Type of paper: Essay
Citation style: APA
Pages: 3
Sources: 4
Level: Bachelor
Gender equality, when it comes to culture, is not an exemption to the discriminations and inequalities filling the other areas and aspects of society, not to mention, impacted by a wide-ranging framework including the other forms of social classification like race, class, ethnicity, poverty level, age, religion, marital status and disability that all can result in disadvantages. Gender, the term itself, is a social and cultural construction, described “by the power relations between men and women, as well as the norms and values about ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ roles and behavior.” (UNESCO, 2014, p. 14) The cultural understanding and intervention of gender is critical to the individuality (which includes gender identity) of individuals, not to mention their societies. Gender is not unanimously comprehended and recognized the same way in all cultures. More so, it can have a lot of definitions in various communities going beyond the male-female contradiction or opposition
For instance, gender equality is strongly present in religion. According to the study conducted by UNICEF, “the freedom from religious, patriarchal impacts on sexuality, morality, responsibility in marriage and choosing a partner is an ongoing delicate development which continues to meet with so much opposition.” (UNESCO, 2014, p.16) In the society where I belong, I have not personally experienced gender inequality. However, I witnessed some events when there is unequal treatment between men and women especially when such regulations on chastity or clothing are imposed and applied only to women. They are excluded from the leadership positions in the religions community, and they are not allowed to choose their partner in marriage, as well.
The second example is the attitude towards female sexuality. “Here, the designation of gender role, specifically, towards female sexuality mirrors how far a certain society has progressed in when it comes to equal opportunities, not to mention the rights for both men and women.” (UNESCO, 2014, p.20) Today, women in most societies are frequently perceived as sexual objects in advertising and media. The audience sees them in skin-revealing outfits even if the product they are endorsing does not have something to do with fashion and beauty.
There are social groups everywhere, and they are considered as the fundamental part of the life of every human. Anywhere one goes, he’d see groups of people. The social group simply means consisting of two or more people with regular interaction and common interests shared. Meaning, social groups comprise people who meet up more often and treats themselves as belonging to a particular group. A social group can be a club or organization, sports team, church group, workplace, or college class, among others. (Long-Crowell, 2015)
Common social groups people typically join the church group, sports team, and club or organization. Aside from the fact that these three mentioned are all kinds of social group, they have several similarities. They all have two or more members sharing common interests, goals, and ideas. These three social groups assign a leader or two, to head them to ensure their respective group is functioning effectively. The sports team, church group, and organization all have a base, headquarter or office where they hold regular meetings, practice for competitions (for the sports team) or spiritual activities (for church group). (FCWI, 2010, p.6)
Additionally, the church group, sports team and organization all function for a cause and the benefit of other people. The church group goes from one community to another to evangelize and make the people believe in God and have a strong faith. Organizations, on the other hand, gather in the streets or hold events to strengthen their advocacies. The athletes work as a team to make their supporters proud. And for the professional sports personalities like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, they fight for their country’s pride and glory.
The involvement of anthropologists in any interventional development has been an ongoing argument among those in this same study. For their part, “anthropologists are facing challenging questions each time they get involved in any development project.” (O'Driscoll, 2009, p.15) However, the anthropologists’ skills or expertise alone, is reason enough for them to be better involved in the intervention. One instance why there is a need to involve the anthropologist in a development intervention initiative is that, when things turn out wrong, they know best, what to do to make them right. (O'Driscoll, 2009, p.15) Therefore, when involving them in such situation, these anthropologists should be in the project from the very start.
The second reason, the anthropologists should be involved is that they know how to handle situations where development takes place. However, they should know first and apply the ethical impact in the people so as to avoid conflict. For example in religion, as earlier mentioned, people and societies have different cultures and these include their religious belief. Anthropologists are on the right position to handle such occurrence since they have further studies on this area. (O’Driscoll, 2009, p.17)
On the contrary, there are situations when and where the expertise of the anthropologists is not needed. It is, in fact, very difficult to determine, especially, what, in practical terminologies, that the anthropologies possess to help in the development. The first reason for this is that knowledge is at times, integrally political. Anthropology scholar Escobar “applies this principle to development, saying that the development discourse is simply a way for donor agencies in the West to implement and retain power over developing nations.” (O’Discroll, 2009, p.16) Escobar claims that anthropologists who work within the framework of development unavoidably continue and replicate its doctrine. Meaning, they don’t have the originality or they do not hold the doctrine’s true nature and describes such act as ‘un-anthropological.’
Second, those who are against the involvement of anthropology in development are quick to put emphasis on the anthropological study that is almost more scientific and objective than it is supposed to be, originally. (O’Discroll, 2009, p.18) Additionally, it has been largely recognized now, that most anthropologists are not arriving in communities like a blank sheet of paper that is prepared to absorb the culture there. Instead, as a matter of fact, are already bringing biases and preconceptions.
FCWI. (2010). Gender Equality and Cultural/Religious Practices. Federal Commission for Women's Issues.
Long-Crowell, E. (2015). Types of Social Groups: Primary, Secondary and Reference Groups - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com. Retrieved from http://study.com/academy/lesson/types-of-social-groups-primary-secondary-and-reference-groups.html
O'Driscoll, E. (2009). Applying the ʻUncomfortable Scienceʼ: the Role of Anthropology in Development. Durham Anthropology Journal, 16(1), 13-21. Retrieved from http://community.dur.ac.uk/anthropology.journal/vol16/iss1/odriscoll.pdf
UNESCO. (2014). Gender Equaility Heritage and Creativity. Retrieved from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization website: http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/
Citation style: APA
Pages: 3
Sources: 4
Level: Bachelor
Gender equality in different cultures and societies
For instance, gender equality is strongly present in religion. According to the study conducted by UNICEF, “the freedom from religious, patriarchal impacts on sexuality, morality, responsibility in marriage and choosing a partner is an ongoing delicate development which continues to meet with so much opposition.” (UNESCO, 2014, p.16) In the society where I belong, I have not personally experienced gender inequality. However, I witnessed some events when there is unequal treatment between men and women especially when such regulations on chastity or clothing are imposed and applied only to women. They are excluded from the leadership positions in the religions community, and they are not allowed to choose their partner in marriage, as well.
The second example is the attitude towards female sexuality. “Here, the designation of gender role, specifically, towards female sexuality mirrors how far a certain society has progressed in when it comes to equal opportunities, not to mention the rights for both men and women.” (UNESCO, 2014, p.20) Today, women in most societies are frequently perceived as sexual objects in advertising and media. The audience sees them in skin-revealing outfits even if the product they are endorsing does not have something to do with fashion and beauty.
Social Groups
There are social groups everywhere, and they are considered as the fundamental part of the life of every human. Anywhere one goes, he’d see groups of people. The social group simply means consisting of two or more people with regular interaction and common interests shared. Meaning, social groups comprise people who meet up more often and treats themselves as belonging to a particular group. A social group can be a club or organization, sports team, church group, workplace, or college class, among others. (Long-Crowell, 2015)
Common social groups people typically join the church group, sports team, and club or organization. Aside from the fact that these three mentioned are all kinds of social group, they have several similarities. They all have two or more members sharing common interests, goals, and ideas. These three social groups assign a leader or two, to head them to ensure their respective group is functioning effectively. The sports team, church group, and organization all have a base, headquarter or office where they hold regular meetings, practice for competitions (for the sports team) or spiritual activities (for church group). (FCWI, 2010, p.6)
Additionally, the church group, sports team and organization all function for a cause and the benefit of other people. The church group goes from one community to another to evangelize and make the people believe in God and have a strong faith. Organizations, on the other hand, gather in the streets or hold events to strengthen their advocacies. The athletes work as a team to make their supporters proud. And for the professional sports personalities like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, they fight for their country’s pride and glory.
The role of anthropologists in interventional development
The involvement of anthropologists in any interventional development has been an ongoing argument among those in this same study. For their part, “anthropologists are facing challenging questions each time they get involved in any development project.” (O'Driscoll, 2009, p.15) However, the anthropologists’ skills or expertise alone, is reason enough for them to be better involved in the intervention. One instance why there is a need to involve the anthropologist in a development intervention initiative is that, when things turn out wrong, they know best, what to do to make them right. (O'Driscoll, 2009, p.15) Therefore, when involving them in such situation, these anthropologists should be in the project from the very start.
The second reason, the anthropologists should be involved is that they know how to handle situations where development takes place. However, they should know first and apply the ethical impact in the people so as to avoid conflict. For example in religion, as earlier mentioned, people and societies have different cultures and these include their religious belief. Anthropologists are on the right position to handle such occurrence since they have further studies on this area. (O’Driscoll, 2009, p.17)
On the contrary, there are situations when and where the expertise of the anthropologists is not needed. It is, in fact, very difficult to determine, especially, what, in practical terminologies, that the anthropologies possess to help in the development. The first reason for this is that knowledge is at times, integrally political. Anthropology scholar Escobar “applies this principle to development, saying that the development discourse is simply a way for donor agencies in the West to implement and retain power over developing nations.” (O’Discroll, 2009, p.16) Escobar claims that anthropologists who work within the framework of development unavoidably continue and replicate its doctrine. Meaning, they don’t have the originality or they do not hold the doctrine’s true nature and describes such act as ‘un-anthropological.’
Second, those who are against the involvement of anthropology in development are quick to put emphasis on the anthropological study that is almost more scientific and objective than it is supposed to be, originally. (O’Discroll, 2009, p.18) Additionally, it has been largely recognized now, that most anthropologists are not arriving in communities like a blank sheet of paper that is prepared to absorb the culture there. Instead, as a matter of fact, are already bringing biases and preconceptions.
References
FCWI. (2010). Gender Equality and Cultural/Religious Practices. Federal Commission for Women's Issues.
Long-Crowell, E. (2015). Types of Social Groups: Primary, Secondary and Reference Groups - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com. Retrieved from http://study.com/academy/lesson/types-of-social-groups-primary-secondary-and-reference-groups.html
O'Driscoll, E. (2009). Applying the ʻUncomfortable Scienceʼ: the Role of Anthropology in Development. Durham Anthropology Journal, 16(1), 13-21. Retrieved from http://community.dur.ac.uk/anthropology.journal/vol16/iss1/odriscoll.pdf
UNESCO. (2014). Gender Equaility Heritage and Creativity. Retrieved from United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization website: http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/
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