International Labour Organization
SEAPAT
South-East Asia and the Pacific Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

Unit 1: A conceptual framework for gender analysis and planning

What is gender?

Exercise 1: What is "gender" as opposed to "sex"?

Objective:

This exercise enables you to differentiate between the concepts of "gender" and "sex" and to reflect upon the usefulness of this distinction.

Method:

1. Look at the columns in the table below. Without pausing to think too long, fill in under each column those characteristics or attributes which you consider to be typically female and typically male, respectively. Try to write the first thoughts that come into your mind.

2. Now, look at each of the attributes in the column entitled "woman". Consider whether any of them can also be placed under the column entitled "man". Similarly, can any attributes under the "man" column be placed under the "women" column, too? In other words, can men do what women can, and can women do what men can?

On reflection, you will notice that only the biological functions cannot be interchanged. All the other charactersitics can be interchanged, although in practice, this may not be the case. This is because of gender stereotyping, which often restricts men and women to attitudes, roles and activities that are socially or culturally prescribed as "appropriate" for each gender.

1. Consider whether the conceptual differentiation between "sex" and "gender" is a useful one in analyzing men’s and women’s activities, constraints and needs in the world of work.

Module Homepage