Gender sensitization

GENDER
SENSITIZATION
NIMRA ZAMAN
PHARM.D (2011-15) MPH -01 (2017-19)
LIAQUAT UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL AND
HEALTH SCIENCES, JAMSHORO.(LUMHS).

OUTLINES
• Explain the meaning of gender
• Understanding gender roles, stereotypes and gender
issues
• Gender equality , equity, discrimination .
• Gender mainstreaming
• Explain roles of organization in promoting gender
equality and equity
• Gender responsive education

1.We Are All Born Free & Equal. We are all born
free. We all have our own thoughts and ideas.
We should all be treated in the same way.
2. Don’t Discriminate. These rights belong to
everybody, whatever our differences.
3. The Right to Life. We all have the right to life,
and to live in freedom and safety.
UNO

BUT DESPITE ALL ,
THE CONDITION IS QUITE
ALARMING
AND
UNFORTUNATELY
GENDER BASED
DISCRIMINATIONS ARE
dark REALITY

 Gender refers to the
 socially determined/constructed roles, (These
roles are influenced by the perception and
expectations arising from cultural, political,
environmental, economic, social and religious factors)
responsibilities,
behaviour,
characteristics of women and men in a given culture.
 Gender is socially learned/behavior based on social
expectation from men and women.

SEX GENDER
Biological Socially-constructed
Born with Not born with
Cannot be changed Can be changed
 To put it in another way, “Male” and “Female” are sex
categories, while “masculine” and “feminine” are gender
categories.

“Sex” refers to the biological and
physiological characteristics that define
men and women.
Hence sex is permanent and universal.
Sex refers to a person’s biological make-
up as male or female.
Typically, a person’s genotype (genetic
makeup) and phenotype (observable
traits) are used to determine a person’s
sex.
While sex is the determination of
whether a person is male or female
which is viewed and accepted as
‘natural
• “Gender” refers to the
socially constructed roles,
behaviors, activities, and
attributes That a given
society considers appropriate
for men and women.
Gender construction
varies from one society to
another
SEX AND GENDER

 Division of labour is roles and tasks assigned to W/M based
on perceived characteristics and attributes, instead of ability
and skills
Eg W/G household and child-Bearing responsibilities
Implications for life choices and opportunities
W=women; M=men; G=girl; B=boy
Gender relations are often unequal power
relations between W/G and M/B in a
given society

 Unlike sexuality, however,
 conflict can arise when someone does not feel at ease
with his or her gender role.
A person's sexuality comes from within him or her, making a
person heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, or asexual, depending
on the partners he or she is (or is not) attracted to.
gender roles are imposed from without, through a variety of
social influences. Formed during the socialization phases of
childhood and adolescence, gender role issues influence
people throughout their lives;

Judith Lorber(1994):
Gender is institution created by human to organize
their social life through the way of culture existed.
so gender role:
pattern of attitudes and behavior as well as
actions expected or understood by the
Community for men and women
The gender role would be changed and
vary along with various cultures, ethnics,
and social classes over the time.
Assimilated and learned, can change over
time and can vary within a given culture

 Women: Caring, gentle , passive, respectful,
Obedient, responsible at home, take care of child,
dress modestly, please to obey men, not to express
desires.
 Men : Make important decision for family (e.g)
spending or household expense, how many children
to have, do not show their soft emotions, take lead in
all relationships.

Gender Stereotype
An assumption about a person because they are
female or male.
Fixed ideas or assumptions about a group of people.
Individuals belonging to that group are assumed to have
the characteristics of
that stereotype.
•Contributes to gender inequality because what we
believe about women and men influences how we act
towards them.

 The process by which children acquire the values,
motives, and behaviors viewed as appropriate for
males and females within a culture is called Gender
Typing.
 Children develop gender-based beliefs, largely on the
basis of gender stereotypes; the latter are reflected in
gender roles. Children adopt a gender identity early in
life and develop gender-role preferences as well.

 Books and Television
 Peers, Gender Roles and Self-esteem
 Schools and Teachers

 In my textbooks I learned that only men are kings
and soldiers.
Till I read a book in which famous, queens ruled and
fought against enemies.
 In my textbooks I learned that only men are doctors.
When I went to a doctor I saw that she was a
woman.
 In my textbook I learned that only men do farming in
my country, until, on a train journey I saw women
working in the fields.

Challenges
 • Girls who do not conform to stereotypical
expectations can experience criticism, ostracism
and even violence.
 • This also puts unwarranted pressure on boys
who love to read, dislike fighting, or dislike
sports or mechanics.
 • Gender equality benefits both boys and girls
•As a child, boys get toys like trucks, guns and super
heroes while the girls are given dolls and cooking sets.
•This conditioning manipulates young
minds into believing that they must
act within their “given place” in the
society.

WHY GENDER IMPORTANT??
• Men and women are different;
• Despite of Biological differences; there are
socio, economic, culture even political
differences among them;
• The situation of gender that are different
(gender disparity) need to be understood;
– When one sensitize about gender disparity; the effort
for making equality would be more appropriate to
analyze the gender inequality and gender inequity
especially in health outcomes;
GWH WHO/SEARO 24 Nov 2006

GENDER
AWARENESS/SENSITIZATION
•The aim of gender sensitization is to make
people aware of the power relations
between men and women in society and
to understand the importance of affording
women and men equal opportunities and treatment.
• Put advancement for both gender (Gender and
Development = GAD)
– Problems more focused to women because: more
victims, women’s limitation, lower status in social etc
– Examples: Domestic Violence, Illiteracy, Trafficking,
maternal mortality etc. GWH WHO/SEARO 24 Nov 2006

Gender mainstreaming is a process of ensuring
W/M have equal access and control over resources,
development benefits and decision-making
 Not about only women taking action
 Not about only women benefiting from it

“Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of
assessing the implications for women and men of any
planned action, including
legislation, policies or programs, in all areas and at all
levels.
It is a strategy for making women's as well as men's
concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the
design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of
policies and programs in all political, economic and
societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally
and inequality is not perpetuated
“The ultimate goal is
To achieve gender equality.” – UN ECOSOC 1997”

 Patriarchy (rule by fathers) is a social system in which the male is the
primary authority figure central to social organization.
 Organized around an obsession with control by men and women
devalued for their supposed lack of control, women need men’s
supervision, protection or control.
Need for a paradigm change
 Needs to be boldly reconceptualized in terms of the
discourse of universal human rights.
On the platform of equality together we can with the gender
discrimination not merely with legal changes but definitely with
attitudinal changes

 Right to be born
 Right to grow and develop
 Right to choose with dignity
 Right to participate in development
 Need to empower not as a member of
particular gender category but as a human
being

 WHO Technical Paper on gender and health (1998) cites the main
criticism of WID policies as being that they continue to define
women themselves as the problem, who need welfare and
special treatment if improvements in their circumstances are
to be made.
(UK White Paper on International Development, 1997)
“The goal of achieving equality between women and men is
based on principles of human rights and social justice.
Empowerment of women is more over a prerequisite for
achieving people centered development…..The abolition of
poverty can not be achieved until men and women have equal
access to the resources and services necessary to achieve their
individual potential and fulfill their obligations to household,
community and, more broadly society ’’

GENDER in the WHO works
• WHO Gender policy in year 2002:
– To Contribute To Better Health For Women And Men
Through Health Research, Policies And Programs Which
Gives Due Attention To Gender Considerations And Promote
Equality And Equity Between Men And Women.
– One of the policy objectives is to
promote health equity and gender equality
between men and women throughout the life
course.

 Any distinction exclusion or preference based
on sex or gender, which has the effect of
nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity
and treatment.
 Causes:
caste, culture, religious beliefs, low income,
unemployment, society, family situation,
educational backwardness, family situation
and attitudes.
GD is mostly meant for women, because females are
the only victims of gender discrimination. Denial of
equality, rights and opportunity and suppression in
any form on the basis of gender is gender
discrimination.

1. more money for education of boys
2. Food-more to sons than daughters(Specially in villages)
3. Preference given to son, men’s wishes.
4. least priority for girls
5. female infanticide, feticide
6. poorly paid –no equal wages
7. discrimination at work places
8. not allowed to make choices even regarding pregnancy ,abortion
,contraception
9. held responsible for not giving birth to male child
10. violence against women-sexual violence harassment, forced prostitution
domestic violence, marital rape, wife battering
11. dowry harassment and death
12. marginalizing of unmarried woman and widows by society
13. Glorification of subservience to men ,self sacrifice

• 31million girls of primary school age remain out of
school
© 2017 The World Bank Group, All Rights Reserved.
• Women represent two thirds of the world’s 960 million
non- literate people
• In most developing countries, boys enrolment in school
exceeds that of girls
• Approximately two thirds of the 130 million children of
school age who do not or can not go to school are girls
(Data from World Health Report,1999)
• In PAKISTAN Only 35% of adult women are literate compared to 57% of
men;
• 50% of girls are enrolled in primary schools, compared to 80% of boys
(United Nations Development Programe, 2005; Sass & Ashford, 2002)

 A study of 45 developing countries found that the
average mortality rate for children under 5
was when their
When mothers had no education When mothers had education
144 per 1000 live births 106 per 1000 live births
(when they had primary
education only)
68 per 1000(when they had
secondary education)
(World Development Report 1998)

 Gender Inequality in relation to health
Lower status/social value in the household
Cultural factors such as lack of female health provider
Being excluded from decision making on health actions and expenditure
Lower literacy rates and reduced access to information
High opportunity costs of women’s labour time –distance, waiting time
etc.
 Social division of labour (women-informal care provider)
 Susceptibility and Treatment to infectious diseases-Malaria & Tb. High
 Public health issues like violence, alcoholism, smoking and life style related
problems
Women suffer a heavier burden of ill-health than men
and greater attention must be paid to their health needs

 Pakistan is trying to cope with the significant challenge of developing
an equitable and sustainable health care system that can
address the basic and special needs of women who are in reproductive
age.
 The contraceptive prevalence rate is 20% and the number of women
receiving appropriate antenatal care is negligible.
In this context, Pakistan lags far behind most
developing countries in women's health and gender equity,
standing 107 out of 174 countries in the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) Gender-related
Development Index (GDI) and
71 out of 102 countries on Gender Empowerment
Measurement (GEM).
2 million girls are at risk each year of female genital mutilation
(Data from World Health Report,1999

Women represent nearly 50 % of the world’s population, yet they
account for only about 41 percent of the formal workforce
“Gender equality is not only a social and moral
imperative, but also an economic need”
Globally, 50% of women participate in the
labor market, compared with 77% of men.
70% of woman-owned small and medium enterprises in
the formal sector in emerging markets are underserved
by financial institutions.
70% of the world’s 1.3 billion people living in poverty are
women
(Data from World Health Report,1999)
• Poverty is a gender
issue, 70% of world’s
poor are women and
girls
According to statistics from the World Bank,
women usually reinvest 90% of their income in
their families and communities compared to men who
reinvest just about 30% to 40% of their income.

Unemployment rate by sex and ethnicity
Source: Annual Population Survey, January 2004 to December 2004,
Office for National Statistics, UK
0 5 10 15 20
All ethnic groups
Chinese
Black African
Black Caribbean
Other Asian
Bangladeshi
Pakistani
Indian
Mixed
Other White
White Irish
White British
Females Males
Gender equality is an issue of development
effectiveness, not just a matter of political correctness or
kindness to women. (World Bank 2002)

GENDER IN CONTEXT OF VIOLENCE
U.N Declaration
UN declaration, 1993, on elimination of
violence against women defines violence
as :
Any gender based violence that results or
is likely to result in physical, sexual or
psychological harm or suffering to women.
Includes threats of such acts, coercion or
arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether
occurring in public or private.

 rape at least once during the
life of women.
USA 14-20%
Canada: 40%
 12-25 percent of all adult
women have been specified
that they were victims of rape
or attempted rape.
(Koss et al.,1997; Killpatrick et al.,1992; Randall and
Haskell, 1995)

 Globally, violence against women causes more deaths
and disability among women aged 15 to 44 than do
cancer, malaria, traffic accidents or war
(World Health Organization, 2005).
Violence Pandemia depends on gender
 Researches from various countries between the years
1986-1997: women within the percentage of 16-41, were
physically attacked by men with whom they had close
relations.
 Violence exposed is the 10th cause of death in the 15-44 age
group women.
 7% of all women deaths in the world are associated with violence.
WHO,1998

“The most common language is neither English nor
Spanish nor Hindi. The most common language is
silence - the language of the
world’s poor and marginalized women”
(Indira Gandhi)
 Women usually keep quiet out of fear, to
protect the family honor, for children’s sake or
 she thinks she is at fault.
 Many women think it is all normal and inevitable.

 Educating women is the best weapon
 Providing employment to women
 Economic independence
 Empowerment
 Self-confidence
 Decision making

• End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
• Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and
private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation
• Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and
female genital mutilation
• Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for
leadership at all levels of Decision making in political, economic and public life
• Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive
rights as agreed in accordance with the Program of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for
Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences
• Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well
as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property,
financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with
national laws.
•

 gender equality refers to equal opportunities and outcomes
for women and men. It is about valuing women and men
equally to enjoy the same status and are in the same position
to access resources and opportunities. Equality does not
mean that women should be the same as men. Promoting
equality recognizes that men and women have different role
• Gender equality is a precondition to overcoming
starvation, poverty & epidemic

 Gender equality refers to equal opportunities
and outcomes for women and men.
 Gender equality is about valuing women and
men equally to enjoy the same status and are in
the same position to access resources and
opportunities.
 Promoting equality recognizes that men and
women have different roles and needs, and
takes these into account in development
planning.

• "Gender equality requires equal enjoyment by women and men of
socially-valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards.“
When there is gender inequality, it is women that are more likely to be
disadvantaged and marginalized; but we should not ignore the negative impact
that gender inequality can have on men as well.
For
example, societal norms regarding the appropriate behavior for men tend
to put them under pressure as regards the need to provide materially for
their family, and also deny them opportunities of being more nurturing
towards their children and wife. Therefore gender equality is the concern
of all and changes must be brought about for both men and women.
However, this is not to say that men and women are equally affected by
gender inequality. It remains true that women have the greater share of
disadvantages.
•

However, gender equality, as defined , does not often result in
equal outcomes for men
and women.
Being given the same chances in life is not sufficient to bring
about true equality.
Women and men have different needs and experiences and
accommodation should be made for these differences.
For example, giving boys and girls equal access to all the courses
offered in a school may not result in girls taking advantage of
this opportunity if some courses are predominantly filled with
male students and have only male teachers. There is still the
unfortunate tendency to consider male norms as a measure for
women's position.

 If half the population has restricted or limited
access to relevant learning opportunities, a
community’s social and economic development
will be limited
 Necessary for sustainable human development
(gender equality linked with poverty
reduction)
 W/M are both drivers of social and economic
development

 Changing socio-cultural values, beliefs and
attitudes takes time and often meets with
resistance
 Resistance because there is difficulty seeing
that a problem exists
 Change is required at the individual,
community, institutional and societal levels
 Existing power structures must change
•.

 Strategic needs refer to the needs related to the promotion of the equal
and meaningful participation of boys, girls, men and women in their
family and community.
• Achieving gender equality is not a 'women's concern' but the
responsibility of all in society
• Promoting gender equality will benefit all in society.
• Gender equality needs to be addressed in all development programs
and at all stages of the programming cycle.
• Address practical and strategic gender needs
Practical needs must be addressed but gender equality cannot be
achieved without addressing strategic needs.

how gender equality can be achieved
Gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the
same rights and opportunities across all sectors of society,
including economic participation and decision-making, and
when the different behaviors, aspirations and needs of
women and men are equally valued and favored

Gender equity
• "Gender equity is the process of being fair to women
and men." (UNFPA)
• Women and men should not only be given equal access to
resources and equal opportunities, but they should also be given
the means of benefiting from this equality. This is where the
concept of ‘gender equity' comes into play.
The lower status of women in society often constitutes a
handicap and provisions should be made to redress this
inequality before they can take advantage of the opportunities
provided.
Gender equity thus serves to level the playing field and
empower women. Therefore, we can say that equity is
essential to achieve true equality

Obstacles to Making A Gender Sensitive
Organization
There is insufficient awareness (of gender and other aspects of
diversity) among staff in organizations; gender issues are still
widely understood as women’s issues only.
Power relations between men and women in our own
organizations are unequal in many ways, not just in terms of
gender parity in staffing.
Women do not have enough male allies in their organizations
indeed the interviews reveal residual male fear and
resentment of any attempts to change gender relations.
Continues-----

•What is the barrier between our words, our
policies and theories and what we do?
•Are we afraid that reflecting on gender in our
own organizations may be just too painful?
The organization should be one in
which not only women, but
everyone feels happy; one in
which most people’s best qualities
are stimulated and recognized

•We need to ‘sell’ the idea of gender in our organizations (and
with counterparts) via
dialogue rather than antagonizing or
mystifying.
• It is also important to emphasize
the opportunities for change rather than
concentrating only on finding and countering
resistance.

Essential Features to Make an Organization Gender
Sensitive
Gender equality should be a priority not only in the
organization’s mission statement, general objectives, and
policies, but also in its internal regulations (recruitment
procedures, terms and conditions for workers, etc.)
There should be greater parity in numbers and distribution of
staff, more – importantly, women on the staff and especially in
management must be committed to gender equality.
This means not feminine management, but feminist
management, understood as management (by both sexes) that is
committed to women’s empowerment.

The organization should offer non-gender stereotyped
roles and choices for both men
and women.
There should be space for, and encouragement of,
bottom-up initiatives and informal, ‘horizontal’ for ideas
and dialogue.
Accountability to women should be written into the
organization’s policies and carried out in its practice.
Adequate resources should be devoted to putting such
policies into practice.
Management-staff relations should be as non vertical
as possible: open, consultative, listening.

SUGGESTIONS
CHANGE IN POLICY
SEXUAL HARASSMENT AWARENESS
TRAINING
COMMITMENT FROM TOP
PRACTICES CONSISTENT WITH POLICIES
GENDER RESPONSIVE EDUCATION

“Gender” has primarily been
viewed
 As concerning only girls and women (a biological
category).
 As an isolated category, not related to other issues.
 In terms of provision of equal facilities.
 “Equality” as a goal, strategies adopted have
focused on:
 Increasing representation of these notions of gender in
educational material.
 “Sensitive” portrayals of discrimination that
girls/women face.
 Portraying positive role models and enacting role
reversals of stereotypes.
 Neutralizing texts of any gendered references.

Gender is not a women’s OR
men’s issue; it is a people’s
issue.
 Construction of power of one determines the
construction and power of the other.
 Unequal gender relations stunt the freedom of
all individuals to develop their human
capacities to their fullest.
 Undue pressure on boys and girls to live up to
the established norms of masculinity and
femininity.

 If we are committed to achieving education for all,
we must not view gender as a separate or
additional piece of work in education
programming.
 We must instead use a ‘gender lens’ when
planning, implementing, monitoring and
evaluating all of our work. A gender lens is like
putting on a pair of spectacles. Through one lens of
the spectacles we see the participation, needs and
realities of girls and women. We see boys’ and
men’s participation, needs and realities through
the other.
To get the full picture in any situation we must
look through both eyes

 Gender-responsive education is protective and involves
both male and female learners in working towards gender
equality. The reason being that gender is a cross-sectional
issue. Thus it:
 Addresses gender-based barriers so that all girls and boys,
women and men can learn
 Respects differences based on gender and acknowledges
that gender, together with age, ethnicity, language,
disability, and religion are all part of a learner’s identity
 Enables education structures, systems and methodologies to
be sensitive to all girls and boys, women and men
 Ensures gender parity in education as part of a wider
strategy to advance gender equality in society
 Continuously evolves to close gaps on gender disparity and
eradicate gender-based discrimination.

 Try using words inclusive of all humans
 Mankind Humanity
 Man-made Synthetic, manufactured, artificial
 Manpower work force, staffing
 Manhole utility hole
 Man the phones Staff the phones
 Man-sized big, large

 Need for change in level of thinking.
Problem cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that
created them.
- Albert Einstein.

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