Boys and Girls, Men and Women
Background Information to Lesson 5
Boys and Girls, Men and Women
1.Introduction
Whereas Lesson 3 discussed physical differences between girls and boys, Lesson 5 and the Background Information provided here deal with the social differences between men and women and boys and girls: their gender roles. Boys and girls are raised in different ways and are treated differently, and they are expected to play different roles in society. These gender roles are not naturally given but socially constructed, taught and modelled by family, society, culture and traditions. Traditional roles and views are increasingly being questioned all over the world, and this is not different in Kenya.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), women’s organisations and human rights movements call for a more equal division of power, work and roles in order to improve the quality of lives of women and men and girls and boys. In many societies, women lack decision-making and economic powers. This places women in a dependent and vulnerable position, which often results in a denial of their needs and rights and their sexual and reproductive health problems. It may even lead to acts of violence against women, such as wife beating, female genital cutting (FGC) and sexual abuse. Therefore, it is important to promote equal rights and an equal division of power between men and women, preferably from the moment the socialisation of children starts: their birth. This is what gender is about.
This Background Information provides information on gender roles, gender stereotypes and expectations of boys and girls and how these affect the lives of adolescents. Finally, it gives some tips on how to create gender equality in the classroom and in school.
2.Definitions: sex, gender, equality, equity and inequality
Gender is often confused with sex, but there is a marked difference between both terms. The World Health Organization (WHO) uses the following definitions[1]: Sex refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women. For example, men have testicles, a penis and the ability to produce sperm; women have breasts, a vagina and the ability to bear and breastfeed children. Some examples of sex characteristics include[2]:
-Women menstruate whereas men do not.
-Men have testicles while women do not.
-Women have developed breasts that are usually capable of lactating, whereas men do not.
-Men generally have more massive bones than women.
Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women. Gender refers to widely shared ideas, expectations and norms relating to women and men. These include ideas about ‘typically’ feminine and masculine characteristics and abilities, as well as commonly shared expectations about how women and men should behave in various situations. These ideas and expectations are passed on by family, friends, opinion leaders, religious and cultural institutions, schools, the workplace, advertising and the media. They reflect and influence the different roles women and men can play in society, and the social status and economic and political power they can have.[3] Here are some examples of gender characteristics:
-In most countries worldwide, women earn significantly less money than men for similar work.
-In Saudi Arabia, men are allowed to drive cars whereas women are not.
-In most of the world, women do more housework than men.
Gender roles
Gender roles are learned behaviours in a given society, community or other social group. They condition activities, tasks and responsibilities that are perceived as male or female. Gender roles are affected by age, class, race, ethnicity and religion and by the geographical, economic and political environment.[4]
At an early age, girls and boys learn which roles are assigned to them and what is expected of them: girls are often made responsible for looking after their brothers and sisters, whereas boys are more often encouraged to finish their education. Women and girls in rural areas in Africa usually collect water and look after children, whereas men typically work outside the home in management jobs and leading positions. Girls are facing all sorts of social restrictions when they reach puberty, whereas boys are at greater liberty to explore their sexuality. In most African societies, adolescent girls run greater risks of developing reproductive health problems because their behaviour is more restricted than that of boys. They may also be victims of discrimination, violence, sexual abuse or early marriage.[5]
The practice of bringing up boys and girls differently and assigning different roles to them is often a disadvantage for adolescent girls, which makes them vulnerable and undermines their health and development. Such roles demand that girls are:
-submissive
-dependent on men for decision-making
-subject to certain food taboos
-to accept a lower status than boys.5
Gender roles are engrained in society and the community and repeated across generations. In many countries, especially among young people, views of gender roles are changing. Today, you may find more girls in ‘male’ roles and professions. For example, there is an increasing number of female doctors, whereas the medical profession used to be regarded as a typically male profession.
Gender equity and equality
Gender equality between men and women entails the concept of all human beings, men and women, being free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles and prejudices. Gender equality means that the different behaviours, aspirations, needs and rights of women and men are valued equally and that their rights, responsibilities and opportunities do not depend on whether they are born as males or females. Gender equity means fairness of treatment for women and men according to their respective needs. This may include equal treatment or treatment that is different but considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities.[6]
Gender-based inequality refers to situations in which women and men do not have the same access to information, decision-making power, household and community resources such as land, money, nutrition, and social and health services, or to situations in which they are not treated respectfully because of their sex.[7]
The different traditional roles for boys and girls and men and women often lead to gender inequity and inequality. This may result in girls having less access to education, being withdrawn from school earlier than boys in order to do house work or get married, having fewer possibilities to find paid employment outside the home and fulfilling fewer political roles than boys.
In Ethiopia, when a girl gets pregnant, she is the only one who is expelled from school, whereas the boy or man who impregnated her hardly faces any problem. This is also an example of gender-based inequality, having major impact on the lives and future of young girls.
In some countries there is a tendency in families to prefer sons to daughters. This always has adverse effects on the health and development of adolescent girls because it results in discriminatory practices, such as:
-neglecting girls when they are sick
-girls are given less food than boys
-girls are made to do a lot of housework from a very young age
-less attention being paid to girls’ than to boys’ education.[8]
Gender inequality puts girls more at risk to violence than boys. As they reach adolescence, girls may be subjected to FGC and suffer its adverse health effects. Throughout childhood and adolescence, girls are also more likely than boys to be sexually abused by family members, friends, teachers or other male authority figures. Severe abuse may leave girls with long-lasting psychological problems and predispose them to risky sexual behaviour later in life. Adolescent girls also may be pressurised into having sex at an early age by arranged marriages, by older men offering gifts and by adolescent boys trying to fulfil masculine roles[9] (see also Background Information to Lesson 12 about sexual violence).
Gender roles give men primary authority over sex and reproductive health decisions. Double standards on sexuality deny women the ability to refuse sex or negotiate condom use, and, at the same time, encourage men to have multiple sexual partners. As a result, women cannot protect themselves properly against unwanted pregnancies, STIs, HIV and their adverse health consequences[10].
3.Stereotypes and expectations with respect to sexuality and reproductive health
Gender stereotypes refer to beliefs that are ingrained in our consciousness in such a way that many of us think that gender roles are natural and need no questioning. These stereotypes concern activities that men and women usually carry out as a result of social norms they were brought up with: some tasks are considered ‘women’s work’ and other tasks ‘men’s work’[11].
At a time when boys and girls are growing into men and women, gender stereotypes are perhaps the most influential of all social pressures. Young women may learn, for example, that they will be considered adults only when they marry, and even then they will be expected to be submissive and obedient rather than decisive and active. Young men often learn that it is considered manly to exercise authority and control over girls and women and even appropriate to abuse them and behave violently towards them.[12]
Gender-based power differences and stereotypes increase vulnerability and risk in sexual health by affecting both boys' and girls' ability to make decisions. For example, deciding to use contraceptives is difficult for both men and women: men may fear they will lose their position as the head of the family, that their partner will be promiscuous or they will be ridiculed in the community. The only option to women whose partners oppose the use of contraceptives is to use something against their partner’s wishes, which is difficult when they are economically dependent on them[13].
Gender-related expectations compromise girls' knowledge and ability to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy, STIs and violence. Their health risks are increased by norms that teach them to take a subservient position in decision-making; not to question the fidelity of their partners; to tolerate violent sexual behaviour; and to have sex, get married and/or have children at an early age[14].
In many societies, an emphasis on preserving women's virginity before marriage actually increases their vulnerability. Fears that people will suspect that they are sexually active prevent many young women from asking questions about sex, using contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, negotiating condom use to prevent STIs and HIV, or seeking in-time help from reproductive health services.[15]Married girls are particularly vulnerable to STIs and HIV because, in most cultures, it is considered unacceptable for wives to ask their husbands to use condoms. At the same time, young women are expected to be monogamous whereas husbands often are not.
Gender stereotypes can encourage boys to be uncommunicative, have multiple sex partners and engage in other high-risk behaviours, such as alcohol and drug use. Such behaviours may have a negative impact on their sexual health.[16]The fact that boys are expected to be sexually experienced does not mean they know how to protect their sexual health and that of their partners. Adults tend to assume that boys know more than they do, and boys are afraid to ask questions that reveal their ignorance.13 Pressure from peers and adults also influences the way young men approach sexual relationships and often encourages them to engage in risky sexual behaviour, such as practising unsafe sex and having multiple sex partners.[17]
Consequences of stereotypes and expectations
Expectations and gender stereotypes reflect on the identity of adolescents and adults. At a time when they are constructing their identities and looking for guidance, expectations and stereotypes can either be helpful or a barrier. Sometimes stereotypes will affirm peoples’ identity and increase their self-esteem. For example, the stereotype of men more often playing political roles may enhance leadership qualities in boys; or the expectation that women are supposed to fulfil caring roles may make girls decide to become nurses. When people choose to develop themselves in ways that differ from what traditions and cultural views of gender prescribe, they may encounter barriers and lack of support. At the same time, they may become stronger while fighting for their rights to self-determination (see also Background Information to Lessons 1 and 2).
Boys and girls may have different views on their gender roles and their effects on reproductive health. For example, a survey conducted by IPPF in Kenya and Ghana in 2005 among adolescents aged 12-19 showed that most young men thought it was okay for them to have many sexual partners but not okay for the girls.[18] On pregnancy prevention, young men believed that it was the responsibility of the girl to prevent a pregnancy and it was her fault if she got pregnant. Also the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (2003) shows that women find gender based violence justified under certain circumstances for example if they burn the food or neglect the children. Focus Group discussions with adolescents aged 15-19 conducted in a rural district in Kenya revealed that young women who carry condoms are of loose morals and that the man should decide whether to use a condom or not.[19].
These views and perceptions of views may cause misunderstandings between girls and boys. This reinforces the need for communication about expectations and views on gender roles when sex relations become more intimate.
Family Responsibilities and the availability of women for employment
This argument is untenable. It is true that biologically it is only women who can become pregnant and give birth to children but it does not necessarily follow that they must be the ones who must be responsible for the taking care of children or the handling of other domestic chores. The later are merely socially ascribed roles and there is no reason why such functions cannot be shared between the two parents or even be wholly assigned to the father.
Gender discrimination is rooted not just in the labor market but also in how society assigns such reproductive functions. Laws, which compel women to bear the whole range of domestic responsibilities, had a negative impact on their personal autonomy and have serious negative consequences on their availability to employment as well as the choices open to them in the labor market. It is now a documented fact that "In most areas of the world, women's participation in remunerated labor has always been less than that of men because of their greater share of reproductive work, particularly domestic labor and child care. This fundamental aspect of the sexual division of labor has obviously meant that women are far less free than men to engage in wage earning activity. But most importantly these inequalities within the home feed the expectations and attitudes of men and women alike as to the types of jobs and duties women were "suited" to take on at the workplace.
Pursuant to article 641 (1) of the civil code the husband is entitled to choose the common residence and unless such choice is manifestly abusive or violates the contract of marriage the wife does not have the right to complain.
The labour market like any other market is not a perfect one. Distortions in the market are prevalent and one of these is the uneven geographic distribution of employment opportunities. The husband who was legally entitled to choose the common residence presumably did so on the basis of his employment opportunities. If the employment opportunities of the wife were not in harmony with those of the husband, the wife would be compelled to forfeit her opportunities and to follow him where his work calls to determine their place of residence. In other words the lives of the couple are geared to the daily, weekly and annual rhythms of his life.
Even though each of the spouse may carry on the occupation or activity of his choice, the other spouse may in the interest of the household object to the carrying on of a given occupation or activity. As we have already indicated, the husband’s right to choose the common residence already restricted the wife’s choice of occupation. This was further restricted by the husband's right to guide the moral and material direction of the family[1] and the right to guide the conduct of the wife.