SDE - Gender and Development

 Gender is one of the universal
dimension on which status

differences are based.
 Gender, unlike sex, is a social
construct specifying the socially
and culturally prescribe roles that
men and women are to follow.
 Gender shapes the lives of all
people in all societies.
 Gender influences all aspects of our
lives, the schooling we receive, the
social roles we play, and the power
THEORIES
1. Social Learning Theory
2. Cognitive-Developmental
Theory
3. Gender Schema Theory
Social Learning Theory
 Believes that parents, as the
distributors of reinforcement,
reinforce appropriate gender role
behaviors.
 By their choice of toys, urging
“boy” or “girl” behavior, and by
reinforcing such behavior, parents
encourage their children to engage
in gender-appropriate behavior.
Social Learning Theory
The Four Cognitive and Behavior Process
1. ATTENTION – people learn from a model when
they recognize and pay attention to its critical
features
2. RETENTION – how well the individual
remembers the model’s action
3. MOTOR REPRODUCTION – after observing the
model, the watcher must imitate the model
actions
4. REINFORCEMENT – motivated to exhibit the
modeled behavior if positive incentives or
rewards are provided.
Cognitive Developmental Theory
 Derived from Kohlberg’s
speculation about gender
development
 Children acquire their gender
identity and then, Kholberg
believes, they begin the process
of acquiring gender-appropriate
behaviors.
Gender Schema Theory
 Schema is a mental blueprint for
organizing information.
 Such schema helps a child to
develop gender identity and
formulate an appropriate gender
role.
 Children develop an integrated
schema or picture of what gender is
and should be
Gender
Stereotyping
Gender Stereotyping
 Defined as the belief humans hold
about the characteristics associated
with males and females.
 This process certainly simplifies the
ability to deal the world.
Gender Stereotyping
MEN WOMEN
 ACTIVE  LOVING
 ALOOF  PASSIVE
 AGGRESSIVE  PEACEFUL
 BRAVE  DEPENDENT
 INDEPENDENT  FEARFUL
Gender
Equality
 Sameness
 Gives women and men the same
entitlements to all aspects of human
development, including economic,
social, cultural, civil and political
rights, the same level of respect, the
same opportunities to make choices,
and the same level power to shape
the outcomes of these choices.
 Women’s empowerment is particularly
important for determining a country’s
demographic trends which affect its
economic status and environmental
sustainability.
 According to Gerda Lerner in The
Creation of Patriarchy gender, is the
“costume, a mask, a straitjacket on
which men and women dance their
unequal dance.
 Alan Wolfe observed in “The Gender
Question”, “of all the ways that one
group has systematically mistreated
one another, none is more deeply
rooted than the way mean have
subordinated women. All other
subordinations pale by contrast.
 Lerner argues that the subordination of
women preceded all other
subordinations and that to rid those
other “isms” – racISM, classicISM,
ageISM, etc, it is sexISM that must first
 Feminism has become an accepted
movement.
 Feminism means advocacy of women’s
rights on the ground of equality of
sexes.
 Many women all over the world today
are seeking equal status with me by
improving themselves through
education.
 Some men too, have become feminist –
meaning, helping advance the cause of
 The impact of inequality on women’s
lives varies tremendously.
 Gender equality has gained wide
acceptance as an important goal for
many countries around the world.
 The growing support for and attention
to gender equality is bolstered by the
assumption that it would improve the
lives of most people, especially those of
women and children.
 Many now consider enhancing gender
equality to be a vital component of
population policies, as expressed by
participants from 180 countries at the
1994 International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) in
Cairo.
 The participants agreed on the principle,
“advancing and empowering gender
equality and equity.”
 Gender shapes the lives of all people in
all societies.
 It influences all aspect of our lives, the
schooling we receive, the social roles we
play, and the power and authority we
command,
 Population processes- where women
and men live, how they bear rear
children, and how they die, are shaped
by gender as well. (Riley,1997)
 Strong evidence from around the world
confirms that gender equality accelerates
overall economic growth, strengthens
democratic governance, and reduces
poverty and insecurity.”
(Kemal Davis, UNDP Administration, 6 Sept.
2005)
 Throughout the world, women play a critical
role in the national economic growth and
development. Their contributions have a
larger impact on households and
communities, and it is women who most
 Reducing gender inequality in the
labor market will increase women’s
economic development and growth.
Furthermore, ensuring women’s equal
right to property and access to
resources is fundamental to the fight
against poverty.
 The full participation of women at all
levels of decision making is a basic
human right, one that is critical to
peace and development.
 Promoting gender equality and the
empowerment of women is an effective
strategy to ensure that the mother
Millennium Development Goals are
achieved.
 Giving women equal rights and
opportunities can only serve to enhance
this contribution and to bring us closer
to the goal of eliminating poverty,
hunger, and disease.
Gender
INEquality
 First, men and women are situated in
society not only differently but also
unequally.
 Second, this inequality results from
the organization of society, not from
any significant biological or
personality differences between men
and women.
 Third, although individual human
being may vary somewhat from each
other in their profile of potentials and
 Fourth, all inequality theories assume
that both men and women will
respond fairly easily and naturally to
more egalitarian social structures and
situations.
Gender
power
Gender Power
 refers to the  is a basic fabric
different ways society and is
men and women possessed in
play in society, varying degrees
and to the by social actors
relative power in diverse social
they wield. categories.
and
children
have been
often in
the
abusive
side of
power.
Max Weber
 in his “Essay in Sociology”, defined
power as the likelihood a person may
achieve personal ends despite
possible resistance from others.
 Weber also considered way in which
power can be achieved through
justice.
 Authority - power which people
determine to be legitimate rather
than coercive
 Women are in distinctive
Determinants of Power
 Status Resources
 Experiences
 Self-Confidence
 Males and Females, traditionally, have
had differing amounts of power at their
disposal.
 by virtue of the male's greater ascribed
status in society, men have more
legitimate power than do women.
 The serious social issue today is the
relative inequities in social power
between men and women.
Gender
education
Gender Education
 The past decade was witnessed a significant
increase in the importance accorded to
education, with both “instrumental” as well
as “intrinsic” arguments made for
increasing financial investment an policy
attention to education provision.
 Investing in education is seen as one of
fundamental ways in which nation states
and their citizens can move toward long-
term development goals and improve both
social and economic standards of living.
 The education of women is seen as
providing the key to securing
intergenerational transfers to
knowledge, and providing the
substance of long-term gender
equality and social change.
 Achievement are particularly visible in
the primary education sector, whereas,
gaps are still large in the secondary
and tertiary education.
 Schools also reinforce gender social roles.
 Researchers have documented the
differential treatment accorded to males
and females in the classrooms that
reinforces a sense of inferiority and lack of
initiative among female students. – Sadker
and Sadker,1988
 Boys are far more likely than girls to be
given specific information that guides the
improvement of their performance. -
Boggiano and Barrett, 1991

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 Gender is one of the universal

dimension on which status

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