Defining Gender; Demystifying Gender

Defining Gender

Key concepts

Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics and attitudes that affect the relationships between women, men, girls, and boys that include the norms, roles etc. Gender determines ‘right’ from ‘wrong’ in a society; it influences career choices, employment opportunities that women and men decide to venture into and their relationships with society. The gender norms vary from one society to another.

Gender has always been misunderstood to be the promotion of women only, however, we should always remember that gender is both women and men and their access and control over resources.

Sex is the biological difference between women and men. This is mainly the physical factors that include the reproductive conditions or hormonal changes.

Gender equality; is the opportunities that are available for both women and men to have access to and control of social, economic and political resources.

Gender equity; is realizing the different needs of women and men, girls and boys and putting their preferences and interests into consideration in access to opportunities and resources. It puts into consideration the reality of women and men’s lives and ensures they have equal opportunities.

Gender mainstreaming; is the assessing the impacts of any projects, planned actions including legislation and programmes on women and men through all process from the planning stage to the implementation and reporting. Gender mainstreaming ensures the participation of women and men in all process of program implementation to ensure that all their needs are put into considerations and that inequality is not perpetuated.

Gender norms are beliefs and attitudes about women and men, girls and boys that are learned and passed from one generation to another. They vary from one society to another.

Gender roles are responsibilities that are ascribed to women and men at the household, community, and workplace of any given society.

Social Institutions that construct gender

Gender is constructed from the family to schools, religious institutions, state, and media. Gender construction emanates from our day to day interactions which defines what is expected, allowed, valued and culturally correct in the society which trickles down to gender relations and power.

Family and kinship is the first agent of socialization that greatly constructs gender. Children get ascribed to the different gender roles; a girl is expected to spend more time with the mother and the female relatives in the kitchen, cooking, fetching water and farming and venture into clerical work, customer care and cleaning services as their career options. They are to be timid, weak, and emotional and avoid any activities that place them in the public arena. Women being in private spaces limits their potential to participate in programs that benefit them. They believe they cannot hold any leadership positions nor are they allowed to participate in decision-making forum, the result is a big gap in women empowerment. Boys, on the other hand, are expected to be tough, not to express their feelings, act as warriors, and be out with their father and male relatives to provide for the family. There is a lot of pressure in men to provide for the family in our day of economic struggle, they are forced to engage in illegal activities just to provide for the family. Men have a shorter lifespan than women also due to the societal expectations for the provision of the family even when they are not capable.

Children spend more time in school with their teachers than their guardian and parents. School defines the gender roles and identity of children from playing and interacting with other children and care providers. Taking an example, when children are playing, it is deemed appropriate when the girls play together same with the boys, when the paradigm shift, there is an ‘excitement’ or ‘concern’ that will be directed to the girl reminding them to maintain their ascribed space. As children transit to higher learning institutions; boys are encouraged to take up mathematics and science-related courses, while girls are encouraged to take languages, social sciences, and humanities.

The state and political sphere construct gender by maintaining the status quo, the internal and external peace of the boundaries of the society. Most political parties will nominate men over women to represent them as flag bearers. Women get associated with the success of their marriages for them to be considered fit for political candidacy as compared to men. The lack of understanding of what gender is has made many politicians who are women to take up the roles with the notion that they have to be aggressive.

Media plays a key role in influencing gender roles and identities. The advertisements always have the men being the hero and venturing into careers that relate to sciences; a pilot, banker while women appear in advertisements on household items; kitchenware, acting as caregivers, not forgetting being depicted as sex tools in different movies or songs. This ends up shaping the reality, behavior, and expectation of their gender roles and career options they decide to venture into.

Religious and cultural institutions have also contributed to defining gender roles. Different churches have women serving as ushers as compared to men being pastors and priests. At Sunday school, a majority of the teachers are women as compared to men. Other institutions women are not allowed to worship together with the men, as they are seen to be ‘unclean’ due to their menstrual period.

Patriarchal systems develop from the gender roles that the children grow up into. The women tend to see themselves as inferior and not be able to participate in leadership roles or any decision-making sessions while on the other hand, boys pick up on roles that put them at the power level.

Mechanisms used for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment

To achieve gender equality, we must recognize that gender is often SITUATIONAL, this means, and that anyone can be vulnerable depending on situations.

The different mechanism that has been used to promote gender include:

National and international legislation; these are policies that focus on the gaps that affect the vulnerable groups. They include; the Beijing Platform of Action, Convection on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the African Union Gender Policy National Gender Policies.

Affirmative action; it is the protection of a vulnerable group from discrimination within a society. Women, youths, persons with special needs and refugees have benefited from affirmative action, by having more opportunities made accessible to them.

Gender platforms; that gives the vulnerable groups a voice, which leads to actions and enjoyment of their rights.

Note: Gender is women, men, boys and girls; refugees and persons with special needs. The Key is to move from a focus on DIFFERENCE to a focus on RELATIONS.

By: Nyabena Susan

POLITICAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND GIRLS

Women’s participation in politics makes a difference in development and economic growth. There are different views, talents, and perspectives that they bring into politics that shape the political agenda. Changes in how parliaments operate reflect the positive impact of the presence of women: an improvement in the language and behavior in parliaments; different prioritization of issues and policies; gender sensitivity in all aspects of governing, including budgeting; and the introduction of new legislation and changes to existing laws[1].

Political rights cover three substantial manifestations:

·         The right to vote and to be elected;

·         The right of everyone to participate in the administration of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;

·         The right to equal access to public service.

This implies the full participation and representation of women in the effective exercise of political power and in decision-making processes in all spheres of public and political life, on an equal basis with men and without any discrimination[2].

Both men and women face political violence when running for different political positions. The difference is that when women’s violence is associated with their gender, having the notion that they ought not to hold a political position as opposed to men’s violence that is associated with greed and competition. There is a direct relation between power and gender based violence which is evident in our patriarchal society.

Political violence manifests in physical violence (being mugged, stripped naked), abuses that target marital lives and physique, sexual abuses (mostly being rapped), either them or their children being kidnapped during their term in office and some end up being killed if they do not back down from the political race, economic violence, losing businesses and properties and when in political positions, other political partners make it difficult for them to partner in economic development projects.

The root causes of political violence;

·         Institutional causes; having laws that either restrict women from participating in the public sector or not having laws that defend women who take the risk to venture into the political world.

·         Socio-cultural causes; these emanate from the gender roles that are ascribed to women and girls. They are expected to take roles that put them in the private sectors as opposed to men that get the advantage of being in the public sectors.

Source: Violence Against Women in Politics A Defense of the Concept Mona Lena Krook and Juliana RestrepoSanín

Men are seen as the main perpetrators of violence against women in politics, but the psychological violence, (mostly verbal abuses) are led by the fellow women. Women face a significant amount of cyberbullying from social media platforms where users attack their gender roles as opposed to judging them by their quality of leadership. Motives are different depending on an individual’s interest. Men see it as a threat to the positions that they are running for.

Political violence against women goes unreported in fear that it may portray weakness and a liability to their political parties. Others fear the discrimination from the public and to be seen as incapable of handling challenges and the pressure that comes with the political position.

“Expressions, actions and practices of physical, psychological, sexual, economic and symbolic sexual violence faced by women who exercise their right to political representation, especially in local areas, this is done in order to frighten, pressure, or discredit them and force them to act against their will. In many cases, this is meant to make them resign their elective offices and/or to make political decisions with which they disagree; in others, to make them support discretionary decisions in the management of power and resources, against all ethics and standards of public management and the functions that public servants must fulfill” (Machicao, 2004, page 5).

The psychological trauma women experience leads to loss of lives and dignity; they are either raped, stripped naked and sometimes even they get killed. Such abuses make it difficult for them to participate in politics and affect their marriages and their children’s development.

Economic development and empowerment are hindered; Their motherhood tends to suffer; women dedicate most of their time to nurturing their family, engaging in politics has put them in a difficult situation of whether or not to take up the political positions over their families. In the end, they’d rather choose their family than the political positions. They lose the great opportunities that they have to build up their careers and develop economically.

The society at large suffers; women in elected positions are always under a lot of pressure in terms of their performance and often lack support from their male counterparts in the office. As a result, they may misrepresent the needs of the public and especially the needs of women in order to gain support from their male colleagues. In turn, the society is negatively impacted because the needs and expectations of women and the public will not be met.

Democracy is also suppressed. Violence discourages women to run for office which denies them the chance to participate in forming the government; hence they are unable to participate in decision making. VAWP is a violation of human rights which is a core principle of democracy.

Degradation, humiliation, and belittling of women engenders a sense of fear and insecurity in women victims. It prevents women from leading independent lives, curtails their movement and determines their dressing manner. It also increases vulnerability and dependence. The overall effect is that their potential goes unrealized and their energies are stifled as violence prevents women from participating fully in the life of the family, community and society at large.

Recommendations

1.    Implementation of specific laws that cater to women in politics, their ability to participate in politics freely without the fear of discrimination. The government can also partner with organizations that focus on the same line of work.

2.    Civic education to political aspirants; political parties are urged to have capacity building for their women political aspirants. Consider friendly timing that does not affect their gender roles.

3.    The media should work to create more awareness and be gender sensitive to the political aspirants. They should avoid language that demeans women or focuses on their personal lives instead of their political work.

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[1]UN Chronicle: Women in Politics - The Fight to End Violence Against WomenVol. XLVII No. 1 2010 February 2010

2UN Chronicle: Women in Politics - The Fight to End Violence Against Women Vol. XLVII No. 1 2010 February 2010

By: Nyabena Susan

Blogger/Gender Expert