Sex and Gender: Understanding the Differences
Biological Category: We are born with physical and biological differences. These physiological differences in genital organs, along with specific endocrine and reproductive roles, are transmitted by a genetic code.
Cultural Category: This refers to the set of psychological characteristics, social and cultural rights assigned to individuals in a society and a specific historical time. These characteristics are transformed over time. They are practices, symbols, standards, representations, and values that societies develop from biological differences, reflected in the allocation of distinct social roles for women and men. These are based on behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts, according to a predetermined order: a stereotype.
World Conferences on Women’s Rights
Various global conferences have been a tool to raise awareness and advance the struggle for the rights of women in different eras. As a result, today, discrimination is much less severe and more localized than in the early 20th century. However, social pressure on the role of women continues, and analytical tools and the construction of a new society must be developed.
The Pursuit of Equality Today
- Women represent over half the population of the planet.
- The female population represents half of the electorate but only occupies 10% of the seats in the parliaments of the world.
- Of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty, more than 70% are women.
- 2/3 of the world’s illiterate population, about 600 million, are women.
- 65 million girls are unjustly denied the right to education.
- Only 20% of management positions are held by women.
- The presence of girls is a majority in high school.
- In Africa, women and girls represent 80% of the workforce used for food production.
Equity
Justice and equal treatment.
Patriarchal System Structures
- Institutions: Laws that forbid women from exercising fundamental rights remain.
- Mentalities: Habits that promote inequality in the distribution of work and sex roles persist.
- Stereotypes: Practices are reinforced and fueled by advertising, which still identifies women as housewives or sex objects.
Evolution of Feminism
Discrimination has always existed among human beings. One form is sexism, which tends to hide or make women invisible. Throughout history, different currents of thought have proposed to amend this inequality. The actions of these groups for women are what has been called feminism. The French Revolution is considered the origin of this fight for equality. In the mid-nineteenth century, a suffragist movement emerged to claim the right to vote, legal equality, and equal wages and labor rights with men. After World War II, new liberation movements against patriarchal oppression emerged, known as “empowerment.” Currently, work is being done from the perspective of equal rights for women and men, aiming to overcome obstacles, inertia, and silence, and to eliminate discrimination against women. Achieving equity is a process that has already begun and involves changing the conditions and position of women as human beings.
International Women’s Day
On March 8, 1857, textile workers in New York organized a protest against poor working conditions and low wages. In 1908, there was a demonstration involving 15,000 workers in New York to demand better living and working conditions, the right to vote, and the end of child labor exploitation. Inspired by these actions, the Socialist International Conference in Copenhagen in 1910 proposed an international day of action to mark the women’s rights movement. On March 8, 1911, this call materialized, and International Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time. In 1977, the UN declared March 8 as the United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace.
Attributes
Ways of seeing, feeling, thinking, and living according to the feminine and masculine world.
Roles
The diversity of tasks a person performs in society, related to the private and public spheres.
Stereotype
A fixed and perpetuated idea about the characteristics of both sexes.
Patriarchy
A form of social structure in which a man exerts predominant authority over a family, group, or society.