Gender Perspective: what is it and in what fields can it be applied?
The gender perspective is an approach that allows studying and addressing phenomena, links, activities, processes and social systems related to the sex-gender system. It is an approach that has been developed since the first feminist movements that question the relationships of subordination in which many people who transgress the normativity of this system.
Then We will see in more detail what the gender perspective is and in what fields it can be applied.
- Related article: "What is gender equity?"
What is the gender perspective?
The word "perspective" refers to a way of understanding and representing something with respect to the eye of the observer. That is, a "perspective" is a way of looking at or considering any phenomenon; or in other words, it is to assume a point of view. So, a "gender perspective" is the act of approaching a reality, paying attention to the construction of the category of "gender" and its relations of power .
To explain it better, let's imagine that we use some lenses (glasses) with magnification that, as is to be expected, allow us to look at things that without them we would not be able to observe. Since we see different things, but that exist in the world of always, the lenses allow us to understand this world in a different way.
Likewise, they allow us to relate to their elements in a different way and intervene in them with multiple possibilities. In this metaphor, and for the case at hand, the lenses would be the gender perspective, and basically what they do is amplify our vision to address or highlight gender issues , which at first glance seem nonexistent or insignificant.
- Maybe you're interested: "Margaret Mead's gender theory"
What is a gender perspective focused on?
Assuming or applying a gender perspective implies recognizing different issues, especially those related to the way in which our links and social systems have been established through a certain understanding of sex, gender and sexual orientation.
In particular, and according to Mata Lamas (1996), the gender perspective starts from the recognition of the cultural value of anatomical differences; valuation established by means of particularly rigid and internalized norms during the socialization process.
For example, it implies that there is no necessary correspondence between the sexual difference and the attributions or social representations built around this difference . That is, one thing is the physical-biological constitution, and quite another are the values that are attributed to that difference (which in the case of Western culture are based on "man or woman", "female" or " masculine "and" heterosexual "or" homosexual "mainly).
Something in which a gender perspective would pay attention is that, in said dichotomy, the feminine has been constantly associated with the domains of nature, especially after understanding motherhood and related values (eg care), as a biological function and life destination for women.
Among other things, who has broken the regulations of this association, has traditionally been considered as "unnatural", "masculine", "crazy", etc. On the other hand, homosexuality has also traditionally been considered an unnatural, pathological issue, etc., as well as non-normative gender identities.
Based on these questions, the gender perspective considers that the predisposition and physical-biological characteristics are not a sufficient condition to provoke a behavior , let alone an exclusive personality according to sex. Therefore, the gender perspective recognizes that, as Simone de Beauvoir taught us, "biological is not destiny".
Some key elements
In line with the above, Susana Gamba (2008) summarizes some elements that the gender perspective recognizes, analyzes and promotes:
- Recognize gender as a social and historical construction , that is to say, that can vary between societies and epochs.
- Gender establishes forms of social relationship, that is, to link them in a determined way according to whether one or another gender has been assigned to us, and as assigned or chosen by other people. This also has to do with the processes of individual identification.
- There is an asymmetric relationship sustained in the dominant sex-gender system. Frequently this relationship is of female subordination and male domination . Although it is not the only possible relationship (there are also forms of domination in the reverse and egalitarian relationships), the asymmetry has been the general or majority way to establish these relationships.
- Gender has a comprehensive and structural dimension, since it has to do not only with the relationships between men and women, but with social processes and systems (institutions, economic systems, public policies, identities, etc.).
- In line with the above, it is not an isolated category, but transversal, since is articulated with everyday elements such as education, social class, marital status , age, among others.
- Gender is not only a category that accounts for a normative system, but allows to question the same norms and promote inclusion .
- In the perspective of gender, there is a commitment to the search for equity, which extends the exercise of power of those who have been systematically subordinated by the hegemonic sex-gender system.
In what fields can it be applied?
Returning to the metaphor of lenses, the gender perspective (like any other) can be used to analyze any system, phenomenon or relationship, including everyday life. Depending on the context in which it is assumed and applied, the same perspective must consider other variables, such as socioeconomic conditions, social classes, ethnic origin, among others.
This is the case since, from the beginning, the gender perspective It deals in an important way with power relations and the conditions of inequality that cross any sphere of social life. And, in its origins, the gender perspective was assumed by the movements that sought equal opportunities for women, as well as the questioning of the systems that were generating different opportunities between some people and others.
Thus, it is a perspective that is not new but continues to generate rejection or resistance in many sectors, and that, being closely linked to the analysis and critique of inequality and discrimination, the gender perspective usually has components important politicians.
To give some more concrete examples, the gender perspective can be applied to investigate and intervene in the health system, to analyze public policies and social movements , to study and complement the educational system, to analyze organizational practices in business management, among many others.
As we have said, the specific elements that are observed, included or used in a gender perspective depend to a large extent on the purposes and context in which it is applied. Some may pay attention to the specific needs of women, others may address the conditions of inequality (Velasco, 2009), others to the construction of masculinity, others to the rights and needs of the LGBTIQ community, to mention just a few.
Bibliographic references:
- Gamba, S. (2008) What is the perspective of gender and gender studies? Women in Network. The feminist newspaper. Retrieved October 30, 2018. Available at //www.mujeresenred.net/spip.php?article1395.
- Lamas, M. (nineteen ninety six). The gender perspective The task, Journal of Education and Culture of section 47 of the SNTE, 8: 1-10.
- Velasco, S. (2009). Sexes, gender and health. Theory and methods for clinical practice and health programs. Minerva: Madrid.
