Gender Stereo types
- What is stereotype
A generalized view or preconception about attributes or characteristics that are or ought to be
possessed by members of a particular social group or the roles that are or should be performed by,
members of a particular social group.
- What is gender stereotype
is a generalized view or preconception about attributes, or characteristics that are or ought to be
possessed by women and men or the roles that are or should be performed by men and women. Gender
stereotypes can be both positive and negative for example, “women are nurturing” or “women are
weak”.
- What is gender stereotyping
Applying the above mentioned stereotypes to the genders
- How is it an obstacle to women’s rights
Yes, it fences and limits what they are able or allowed to do
(CEDAW) has explained that States Parties are required to modify or transform “harmful gender
stereotypes” and “eliminate wrongful
A stereotype is harmful when it limits women’s or men’s capacity to develop their personal abilities,
pursue their professional careers and make choices about their lives and life plans. Both hostile/negative
or seemingly benign stereotypes can be harmful.
An example of this is the failure to criminalize marital rape based on the stereotype of women as the
sexual property of men. Another example is the failure of the justice system to hold perpetrator of
sexual violence accountable based on stereotypical views about women’s appropriate sexual behaviour.
-The CEDAW Committee has highlighted how traditional attitudes by which women are regarded as
subordinate to men perpetuate
A range of UN human rights mechanisms have highlighted how stereotypes about women’s role can be
incorporated in discriminatory legislation, for example preventing women from acquiring ownership of
land since only the “head of the household” is authorized to sign official documentation
CEDAW’s Article 5 (a) requires States Parties to take “all appropriate measures” to “modify the social
and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women” in an effort to eliminate practices that “are based
on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men
and women.” Article 2(f) reinforces article 5 by requiring States Parties to take “all appropriate
measures” to “modify or abolish … laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute
discrimination against women.”
Patriarchy
Engels referred to it as the earliest system of domination establishing that Patriarchy is “the world
historical defeat of the female sex.”2 In this sense, it is said that Patriarchy was a form of political
organization that distributed power unequally between men and women to the detriment of women
A primitive social organization in which authority is exercised by a male head of the family, extending
this power even to distant relatives of the same lineage.”
most forms of feminism characterize Patriarchy as a present day unjust social system that subordinates,
discriminates or is oppressive to women
"The patriarchal construction of the difference between masculinity and femininity is the political
difference between freedom and subjection."
men justify their domination on the basis of an alleged biological inferiority of women.
Begins in the family and spreads to the society
Its historical but not natural
consensus on the lesser value of women", I refer to a tacit and subconscious agreement between each
member of a community that women and everything relating to women is worth less than men and
everything relating to men. We see this reflected in the Institution of Sexist Language, which establishes
the feminine as "the other" and the male as the norm and that which represents or contains the
feminine በወንድ ጾታ ተገለጸው . . . .
Patriarchy was the first structure of domination, subordination and exclusion which is recognized as
such by History with a capital H (recognized patriarchal history) and still remains a basic system of
domination. Ironically, while being the most powerful and enduring system of inequality, it is hardly ever
perceived as such even by women themselves. In fact, precisely because the invisibilities of Patriarchy is
one of its institutions, even some feminists deny its existence.
Examples: Names
Gender Mainstreaming
a strategy towards realizing gender equality. It involves the integration of a gender perspective into the
preparation, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies, regulatory measures and
spending programs, with a view to promoting equality between women and men, and combating
discrimination.
It makes policies respond better to solve problems
By analyzing the existing situation, with the purpose of identifying inequalities, and developing policies
which aim to redress these inequalities and undo the mechanisms that caused them.
A political commitment for gender equality and a compatible legal framework are the basic conditions
for the development of a successful gender mainstreaming strategy. In addition to concrete objectives
and targets in the strategy, gender mainstreaming requires a clear action plan. Such a plan should take
into account the context, satisfy the necessary conditions, cover all the relevant dimensions, foresee the
use of concrete methods and tools, set out the responsibilities and make sure that the necessary
competences exist to achieve the anticipated results within a planned time frame
Theory
A theory offers a general account of how a range of phenomena are systematically connected; by
placing placing individual items in a larger context, context, it increases our understanding both of the
whole and of the parts constituting the whole. Theory is a systematic, analytic approach to everyday
experience
Feminist Theories
Attempts to develop a comprehensive account of the subordination of women, including its supposed
essence and origin;
Is a prerequisite for developing effective strategies to liberate women; • Identifies the underlying
causes of women’s subordination.
Feminist theory attempts to describe women’s oppression, to explain its causes and consequences, and
to prescribe strategies for women’s liberation.
Feminism is the ideology or theoretical commitment to the women’s liberation movements of th e80s
Feminism refers to Political, Cultural and Economic movements aimed at establishing greater rights and
legal protections for women
It is the belief in the importance of gender equality, invalidating the idea of gender hierarchy as a
socially constructed concept
Although this hierarchy is justified on grounds of natural differences between men and women
Feminist activists have campaigned for women legal rights such as- • Rights of contract, property rights
and voting rights
To protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape
Advocates for workplace rights including maternity leave and equal pay
To advocate women’s rights to bodily autonomy and reproductive rights
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism in to theoretical or philosophical discourse. It aims to
understand the nature of gender inequality
Liberal
Sex and gender neutral; all human beings possess a common nature. Therefore Emphasis on equality of
opportunity: all
persons deserve an equal chance to develop
their rational and moral capacities so that they
can achieve personhood.
• A just society is a society that allows individuals to exercise their freedom and
fulfill themselves. The goal of women’s liberation is freeing women from oppressive gender roles: sexual
and gender equality.
• Liberal feminism led to advances in the economic sphere, in equality of opportunity
and in civil rights
Marxist
Central to all Marxist Feminist is the belief that Women’s subordination is not permanent
and natural but historically specific product of class society and is different at different economic stages
hierarchical class relations are seen as the source of coercive power and
oppression of all inequalities ultimately, sexual oppression is seen as a dimension of class power
The weaknesses of Marxist Feminism include its obscuring differences between distinct economic
classes of men and women and its failure to make room for issues unrelated to the nature and function
of work (the sex-gender system).
Radical Feminism-
It is essentially a theory of, by and for women Women are oppressed because of their sex and sexual
oppression is a fundamental form of oppression, here patriarchy is the key term shared oppression
solidarity of women against men
Postmodern Feminism-
• Feminist writings influenced by post modern thinking stress plurality rather than unity and
in particular reject conceptions of women as a homogeneous category
• The emphasis is here upon difference both within and between subjects and the diversity
of forms of power
• They concentrate upon destabilizing the manifold operations of power, rather than
mobilizing political struggle around identities like women, gay or black