GAD

1. Sex, Gender & Core Vocabulary

Sex — the genetic/physiological or biological characteristics that indicate whether one is female or male (WHO, 1998); a biological category tied to reproductive function; discussed in terms of chromosomes, genitalia, and hormones (Rodriguez & Rodriguez, 2019).

Gender — socially learned behavior associated with one's sex; a social construct that determines roles; the "attitudes, feelings and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person's biological sex"; a set of social expectations about behaviors, activities, rights, resources, and power (World Bank, 2001).

Gender normative vs. gender non-normative — behavior compatible with cultural expectations vs. behavior viewed as incompatible with them.

Exam tip: Sex = biological; Gender = social/learned. If a question describes chromosomes/hormones → Sex. If it describes roles, attitudes, or expectations shaped by culture → Gender.

Gender role socialization & stereotypes

Gender role socialization — the process of learning and internalizing culturally approved ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Regulated through:

• External regulation — institutions dictate what is "proper" (censorship, reinforcement, etc.)

• Internalized self-control — policing oneself according to social norms

Gender stereotypes — reinforcement of a biased perception of a gender's role. Four types:

• Sex stereotypes — physical and emotional roles

• Sexual stereotypes — a person's sexuality

• Sex-role stereotypes — roles assigned based on sex

• Compounded stereotypes — assumptions about a specific subgroup within a gender

Other key terms

2. Gender Equality vs. Gender Equity

Gender Equality — recognition that all human beings are free to enjoy equal conditions and fulfill their potential; women and men enjoy the same status/conditions and equal opportunity. Covers equality in:

• Rights — social, economic, legal (e.g., own land, manage property, travel)

• Resources — command over education, land, information, finances

• Voice — power to influence resource allocation/decisions in the home, community, and nation (World Bank, 2001)

Gender Equity — policies, instruments, programs, services, and actions that address women's disadvantaged position by providing preferential treatment and affirmative action.

Exam tip: Equality = same treatment/opportunity for all. Equity = fair, differentiated treatment to correct existing disadvantage (the "boxes to see over the fence" illustration).

Lindemann (2006) — Thinking About Feminism: Three Main Questions

• 1. Which men do women want to be equal to? Raises intersectionality (race, class, religion); "an unconscious presumption of privilege built right in to this sort of demand for equality" (hooks).

• 2. Why equal to any men? Equality-talk "forces women to focus on men... rather than creating and developing women's values about themselves" (Hoagland, 1988).

• 3. What is a woman? "One is not born, but becomes, a woman" (de Beauvoir, 1949); "Woman is not a natural fact — it's a social invention"; "Man is the positive term and woman is the negative one" (Lindemann, 2006).

3. Is Gender a Development Issue?

Development — the sustained capacity to achieve a better life; involves (a) the capacity to do and (b) the capacity to be; expanding the range of choices for people (Sen, 1988). Todaro & Smith (2015): the process of improving the quality of all human lives and capabilities by raising people's levels of living, self-esteem, and freedom.

Gender and Development (GAD) — an approach to developing policies, programs, and services that aims to eliminate all forms of inequality between women and men.

Gender Analysis — systematic examination of gender roles and inequalities and how they affect access to rights, resources, and decision-making; purpose is to identify, analyze, and act upon inequalities arising from belonging to one sex or another (WHO, 1998).

Gender Blindness — a policy that ignores gender differences and assumes equal impacts, often reinforcing existing inequalities.

Key positions on why gender matters in development

Human Development Report (1995): "Human development, if not engendered, is endangered." Engendering the development paradigm means radical change in long-standing social, economic, and political premises; eliminating disparities between men and women; putting people at the center of development.

Brett (1987): Gender is a development issue because women's reproductive, productive, and community roles have often been adversely affected by development efforts; women must be consulted so their roles/needs are understood; development should challenge perceived inequalities to achieve social change.

Signs of gender-blind planning

• Lack of gender consciousness; discrimination in training/promotion; gendered hierarchy

• Unfair hiring/fielding practices; sexual harassment

• Invisible women in agriculture and technology; missing women in community development

• Gendered occupations; unequal water access for women

Philippine Commission on Women (1997)

Plan Framework for the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development identifies Biological Determinism as the most pervasive perspective resulting in the marginalization of women — a societal system that discriminates against women on the basis of a double standard, accounting for the lack of support systems/social benefits for women — organized around the Six Spheres of Discrimination.

Pearson (2000) — Rethinking Gender Matters in Development

• Development must be informed by gender analysis, with particular attention to poor women's needs

• Women's voices must be incorporated, not just heard, in outcomes

• Gender mainstreaming — response to the slow progress of integrating women into development; mainstreaming gender into general policies, programs, and projects

• Cornwall (1997): the need to replace "hegemonic masculinities" with the understanding that it is not men per se, but certain ways of being and behaving associated with dominance/power, that vary by cultural, economic, and social context

Sexual and Gender Minorities (SGM) & the SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals (Sept 2015): 17 goals, 169 targets, 2030 target date; pledge that "no one will be left behind," prioritizing the poorest and most marginalized. SGMs are often among the most marginalized and require specific inclusion (O'Malley et al., UNDP, 2018). Related concept: intersections of SOGIE with children, migrants, ethnic groups, the elderly, and persons with disabilities (ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, 2015).

4. Approaches: WID, WAD, GAD

Bus analogy (memory hook): WID = "put women on the bus." WAD = women were always on the bus, just in the back/unpaid/invisible. GAD = rethink the whole transportation system — who plans it, drives it, and who it serves.

GAD "shifts the focus from the need to include women in development to the examination of socially determined relations between women and men" (NCRFW & CIDA, 2003). It is a rights-based, people-centered development perspective.

5. The Gender-Responsiveness Ladder

Exam tip: Order these on a spectrum from passive recognition → active change: aware/sensitive → informed → equitable/inclusive → mainstreamed → responsive → transformative.

Objectives of gender-responsive development

• Equality of opportunity and equity of impact — equal access to/control of resources; eliminating discriminatory policies/practices

• Personal/individual development of women through measures addressing their needs

• Enhanced participation of women as a human right and economic imperative (women = about half the country's human resources) — for poverty alleviation, productive employment, equity, social justice, and sustainable growth

Gender-responsive governance is more effective (identifies constituents' needs), more efficient (mobilizes/involves women in decision-making), and more equitable (equal opportunity to benefit from development).

"Gender does not operate in isolation but intersects with class, race, ethnicity, age, and other social divisions; development policies that ignore these intersections risk reinforcing existing inequalities."— Caroline Moser, Gender Planning and Development (1993)

6. Feminist Theoretical Foundations of GAD

Feminist scholarship challenged the assumption that development is gender-neutral. Development policies can reproduce gender inequality when they overlook differences in access to resources, decision-making, labor, and power (Kabeer, 1994). Feminist approaches ask: who benefits, who decides, whose labor is valued, whose needs are prioritized?

7. Queer Theory in GAD

Questioning the gender binary: Queer theory challenges the assumption that gender is naturally divided into only two fixed categories. Butler (1990) conceptualizes gender as performative — produced through repeated social practices that generate recognizable gender identities. This lets GAD move beyond simply comparing "women" and "men" toward examining how gender categories themselves are constructed.

Heteronormativity: Queer theory draws attention to the assumption that heterosexuality and conventional gender identities are "normal" or universal. Development programs may reproduce heteronormativity by assuming households are heterosexual couples or that gender identity is always binary. Jolly argues mainstream GAD policy fails because it relies on rigid, heteronormative assumptions about sex, gender, and family.

Queer theory asks GAD: Who is recognized as a family? A legitimate development beneficiary? How do programs define "women" and "men"? What happens to people whose identities don't fit binary categories? How do sexuality/gender identity affect access to development resources?

8. Masculinities and Development

Why study men and masculinities? GAD examines gender relations, so gender analysis cannot focus exclusively on women. Masculinities are socially constructed and embedded in relationships of power. Connell (2005): there are multiple forms of masculinity, not one universal experience of "being a man."

Hegemonic Masculinity (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005) — the culturally dominant form of masculinity that legitimizes particular gender relations; expectations of men as providers, leaders, physically strong, emotionally restrained, or dominant decision-makers can be examined as gender norms rather than biological inevitabilities.

GAD examines how masculinity influences paid/unpaid labor, fatherhood/caregiving, mental health, education, migration, sexual/reproductive health, gender-based violence ("Gender violence is a men's issue... how we define masculinity" — Jackson Katz), political participation, and economic decision-making. Masculinities are relational, shaped by class, race, sexuality, and social power (Connell, 2005).

Streams / approaches to masculinities

"Masculinities are plural, relational, socially constructed, and shaped by power" (Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005). Masculinities intersect with class, sexuality, race/ethnicity, age, disability, and social status — GAD should avoid treating "men" as a homogeneous category, just as it avoids treating "women" as homogeneous.

9. History & Symbols (Group Reports)

Group 1: Women — "Juana" & Four Waves of Feminism

Juana symbolism: Juana Tantoco Reyes (1888), early feminist activist, member of the Women of Malolos; Philippine Commission on Women uses "Juana" as the collective proxy name/national symbol for the Filipino Everywoman (counterpart of "Juan dela Cruz"). Pre-colonial Filipino women held high regard; colonization brought subjugation. Twenty Women of Malolos pushed for education; Asociacion Feminista Filipina (1905) and Asociacion Feminista Ilongga (1906) were founded (Quindoza-Santiago, 1996).

Four Waves of Feminism:

• First Wave (19th–early 20th c.): legal/political equality, right to vote; traced to the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention; figures: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Sojourner Truth

• Second Wave (1960s–1990s): challenged patriarchy and traditional wife/mother roles; developed feminist theory, women's/gender/queer studies

• Third Wave (mid-1990s): individual identity, diversity, ambiguity, self-expression; rejected one universal experience of womanhood

• Fourth Wave (2000s): emerging rather than fully established; strong emphasis on intersectionality

Group 2: Queer — Stonewall & Queer Theory

Stonewall (June 28, 1969): the Stonewall Inn, a NYC gay bar, was raided by police; the crowd fought back, sparking riots that transformed fear/shame into gay pride. It became a catalyst (not the first spark, but a major one) for the modern gay rights movement and inspired safe spaces. The 1994 Philippine Pride March explicitly commemorated Stonewall while raising LGBTQ+ Filipino issues.

Global history: same-sex relationships/gender diversity documented in ancient societies (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece); 19th century — "homosexuality" emerged as a modern identity category; 20th century onward — modern LGBTQIA+ identities and movements developed.

Pre-colonial Philippines (900–1565 CE): Babaylan — respected ritual leaders/healers, often women but also men who lived as women; Asog & Bayugin — male shamans regarded as ancient transgender women, of high standing because fluid gender expression was a source of divine power; Lakapati — deity of fertility with no fixed gender (hermaphrodite). Under Spanish rule: stigmatization/criminalization. 20th century: "Bakla" to LGBTQIA+, via transcultural syncretism.

Basic tenets of Queer Theory: sex and gender are historical/cultural constructs, not fixed nature; the binary is oppressive (directly defies heteronormativity); gender performativity ("gender is not something you have, but something you do"); active political resistance (not mere assimilation/tolerance); intersectionality — gender and sexuality intersect with other axes of identity (gender is fluid).

Group 3: Masculinities — the ♂/♀ Symbol & Critical Masculinities

Origin of the ♂ and ♀ symbols (Hindman, 2025): Babylonians linked planets with gods — Mars with war god Nergal, Venus with fertility goddess Ishtar; Greeks adopted this (Thouros/Mars, Phosphoros/Venus) with matching metals (iron/Mars, copper/Venus). The symbols ♂ and ♀ derive from abbreviations of the Greek names. In the 18th century, Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus repurposed ♂/♀ in plant classification (male/female parent) simply to save space in his notes; the symbols then spread to zoology and human biology.

Critical Masculinities: originated in the 1980s during the Second Wave of Feminism (Fraser, 2025). Involves critically gendering men and deconstructing masculinities while recognizing material social realities/inequalities (Hearn et al., 2023). Masculinity can be performed/perpetuated by men, women, and other genders. Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell's theory of masculinity is the most influential in the field (Wedgewood, 2009).

Group 4: Gender and Youth — the Rainbow Flag & Youth Discourse

Rainbow flag: created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker, commissioned to create a symbol for the gay community; deviated from the "dark" pink-triangle origin symbol; officially recognized as the LGBTQ pride symbol in 1994. First shown at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Parade; revisions removing pink and turquoise stripes led to today's six-striped flag.

Gender-youth discourse: historically, gender-diverse children were understood through a binary, corrective framework. Medical research on gender non-conformity in children began 1900–1950; the formal framework focused on youth identity/rights gained momentum in the late 1990s–2000s, driven by pediatric endocrinology, clinical psychology, and youth advocacy. Key proponents: WPATH, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, The Trevor Project.

Facts: by ages 5–6, children hold the most rigid beliefs about gendered behavior/dress and expect negative reactions to deviation (NCPFCE, 2020). Gender socialization = what children learn about gender from parents, peers, media, religion, schools, and public policy. Gender dysphoria — distress accompanying a mismatch between one's gender identity and biological sex (APA, 2013); not all gender-diverse children experience this distress.

Group 5: Intersectionality — the Babaylan & Crenshaw

Babaylan: traced to the pre-colonial Philippines; part of a 500-year indigenous feminist tradition predating Western women's liberation (Filipina Women's Network). A babaylan (woman or man) mediates with the spirit world and offers healing, foretelling, and insight; a figure that transcended gender roles, embodying fluidity between the mundane and mystical worlds (Nair, n.d.). Practices included dream divination, medicinal plants, and ecstatic dancing. Babaylans remain politically active today in land, displacement, and anti-militarization advocacy.

Intersectionality theory: discussions began in the 1980s among feminists and anti-racists. Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in her 1989 article, "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Politics." The theory asserts that overlapping identities create unique, compounded forms of oppression; introduced during the Second Wave of Feminism, extending discussion beyond white women's experiences; rooted in Black feminism and Critical Race Theory.

10. Timelines at a Glance

Global timeline

Decolonizing timeline (Philippines)

11. Key Quotations to Remember

"Gender is about power... always interacting with other social markers (age, religion, race, class level, etc.)... It's a power relation."— Lindemann, 2006, Thinking About Feminism

"One is not born, but becomes, a woman. No biological, psychological or economic fate determines the figure that the human female represents in society; it is civilization as a whole that produces this creature... which is described as a woman."— Simone de Beauvoir, 1949

"Human development, if not engendered, is endangered."— Human Development Report, 1995

"Gender does not operate in isolation but intersects with class, race, ethnicity, age, and other social divisions; development policies that ignore these intersections risk reinforcing existing inequalities."— Caroline Moser, Gender Planning and Development (1993)

"Gender violence is a men's issue. It's about how we view manhood and how we define masculinity."— Jackson Katz

"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house."— Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (1984)

12. Who's Who — Quick Reference

13. Glossary — Quick Reference