gender and society across time

Lesson 2
objectives

 discuss the historical roots of our

understanding of gender and sexuality
 show appreciation of how this
understanding evolved through time and
how this affected various aspects of
human life
introduction

 Society has progressed so much

in a way that information and
knowledge is available to
everyone. This gives us an
opportunity to examine our
social and political conditions in
more detail than when
information was scarce and
limited to only a few individuals.
 Archeological artifacts reveal
that in the distant past,
during the dawn of
civilizations, human societies
have high regard for women.
 Divine Feminine
concept (the sacredness
of women due to their
ability to conceive
children)
egalitarian society
(men and women have
equitable power and
roles)
 However, humans’ discovery of paternity
(fatherhood/role of the father in contraception)
during the Agricultural era, changed how
societies viewed women and men
 Societies have privileged men over other
genders
 preference given to men in the productive
sphere (world of public work)
 while women were viewed solely capable
only of reproductive affairs (world of the
home and related tasks suckling the young,
child rearing and home management)
 Gender disparity was intensified by the
Industrial era where factories were built, and
men were preferred
 men do not have to bear children for nine
months
 men’s perceived physical strength
 men’s perceived physical
strength
patriarchy

 a system based on the control and

oppression of women wherein they are
perceived as the weaker sex
 structural and upholds the supremacy in
the law, at home, in the workplace, and
in society
 patriarchy
 from the Greek word
Patriakhes meaning ‘the
rule of the father’
 a social system where
men primarily holds
power in the political
and the private
spheres (meaning
society is organized and
maintained in a way that
men rule over women
and their children).
patriarchy

 In the social, legal, political, and

economic spheres, men are
expected to lead while women are
expected to obey and relegated to
house chores, bearing children, and
child care.
patrilineal society

 this usually follows a patriarchal society

where only men can inherit property and
the family name.
 women were left with no inheritance and
are expected to marry a man who can
support her economically.
patrilineal society
 Women were not allowed to go to
schools, or even vote because they are
viewed as the weaker sex and should
not concern themselves in learning
science and politics.
 Women had to fight for the right to vote,
to go to schools, to go to work, and even
participate in politics.
patriarchy
 viewed by most sociologists as a social
construct and not as a biological
phenomenon
 the prehistoric hunter-gatherer tribes
prioritized equality of all members, men
and women
 egalitarian system prevailed
 men and women contribute to society,
and enjoy same social status
 the prehistoric
hunter-gatherer
tribes prioritized
equality of all
members, men and
women
 Friedrich Engels, a German philosopher
and sociologist, argues that patriarchy
came about when people started having
private property instead of communal
living.
 The development in agriculture and
domestication of animals led to the creation of
product surplus allowing people to have private
property.
 As a way to control wealth generated by these
advancements, male dominance was asserted
over women so only the male heir can inherit
family wealth
 Friedrich Engels, a
German philosopher
and sociologist
historical views on
gender
 Greek
 Aristotle, Plato, and other Greek
philosophers viewed women as
the inferior sex and are
properties of men whose only job
was to obey their husbands, bear
children, and take care of the
household. They were forbidden
to learn philosophy, politics, and
science.
 historical views on
gender
 Egypt
 Herodotus, a Greek historian,
observed the Egyptian civilization
citing that Egyptian women
enjoyed higher social status than
Greek women because they can
inherit property and engage in
trade and politics. However, Greek
influence quickly spread in Egypt
through the conquests of
Alexander the Great across Asia
and Africa.
 Egyptian women enjoyed
higher social status than Greek
women because they can
inherit property and engage in
trade and politics.
historical views on gender
 China
 Confucianism has stringent written rules
that dictate how women should conduct
themselves. The written documents titled
‘Three obedience’s and four virtues’ and
‘Precepts of women’ states that women
should obey their father, when married she
is to obey her husband, and when widowed
she is to obey her son.
Confucianism on gender
gender biases
 Sexism - prejudice, stereotypes, and
discrimination based on sex
 Gender pay gap - men earn more than
women
 Underrepresentation in politics, military,
executive positions, etc.
 Rape on women and stigma on women on how
they behave
gender biases
 Very conservative expectations on women on
how they behave
 Unrealistic depictions of women in fiction,
often very sexualized
 Women do more housework and childcare
 Boys were trained to be leaders while women
were trained to do house chores
 women
empowerment
 Women’s liberation
movement, women’s
movement, or feminism
is a continuing series of
social movements that
aim to challenge the
patriarchal society that
creates these oppressive
political structures,
beliefs, and practices
against women.
women
empowerment
 First wave feminism (19th
and early 20th century),
spread across the western
countries as women
demanded for their right
to vote or participate in
elections and to be ably
to legally own property.
 women empowerment
 In France, Simone de Beauvoir wrote a book titled
‘The Second Sex” in 1949 outlining how the
patriarchal society disadvantages women by slowly
raising her into submission and hindering their
productivity and happiness by relegating them to
housekeeping.
 This book was instrumental in awakening women
about their plight as the ‘wife-servant’ to their
husbands in her famous quote ‘one is not born,
but becomes, a woman’.
Simone de Beauvoir
 Betty Friedan (The
Feminine Mystique,
1963)
 Kate Millet (Sexual
Politics, 1969)
 Germaine Greer (The
Female Eunuch, 1970)
women empowerment
 Le Mouvement de Liberation des Femmes or
the women’s liberation movement was formed
in Europe and they sought the right to
education, right to work, and right to vote in
the 1940s.
 Later, they also won women’s right to decide
on their own bodies and sexuality.
 This movement views the intersectionality of
economic status or class to patriarchy.
women empowerment
 Second wave feminism (1960s through the
80s), women drew attention to various social
and cultural inequalities such as domestic
violence especially marital rape, reproductive
rights, wage inequality, etc.
 Third wave (90s)
 Fourth wave (2012 – present)
United Nations
reports…

 Women do more work

than men

 Women perform 66
percent of the worlds
work, produce 50
percent of the food, but
earn 10 of the income
and own 1 percent of
the property
Feminism demands….
 Women suffrage
 Equality in politics and society
 Reproductive rights
 Domestic violence
 Sexual harassment and sexual violence
 Other rights including right to divorce
husbands, right to make decisions on her
pregnancy, equitable wages, and equal
employment opportunity
Women suffrage
 Reproductive rights
 Stopping domestic violence
 Sexual
harassment and
sexual violence
 equitable wages,
and equal
employment
opportunity
End