Statement 1 Women give birth to babies; men do not. Gender Sex

7. Answer: Sex Men cannot biologically give birth to babies

8. Statement 2 Little girls are gentle; boys are rough. Gender Sex

9. Answer: Gender Socially, girls are taught to be gentle and boys are taught to be tough. There is no biological reason that makes girls more gentle than boys.

10. Statement 3 When a certain child brought up as a girl learned the he was actually a boy, his school marks improved dramatically. Gender Sex

11. Answer: Gender Boys are not naturally more intelligent than girls, but many children are taught that they are.

12. Statement 4 Women can breast-feed babies; men can bottle feed babies Gender Sex

13. Answer: Sex Men cannot biologically breast-feed babies as they do not produce breastmilk

14. Statement 5 In ancient Egypt, men stayed at home and did weaving. Women handled family business. Women inherited property; men did not. Gender Sex

15. Answer: Gender Traditions related to who stays at home, who handles business and who inherits property are all taught. There is no biological reason for a woman to inherit property over a man or for a man to inherit property over a woman. This example also shows that current gender norms can be changed.

16. Statement 6 Men's voices break at puberty; women's do not. Gender Sex

17. Answer: Sex Men's voice boxes grow during puberty, this causes the deepening of the voice as they become adults. Female voice boxes cannot do this.

18. Statement 7 In a study of 224 cultures, men did all the cooking in 5 cultures and women did all the house building in 36 cultures. Gender Sex

19. Answer: Gender Biologically men are no better at cooking than women, and women are no better at house building than men. These skills are learned and the decision over whether they are taught to men or women is a gender distinction.

20. Statement 8 According to UN statistics, women do 67% of the world’s work, yet their earning for it amounts to only 10% of the world’s income. Gender Sex

21. Answer: Gender Women often get paid less than men for doing the same or similar work. Many women do not get paid at all for the work they do. There is no biological reason for this, and women have the right to equal pay.

22. Statement 9 Why does a girl get expelled from school for being pregnant while the boy who impregnated her is neither judged nor expelled? Gender Sex

23. Answer: Gender This gender prejudice blames the girl for becoming pregnant while excusing the boy from responsibility. Both parents should be held equally accountable in the case of a pregnancy.

24. Statement 10 Boys learn to do the same work or job as their fathers, and girls learn to do the same work as their mothers. Gender Sex

25. Answer: Gender There is no biological reason girls could not learn to do the same job as their fathers, this is a gender distinction rather than a sex distinction.

26. How did you do? If you got: 8-10 correct: Congratulations! You are an expert on gender! 4-7 correct: Very good, but make sure to revise the definitions for next time. 1-3 correct: Uh oh! Maybe you should revise the definitions and try the quiz again.

27. Section 2: Gender roles

28. Male stereotypes and their negative consequences Strong, daring, and brave • Risky behaviors: physical danger from daring acts and excessive drug or alcohol use • Use of violence (proving and policing gender norms) • Failure to use available services, such as health care Provider and protector (of women) • Stress or shame for not fulfilling these roles • Use of violence Heterosexual and sexually active • Homophobia • Sexual violence, date rape • Unsafe sexual practices (“real men” don’t use condoms and do have multiple partners) Do not show emotions; “boys don’t cry” • Inability to express emotions in healthy ways • Psychological disorders Entitled to privileges and services from women • Perpetuating sexism and other oppressive behaviors

29. Female stereotypes and their negative consequences Caring, nurturing • Responsibility falls to girls when someone in the household becomes ill • This can lead to girls leaving school or work Weak, vulnerable • Women are often not taught how to protect themselves • This leaves them open to abuse and violence Submissive • Women do not stand up for themselves • Reliance on men Emotional • They are thought unsuitable for positions of authority • It is believed that rational thought does not come naturally to them Quiet • If women are not heard, their needs are not addressed

30. Activity Activity Think of words or phrases that describe how boys and girls should act, or things they should like. Your teacher will make a list of your suggestions on the board or flip chart.

31. Gender Stereotypes These stereotypes are learned. While it is true that most men are physically stronger than most women, aggressive behaviour is not a consequence of strength. It is something boys are taught to do in order to fit in. For example, if a boy refuses to fight another boy, he may be called a 'wimp' or 'weak'. This will reinforce his desire to be seen as a 'man' and means that next time he is called names or teased, he may become aggressive in order to prove himself. Similarly, if a girl wants to climb trees and play football, she is called a 'tomboy' and told that her choices of activity are not ladylike.

32. Gender Stereotypes Gender stereotypes are harmful because they limit people's potential. There is nothing wrong with girls enjoying cooking or dressing up, and there is nothing wrong with boys liking sports. The problem is when we are told that if we do not like these things, we don't fit in. It removes people's personal choices and forces them into roles that they may not identify with.

33. Activity Activity Using the list of stereotypes you suggested, put up your hand if you identify with the stereotype the teacher reads out, regardless of whether it is a boys trait or a girls trait. Remember not to tease or insult anyone in the class if they have a different identity to you. Look around the classroom and see how or if the stereotypes hold true.

34. Section 3: Education

35. Boys are better than girls at science. True or False?

36. FALSE: Boys and girls are equally good at science, maths, languages, home economics and all other subjects. 

37. So why do people believe that boys are better at science and girls are better at home economics? Because of gender stereotypes. Think about your school. Are the boys encouraged to take science and maths, and are girls told that it will be too hard for them?

38. Girls: Did you want to take science but your teachers or parents told you not to? How did that make you feel? If they said it was too hard or that it was for boys, did you believe them?

39. Statistically, more girls stay at home from school or drop out of school than boys. Far fewer girls enter university after finishing secondary school. Some people believe that girls do not need an education as much as boys do. This is not true. Everybody, whether they are male or female, if they are able-bodied or have a disability, if they are HIV-positive or negative, if they are rich or poor, EVERYBODY needs an education.

40. The United Nations stresses the importance of education for girls in the Millennium Development Goals. The second goal is to achieve universal primary education and one part of the third goal (Promote gender equality and empower women) is to “eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015”. This means that by 2015, all girls and boys all over the world will have the same access to schools Both the UN Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Africa Union Protocol on the Rights of Women guarantee women's right to education.

41. Did you know? • Women make up 2/3 of all of the illiterate people in the world.  • 56% of children out of school are girls. • A single year of schooling can increase a woman's wages by 10-12%. • Mothers are less likely to die in childbirth if they have been to school and their children are 40% more likely to live past the age of 5. • Completing primary school makes you 50% less likely to become infected with HIV.

42. Section IV: Work

43. What is “a woman's work”? Is it caring for people, cooking or picking crops? Or is it being a doctor, a chef or a farmer?

44. Activity Read this story and discuss how it makes you feel. Mr. Moyo goes to the doctor 'What is your job?', asks the doctor. 'I am a farmer', says Mr. Moyo. 'Have you any children?', the doctor asked. 'God has not been good to me, of 15 born only 9 are still alive', answered Mr. Moyo. 'Does your wife work?' 'No, she stays at home.'

45. 'I see, how does she spend her day?' 'She gets up at four in the morning, fetches water and wood, makes the fire, cooks breakfast and cleans the homestead. Then she goes to the river and washes clothes. Once a week she walks to the grinding mill. After that, she goes to the township with the two smallest children where she sells tomatoes by the roadside while she knits. She buys what she wants from the shops. Then she cooks the midday meal.' 'You come home at midday?' 'No, she brings the meal to me about three kilometres away.'

46. 'And after that?' 'She stays in the field to do the weeding, and then goes to the vegetable garden to water.' 'What do you do?' 'I must go and discuss business and drink with the men in the village.' 'And after that?' 'I go home for supper which my wife has prepared.' 'Does she go to bed after supper?' 'No, I do, she has things to do around the house until 9 or 10.' 'But I thought you said she doesn't work?' 'Of course she doesn't work, I told you she stays at home.'

47. What do you think? Does Mr. Moyo's wife work? Do you think she works more than Mr. Moyo? Just because there is no paycheck does not mean that it is not work. A woman's work is anything she chooses to do, the same as a man's work is anything he chooses to do. The only reason people believe that there is work that women cannot do is because of gender stereotypes.

48. Did you know? • Globally, women earn approximately 78% of what men earn for the same work • Women are 40% of the world's work force but hold less than 20% of the management jobs • Women have a larger workload and work longer hours than men. After their official work day is over, they do an average of 4.5 hours more work, while men do 1.25 • 70% of people living on less than $1 a day are women • Only 1% of the world's assets are in the name of women

49. Quiz! We interviewed some girls and boys and asked them what they would use computers for in their jobs when they grow up. Choose whether you think each of the following sentences was said by a girl or by a boy.

50. 'As a judge I won't like to carry files everywhere so I store my information in a flash disk, then I can carry this.' Boy Girl