gender presentation maria kambouri
TRANSCRIPT
3
By the end of this session students should be able to: Define what it is meant by gender Discuss the impact of gender on children’s
development Reflect on their own values around gender
Objectives
5
“ The knowledge that each individual belongs to one sex and not the other and that certain physical and behavioural attributes distinguish the two sexes.”
(Schaffer, 2009)
Sex and Gender: What is the difference?
Born with Biological
characteristics Universal Not changeable
Learned Social
characteristics Diverse,
culturally different
Changeable
SEX GENDER
_____ 1. Women give birth to babies, men do not.
_____ 2. Girls are gentle; boys are rough.
_____ 3. Women breastfeed babies; men can bottle-feed babies.
_____ 4. Doctors are men; nurses are women.
Gender or Sex?S
S
G
G
_____ 5. Boys don’t cry.
_____ 6. Boys are good at math and science and girls are good at language and history.
_____ 7. When one thinks of an engineer, one hardly ever thinks of a woman.
_____ 8. Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food and yet earn only 10% of the world’s income and own less than 1% of the world’s property.
Gender or Sex?
G
G
G
G
_____ 9. Boys’ voices break at puberty, girls’ do not.
_____ 10. A girl gets expelled from school for being pregnant, while the boy who impregnated her is neither judged nor expelled.
_____ 11. Kindergarten teachers should be women; men are not good at taking care of young children.
Gender or Sex?
S
G
G
Gender: the definition
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 expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviours of both women and men (femininity and masculinity).
(UNESCO’s Gender Mainstreaming Implementation Framework, 2003)
To sum up…
Gender = social and cultural construction or interpretation of differences between the sexes (masculinity/femininity)
Sex = biological distinction/differences (male/female)
Gender identity develops as the child moves through cognitive stages of understanding.
Children gradually construct their understanding of their own gender identity.
Kohlberg (1996)
Chromosomes. XX = female and XY = maleOr does it?
Internal organs External organs For 1.7% of all births the distinction is
unclear. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia Androgen insensitivity syndrome
Congratulations, it’s a ………….
Discussion
If sex is unclear in science terms, how or why do we feel so obliged to place people in
gender differentiated categories?
Natural and inevitable organiser at the core of our identity?
Simply a social construct?
Deeply embedded psychodynamic internal model of ‘self’?
‘Gendered’ children
Boy or girl? Why?
Schemas help organizing & sort Child uses the knowledge they have
to sort the world into categories New information is categorised accordingly Not only people. Sandra Bem.
Gender Schema Theory
Observation of the social world Watching Learnt behaviour Imitation and identification Rewards for ‘appropriate’ behaviour Bandura
Social learning & social cognitive theory
Freud first Nancy Chodorow Object-relations theory Internalize characteristics of what it is to be
female from the mother/child relationship – nurturing, caring. etc
Psychoanalytic Theory
Object relation theory Theory of developing ‘self from a psycho
analytical perspective Child build understanding through the
emotions evoked from first experiences of ‘objects’ (e.g. mother’s breast).
Conflict has to be resolved in order to move forward
Object-Relation Theory
Gender Equality
Women and men have equal conditions for realising their full human rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political development.
The result of the absence of discrimination on the basis of a person’s
sex
Does the teacher walk around the class and talk to girls and boys equally?
Does the teacher call on girls and boys equally?
Do girls and boys have equal opportunities to go to the chalkboard during a lesson?
Teaching-learning process
Classroom Environment
How are girls and boys depicted in posters and images?
Balance in the number of pictures of boys and girls in posters and decorations?
How are girls and boys women and men depicted?
Balance in the number of pictures of girls and boys, women and men?
What about play opportunities?
• Reflection of socio-cultural and historical values of a given society
• Contents of textbooks considered “legitimate knowledge”
Why Are Textbooks Important?
Gender in Textbooks
Think of your work place, your home and then the wider environment.
Do we live in feminised or masculinised society?
Is gender visible and does it impact on what you do?
Spend 10 minutes discussing in groups.
Parity on the road to Equality
PARITY
equal participation of both sexes in different levels of education
Focus on access, is a quantitative
concept
EQUALITY
achievement of equal outcomes for women and men
Broader social changes
Browne, N. (2004). Gender Equity in the Early Years, Maidenhead: Open University Press
Davies, B. (1989). Frogs and Snails and Feminist Tales, London: Unwin Hyman Ltd
UNESCO’s Gender Mainstreaming Implementation Framework (2003). Baseline definitions of key concepts and terms. (http://www.rodicovstvo.sk/buletin/gender_def_Equal_TCA_June.htm)
Ryde, R. (2012). Questioning Gender, London: Sage Publications Ltd
Schaffer, R.H. (2006). Key Concepts in Developmental Psychology, London: Sage Publications Ltd
Woodhead, M. and Montgomery, H. (2003). Understanding Childhood: and interdisciplinary approach, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd in association with The Open University
References: