Overview: Gender and Sex Concepts/terms

SUBJECT POLICIES AND GUIDELINES

To pass the course, you must:
1. Read all course readings and answer the self-assessment activities and reflections.
2. Answer the print-based discussion activities
3. Submit the self-assessment activities and reflection questions for midterm and finals
4. Submit the final project
5. Pass the Midterm and Final Exam

Evaluative Assessment Activities

A. Quizzes and Examination

Instructions: The examinations embedded in your module must be answered using the
provided evaluation tool. You are welcome to contact me if you need help and further
validation and verification. Just don’t forget to indicate your name, course, and section
upon messaging me through any media of communication I put in.

B. Projects
Instruction: There will be assignments that will comprise the final project for this course.
The evaluation tools for these assignments are provided in this module.
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After studying this module, you are expected to:
a. Define gender and gender concepts/terms
b. Reflect on gender and gender differences and their implications to societies.
c. Familiarize the national and international legal frameworks for gender equality.

Overview
Gender and Society is a three-unit course that ignites awareness to the students’
understanding of our country’s current problems in Gender inequality, Gender
mainstreaming, Gender preferences, and the likes. It equips the students with a broader
perspective on their gender roles as they discern stereotypes and discriminations as
dictated by the society. It prepares students to be more gender sensitive in words and in
actions as they build a new society filled with gender responsive individuals.

DISCUSSION
1.1 Gender and Society
Gender is also a social construct. As the World Health Organization (WHO)Trusted Source
explains: “Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and
men, such as norms, roles, and relationships of and between groups of women
and men. It varies from society to society and can be changed.”

Gender roles in some societies are more rigid than in others. However, these are not
always set in stone, and roles and stereotypes can shift over time. A 2018 meta-analysis
of public opinion polls about gender stereotypes in the U.S. reflects this shift.
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People often use the terms “sex” and “gender” interchangeably, but this is incorrect. Sex
and gender are different, and it is crucial to understand why.

“Sex” refers to the physical differences between people who are male, female, or
intersex. A person typically has their sex assigned at birth based on physiological
characteristics, including their genitalia and chromosome composition. This assigned sex
is called a person’s “natal sex.”

Gender, on the other hand, involves how a person identifies. Unlike natal sex,
gender is not made up of binary forms. Instead, gender is a broad spectrum. A person
may identify at any point within this spectrum or outside of it entirely. People may identify
with genders that are different from their natal sex or with none at all. These identities
may include transgender, nonbinary, or gender-neutral. There are many other ways in
which a person may define their own gender. Gender also exists as social constructs — as
gender “roles” or “norms.” These are defined as Trusted Source as the socially constructed
roles, behaviors, and attributes that a society considers
appropriate for men and women.

1.2 Definition of Sex vs. Gender

At birth, the difference between boys and girls is their sex; as they grow up, society gives
them different roles, attributes, opportunities, privileges, and rights that in, the end,
create the social differences between men and women.

Sex Gender
Biological characteristics (including Socially constructed set of roles and
genetics, anatomy and physiology) that responsibilities associated with being girl
generally define humans as female or and boy or women and men, and in some
male. Note that these biological cultures a third or other gender.
characteristics are not mutually exclusive;
however, there are individuals who
possess both male and female
characteristics.
Born with. Not born with.
Universal, A-historical Gender roles vary greatly in different
No variation from culture to culture or time societies, cultures and historical periods as
to time. well as they depend also on socio-
economic factors, age, education, ethnicity
and religion.
Cannot be changed, except with the Although deeply rooted, gender roles can
medical treatment. be changed over time, since social values
and norms are not static.

Example: Only women can give birth. Example: The expectation of men to be
Only women can breastfeed. economic providers of the family and for
women to be caregivers is a gender norm
in many cultural contexts. However,
women prove able to do traditionally male
jobs as well as men (e.g. men and
women can do housework; men and
women can be leaders and managers).
Legal basis for the study of Gender and Society
After studying this lesson, you are expected to:
a. Familiarize with the Philippine Laws concerning sex and gender.
b. Recognize the significance of knowing the Philippine laws concerning sex and
gender.
c. Create a timeline of the following the social changes in the creation of laws
strengthening gender development in the country.

Overview
This lesson will look at the developments that have occurred in the introduction of
legislation that promotes gender equality in the country, from the international bill CEDAW
to the Republic Act 9710: Magna Carta of Women.

What is CEDAW?
Known as the International Bill of Rights of Women, Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the United Nations in
1979 and took effect on 3 September 1981. The Philippines signed the CEDAW on 15 July
1980 and ratified it on 5 August 1981, the first ASEAN country to do so. As of May 2015,
the Convention has been ratified by 189 states.

The Philippines also ratified the Optional Protocol to the CEDAW on November 12,
2003, which established two mechanisms that enable women to seek redress for
violations of CEDAW through the communication procedure and the inquiry procedure.
The CEDAW is the only human rights treaty which affirms the reproductive rights
of women and targets culture and tradition as influential forces shaping gender
roles and family relations. It affirms women’s rights to acquire, change or retain their
nationality and the nationality of their children.

The Convention defines discrimination against women as “any distinction,

exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose
of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective
of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and
fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social,
cultural, civil, or any other fields.”

The CEDAW Convention is built on three foundational principles: non-discrimination,

state obligation and substantive equality.
o Non-discrimination is integral to the concept of equality. The Convention
seeks to eliminate discrimination against women in all fields and spheres, and
holds both state and non-state actors in the case of violation of rights.
o State obligation embodies the elements, that is, respect, protection, promotion, and
fulfillment of human rights. It also upholds the concept of due diligence
which demands ensuring the prevention, investigation, and sanctioning of
private acts of discrimination. The legislature, executive and judiciary organs
of government are responsible for the fulfillment of all state obligations.
o o Substantive equality acknowledges as products of negative female
stereotypes, and consequently seeks to eliminate discrimination at the
individual, institutional, and systemic levels through corrective and positive
measures including enabling conditions and affirmative actions. It seeks to
 correct imbalance and focuses on achieving “equality of outcomes” by
ensuring equal opportunities, access and benefits for women.

Aside from ratifying the CEDAW, the Philippines can be credited for creating its
first working draft through Dr. Leticia Ramos-Shahani, who was working as a diplomat
at the Department of Foreign Affairs at the time and would eventually become the
Secretary-General of the World Conference on the UN Decade of Women in Nairobi,
Kenya in 1985 and the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Social and Humanitarian
Affairs. Dr. Ramos-Shahani sought the support of Russian delegate Tatiana Nikolaeva for
the CEDAW draft, famously earning the ire of then Foreign Affairs Secretary
Carlos P. Romulo. The CEDAW draft was successfully adopted as the basic working
paper.

The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines – Article II

The 1987 Constitution states two prominent provisions. The first in the Declaration of
Principles Article II Section 14, which asserted that “The State recognizes the role of
women in nation-building and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of
women and men.” Additionally, the Article XIII-Labor: Section 14 provided that “The
state shall protect working women by providing safe and healthful working conditions
taking into account their maternal functions, and such facilities and opportunities that
will enhance their welfare and enable them to realize their full potential in the service of
the nation”
Republic Act 7192: Women in Development and Nation Building Act

AN ACT PROMOTING THE INTEGRATION OF WOMEN AS FULL AND EQUAL PARTNERS

OF MEN IN DEVELOPMENT AND NATION BUILDING AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Section 1. Title. — This Act shall be cited as the “Women in Development and Nation Building
Act.”
Sec. 2. Declaration of Policy. — The State recognizes the role of women in nation building and
shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men. The State shall provide
women rights and opportunities equal to that of men.
To attain the foregoing policy:
(1) A substantial portion of official development assistance funds received from foreign
governments and multilateral agencies and organizations shall be set aside and utilized by the
agencies concerned to support programs and activities for women;
(2) All government departments shall ensure that women benefit equally and participate directly in
the development programs and projects of said department, specifically those funded under official
foreign development assistance, to ensure the full participation and involvement of women in the
development process; and
(3) All government departments and agencies shall review and revise all their regulations, circulars,
issuances and procedures to remove gender bias therein.
Sec. 3. Responsible Agency. — The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) shall
primarily be responsible for ensuring the participation of women as recipients in foreign aid, grants
and loans. It shall determine and recommend the amount to be allocated for the development activity
involving women.
Sec. 4. Mandate. — The NEDA, with the assistance of the National Commission on the Role of
Filipino Women, shall ensure that the different government departments, including its agencies and
instrumentalities which, directly or indirectly, affect the participation of women in national
development and their integration therein:
(1) Formulate and prioritize rural or countryside development programs or projects, provide income
and employment opportunities to women in the rural areas and thus, prevent their heavy migration
from rural to urban or foreign
countries;
(2) Include an assessment of the extent to which their programs and/or projects integrate women in
the development process and of the impact of said programs or projects on women, including their
implications in enhancing the self-reliance of women in improving their income;
(3) Ensure the active participation of women and women’s organizations in the development
programs and/or projects including their involvement in the planning, design, implementation,
management, monitoring and evaluation thereof;
(4) Collect sex-disaggregated data and include such data in its program/project paper, proposal or
strategy;
(5) Ensure that programs and/or projects are designed so that the percentage of women who receive
assistance is approximately proportionate to either their traditional participation in the targeted
activities or their proportion of the population, whichever is higher. Otherwise, the following should
be stated in the program/project paper, proposal or strategy;
(a) The obstacle in achieving the goal;
(b) The steps being taken to overcome those obstacles; and
(c) To the extent that steps are not being taken to overcome those obstacles, why they are not
being taken.
(6) Assist women in activities that are of critical significance to their self-reliance and development.
Sec. 5. Equality in Capacity to Act. — Women of legal age, regardless of civil status, shall have
the capacity to act and enter into contracts which shall in every respect be equal to that of men under
similar circumstances. In all contractual situations where married men have the capacity to
act, married women shall have equal rights.
To this end:
(1) Women shall have the capacity to borrow and obtain loans and execute security and credit
arrangement under the same conditions as men;
(2) Women shall have equal access to all government and private sector programs granting
agricultural credit, loans and non-material resources and shall enjoy equal treatment in agrarian
reform and land resettlement programs;
(3) Women shall have equal rights to act as incorporators and enter into insurance contracts;
and
(4) Married women shall have rights equal to those of married men in applying for passport,
secure visas and other travel documents, without need to secure the consent of their spouses.
In all other similar contractual relations, women shall enjoy equal rights and shall have the
capacity to act which shall in every respect be equal to those of men under similar
circumstances.
Sec. 6. Equal Membership in Clubs. — Women shall enjoy equal access to membership in
all social, civic and recreational clubs, committees, associations and similar other organizations
devoted to public purpose. They shall be entitled to the same rights and privileges accorded to
their spouses if they belong to the same organization.
Sec. 7. Admission to Military Schools. — Any provision of the law to the contrary
notwithstanding, consistent with the needs of the services, women shall be accorded equal
opportunities for appointment, admission, training, graduation and commissioning in all
military or similar schools of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National
Police not later than the fourth academic year following the approval of this Act in accordance
with the standards required for men except for those minimum essential adjustments required
by physiological differences between sexes.
Sec. 8. Voluntary Pag-IBIG, GSIS and SSS Coverage. — Married persons who devote full
time to managing the household and family affairs shall, upon the working spouse’s consent,
be entitled to voluntary Pag-IBIG (Pagtutulungan — Ikaw, Bangko, Industriya at Gobyerno),
Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) or Social Security System (SSS) coverage to
the extent of one-half (1/2) of the salary and compensation of the working spouse. The
contributions due thereon shall be deducted from the salary of the working spouse.
The GSIS or the SSS, as the case may be, shall issue rules and regulations necessary to
effectively implement the provisions of this section.
Sec. 9. Implementing Rules. — The NEDA, in consultation with the different government
agencies concerned, shall issue rules and regulations as may be necessary for the effective
implementation of Sections 2, 3 and 4, of this Act within six (6) months from its effectivity.
Sec. 10. Compliance Report. — Within six (6) months from the effectivity of this Act and
every six (6) months thereafter, all government departments, including its agencies and
instrumentalities, shall submit a report to Congress on their compliance with this Act.
Sec. 11. Separability Clause. — If for any reason any section or provision of this Act is
declared unconstitutional or invalid, the other sections or provisions hereof which are not
affected thereby shall continue to be in full force and effect.
Sec. 12. Repealing Clause. — The provisions of Republic Act No. 386, otherwise known as
the Civil Code of the Philippines, as amended, and of Executive Order No. 209, otherwise
known as the Family Code of the Philippines, and all laws, decrees, executive orders,
proclamations, rules and regulations, or parts thereof, inconsistent herewith are hereby
repealed.
Sec. 13. Effectivity Clause. — The rights of women and all the provisions of this Act shall
take effect immediately upon its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of
general circulation.
Beijing Platform for Action
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action or BPfA is a landmark document for
advancing the rights of women and gender equality worldwide agreed during the 4th
World Conference on women in 1995. The international community came to a consensus
and agreed to a comprehensive blueprint of commitments supporting the full development
of women and their equality with men in 12 areas of concern: (1) women and poverty; (2)
education and training of women; (3) women and health; (4) violence against women; (5)
women and armed conflict; (6) women and the economy; (7) women in power and
decision-making; (8) institutional mechanisms; (9) human rights of women; (10) women
and media; (11) women and the environment; (12) the girl child.

The BPfA affirmed the principles that would govern future actions and strategies for
women, and firmly set in place an agenda for empowering women by integrating their
concerns in national plans and policies. Governments and the UN agreed to promote
gender mainstreaming as a strategy to ensure that a gender perspective is reflected in all
policies and programs at the national, regional and international levels.
For the Philippines, the Beijing Conference broadened the discussions on women’s rights
to include violence against women, women’s leadership and political participation and
economic concerns. It connected what were previously regarded as women’s issues with
other pressing concerns on the environment, human rights, population, and armed
conflict. The country also adopted gender mainstreaming as the strategy to advance
women’s rights in the country.

The country submitted its Philippine Progress Report on the Implementation of the Beijing
Declaration and Platform of Action and the Outcomes of the 23rd Special Session of the
General Assembly (2000) or BPfA+20 in 2015. It provided an overview of the major
achievements and challenges since the passage of the BPfA in 1995; updates on the 12
BPfA areas of concern covering the period 2009-2013; as well as the emerging issues to
inform the future process of selecting the post-2015 development agenda and successors
to the Millennium Development Goals.

In 2019, the State has submitted the BPfA+25 Progress Report which includes an
assessment of current challenges that affect the implementation of the agreements
enshrined in the BPfA. It also highlighted major achievements on gender equality and
empowerment of women and its contribution towards the full realization of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development through a gender perspective. The Report was
launched officially in August, 2019 as part of the 10th anniversary celebration of the
passage of the Magna Carta of Women.

Republic Act 9710: Magna Carta of Women

The Magna Carta of Women (MCW) is a comprehensive women’s human rights law that
seeks to eliminate discrimination through the recognition, protection, fulfillment, and
promotion of the rights of Filipino women, especially those belonging in the marginalized
sectors of the society. It conveys a framework of rights for women based directly on
international law.

The MCW establishes the Philippine government’s pledge of commitment to the

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’s (CEDAW)
Committee in its 36th Session in 2006 and to the UN Human Rights Council on its first
Universal Periodic Review in 2009. It is the local translation of the provisions of the
CEDAW, particularly in defining gender discrimination, state obligations, substantive
equality, and temporary special measures. It also recognizes human rights
guaranteed by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR).

Salient features of the law include:

Increasing the number of women in third level positions in government to achieve a
fifty-fifty (50-50) gender balance within the next five years while the composition of
women in all levels of development planning and program implementation will be at least
40 percent;
• Leave benefits of two (2) months with full pay based on gross monthly
compensation for women employees who undergo surgery caused by gynecological
disorders, provided that they have rendered continuous aggregate employment
service of at least six (6) months for the last twelve (12) months;
• Non-discrimination in employment in the field of military, police and other similar
services that include according the same promotional privileges and opportunities
as their men counterpart, including pay increases, additional benefits, and awards,
based on competency and quality of performance.
• Provision for equal access and elimination of discrimination in education,
scholarships, and training. Thus, “expulsion, non-readmission, prohibiting
enrollment, and other related discrimination of women students and faculty due to
pregnancy out of marriage shall be outlawed.
• Non-discriminatory and non-derogatory portrayal of women in media and film to
raise the consciousness of the general public in recognizing the dignity of women
and the role and contribution of women in family, community, and the society
through the strategic use of mass media;
• Equal status given to men and women on the titling of the land and issuance of
stewardship contracts and patents.

In addition to guaranteeing substantive rights, the MCW establishes the responsibility of

the government to take actions in order to end discrimination against women. It provides
that the Philippines government must “ensure the substantive equality of men and
women” and mandates the State to take steps to review, amend or repeal existing laws
that are discriminatory towards women.

The Government, in its entirety, shall fulfill these duties through the development and
implementation of laws, policies, regulatory instruments, administrative guidelines, and
other appropriate measures. It shall also establish mechanisms to promote the coherent
and integrated implementation of the MCW and other related laws and policies to
effectively stop discrimination against Filipino women.

The MCW mandates all government offices, including government-owned and controlled
corporations and local government units to adopt gender mainstreaming as a strategy for
implementing the law and attaining its objectives. It also mandates (a) planning,
budgeting, monitoring and evaluation for gender and development, (b) the creation
and/or strengthening of gender and development focal points, and (c) the generation and
maintenance of gender statistics and sex-disaggregated databases to aid in planning,
programming and policy formulation.