LESSON MANUSCRIPT

Handout 1

LEGAL CONCEPT OF GENDER EQUALITY

In the context of international human rights, the legal concept of gender equality is
enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1979 United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (UN CEDAW)
The convention states clearly and unequivocally that, “discrimination against women
violates the principles of equality of rights and respect for human dignity.”

GENDER DEVELOPMENT
A. Landmark Law for Women
RA 7192, otherwise known as Women in Development and Nation Building Act
 An act promoting the integration of women as full equal partners of men in development
and nation-building and other purposes
 The adoption of the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive Development

RA 9710, Magna Carta of Women and Related Laws in “Promoting Gender Equality
and Women Empowerment”

OTHER LEGAL MANDATES

GAD Focal Point (EO 273)
Adoption of the Philippine Plan for Gender Responsive Development for 1995-2025
GAD Budget (EO 273)
Rape Crisis Center (RA 8505)
Day Care Center (RA 6792)
Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 (RA 9262)
Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act (RA 9262)
Magna Carta of Women (RA 9710)

Lead Agency
From the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women (NCRFW), it has evolved
into what is now the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW)

The EIGHT MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

G-1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
G-2 Achieve universal primary education
G-3 Promote gender equality and empower women
G-4 Reduce child mortality
G-5 Improve maternal health
G-6 Control HIV and IDS, malaria and other diseases
G-7 Ensure environmental sustainability
G-8 Develop a global partnership for development and financing the MDGs

Gender Awareness
The ability to identify problems arising from gender inequality and discrimination, even if
these are not evident on the surface and are “hidden” or are not part of the general and
commonly accepted explanation of what and where the problem lies.
Gender awareness means a high level of gender conscientization

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Gender and Development GOAL:
To increase opportunities for women to participate in, contribute to and benefit from
the development of their societies and economics

Gender Awareness and Development (GAD)

Is about recognizing that gender biases impede development because:
 They prevent people from attaining their full potentials
 They exacerbate social inequity
 They distort understanding of social realities and limit the impacts of development
efforts

Gender and Development removes the structural causes of gender inequality:

 In various spheres of decision-making (family, community and workplace)
 In control over vital economic resources such as capital

Gender limits women and men’s capabilities to do and to be

Gender needs to be considered in making decisions and in allocating resources

Gender and Development promotes self-reliance for women

SEX VS GENDER
Sex is a physiological condition, determined by biological make up (Male, Female or Intersex)
Sex refers to natural biological attributes of men and women that are unchanging and universal.
Example: babies born with male genitalia are referred to as boys (men), those with
female genetalia as girls (women)

Question: What are other attributes for both the opposite sexes?
Point of discussion (small group discussion)

Natural biological attributes:

Male Female
Testes reproductive organ- ovary
Sperm cell (spermatozoa) egg cell (ova)
Prominent body hairs less hairy
Rough skin softer skin
Chromosomes X, Y X, X
Sex hormone – testosterone
Hormonal secretion of the endoctrine gland
Androgen estrogen

More flow (secretion) of testosterone for males, less or slow flow for women

Hermaphrodite – from a Greek word, hermaphrodites meaning an animal or plant having both
male and female reproductive organs
Citing the case of world-known athlete Nancy Navalta who is a hermaphrodite, as a result of the
medical examination conducted by the International Olympics Committee

The “gay gene”

Women diagnosis – CAH or Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia leads to over production of
masculizing sex hormones, androgens

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Dr. Sheri Berenbaum, Psychology professor/ CAH researcher, attributes these differences to
exposure to high levels of male hormones in utero

What is hyperplasia?
It is a condition that has impact on the social orientation and gender identification of an
individual.

It also referred to as faulty embryonic development, a pre-birth condition that leads to

confusion in body structure among the intersexes.
Example: in the case of Charice Pempengco and Aiza Seguerra

We mentioned them because they are public figures who came out to the public and announced
their confusing experience while they were in their teen-age years. They seek medical and
psychological counseling that led them to make their individual preference in life

Gender – is the social construct, sets of roles and expectations of society how individuals
should act (upon birth, the society assigns this to us based on our genitalia)

GENDER (identity)
 Refers to characteristic roles, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes and other factors attributed
to women and men by society. Gender is culturally ascribed, changing, misconceived as
“natural”

Why SOGI?
 SOGI – Sexual Orientations and Gender Identification (identities)
 At the UN, use of SOGI can be traced to Yogyakarta Principles presented in Nov 2006
Convention/ Protocol on persons with diverse SOGI
 In response to various forms of SOGI-based violations. Hate crimes or “homophobic or
transphobic violence”
 The first UN document to expressly link HR to SOGI
 Not enforceable but interpretive, towards development of standards

Sexual Orientation:
Refers to each person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual
attraction to, and intimate and sexual relations with, individuals of a different gender or the
same gender or more than one gender

The expression of desire/ attraction is your sexual orientation:

Heterosexual – towards members of the opposite sex
Bisexual – towards members of both sexes
Homosexual – towards members of the same sex

Gender identity is defined by the individual

It refers to each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which
may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the
body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by
medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and
mannerisms.

Beyomd the masculine man and feminine woman

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Transgender are those who were born of one sex but identify with the gender of the opposite
sex. Some go through a process of transitioning (latest sensitive terminology for sex change)
Citing examples: From Rustom to VV Gandang Hari’ Vice Ganda

LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender)

What’s the fuss?

In the end, these are just labels for conditions – physiological, psychological and sociological

In an ideal world, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity are incidental.
But in a heavily prejudiced society,these conditions result in negative judgments and biases
against those that are perceived to be different by the mainstream.

The many ugly implications:

Stereotyping
Invisibility
Marginalization
Stigma
Inequality
Persecution

The “moral” of the story is:

We live in a world of diversity.
SOGI should not be used for unequal treatment and discrimination
SOGI should be discussed
Everyone should re-assess notions on and attitudes toward sex, gender and SOGI

SOGI, so what?
 There are people outside of the masculine men and feminine women constructs and
binary;
 Equality requires that we consider all human beings in our programs and strategies;
 Our programs and strategies should focus on vulnerable groups

All these have implications in the lives of the crime investigators, especially the hate crimes.
Jennifer Laude case
- Terminology used by police investigators that offended the LGBT Community
- Reason: lack of sensitivity
- A gay recently murdered, cut into pieces and placed in a luggage by the partner
(Philippines);
Massacre at a gay bar in Orlando, Florida leaving 50 or more dead, over 50 injured and 4 still
fighting for their lives because of Omar Mateen.
- Reactions from the Muslim Community
- Message of US President Obama
- Reactions of people

Gender and Development, SOGI dapat kina-career

Equality and empowerment are the objectives.

Gender-Fair Society
A society where women and men share equally in responsibilities, power authority and
decision making

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Gender Gap
The gap between women and men in terms of how they benefit from education,
employment, services, and so on. This is best expressed as:

Church Views – creation story

MANIFESTATIONS OF GENDER BIAS
1. POLITICAL SUBORDINATION
- Politics is an issue of power
- Women are viewed as “weaker sex”, they do not share power and prestige, statusand
societal position as men
2. ECONOMIC MARGINALIZATION
The division of society into the spheres of production and reproduction has led to the
under or even non-valuation of women’s work. The tasks that are related to housework,
child rearing and family care are largely taken for granted and perceived as minor
functions. These are generally seen as “natural” functions that have no direct
contribution to societal development.
3. MULTIPLE BURDEN
- Even as women are viewed as having primarily reproductive functions, they actually
participate and are part of the labor force. As a result, women carry a double burden in
terms of longer hours of work and a wider breathe of responsibility.
4. GENDER STEREOTYPING
- Women are stereotyped from birth. Social perceptions and value systems ingrain an
image of women as weak, dependent, subordinate, indecisive, emotional and
submissive.
- Women are trapped within these stereotypes which severely limit their opportunities to
development, bare them to innumerable hurdles and consign them to a fate that robs
them of the right to be equal human beings.
- In a very real sense, women are trapped within these stereotypes which severely limit
their opportunities to development, bare them to innumerable hurdles and consign them
to a fate that robs them of the right to be equal human beings
5. COMMODIFICATION OF WOMEN
- Women are perceived as “commodities”
- The portrayal of women in media as persons endorsing products presents two vivid
pictures of women – “ the virgin and the vamp”
- This gives the picture of women as “ sex objects”
6. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
- There is a web of verbal, psychological and physical abuse that all women are exposed
to. Due to their low status in the society many women experience a variety of verbal
abuse coupled with psychological assaults – insults, threats, emotional blackmail,
especially in relation to children and economic dependence.
Violation Against Women
- Abuse – verbal, psychological and physical
- Sexual harassment
- Acts of lasciviousness
- Seduction
- Abduction
- Molestation
- Wife beating
- Prostitution
- Rape
- Corruption of minors
- Abuse of children

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 7. OBSTACLES TO PERSONHOOD DEVELOPMENT
All the mentioned manifestations of gender bias have a direct negative effect on the
personhood of every woman. Growing up and living in a world which limits a woman’s right
to be human, which operates on a double standard that applies to sexes, which diminishes
an individual’s dignity hits at the very core of each woman’s personhood. As a result,
females generally possess lower levels of self-esteem and confidence compared to males.

RIGHTS OF WOMEN
1. Right to equal remuneration
2. Right to equality of the sexes
3. Right to the equality of the spouses
4. Right to protection from exploitation
5. Right to maternity leave of pregnant women
6. Right to freedom from capital punishment of pregnant women
7. Right to vote in all elections and be eligible for election to all publicly elected bodies
8. Right to hold public office and exercise all public functions
9. Right to be protected from suffering, heavy losses, repression in armed treatment during
armed conflict situations and savagery of war

Women’s rights are human rights.

Governments are mandated to protect and promote these rights.

All issues are women’s issues. All community issues must be analyzed on how they impact on
women.

NEEDS OF WOMEN
Practical Needs vs Strategic Gender Needs

Practical Needs
- Linked to women’s condition society: the concrete realities they face, their “material
state” and “immediate sphere of experience”
- These needs can be addressed by provision of specific inputs: food, water pumps, day
care center, credit facilities, transport facilities, maternity leave benefits, non-formal
trainings, skills development, etc.

Strategic Gender Needs

- Arise from women’s position in society, their “social and economic standing relative to
men” These can be attained through consciousness-raising, increasing self-confidence,
education, strengthening women’s organizations, political obligation, etc.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
Women empowerment is the process of overcoming gender inequality.
Gender inequality is reflected as:
- Gender roles involve unequal burden of work;
- Unequal distribution of resources pervasive at the level of tradition and social practice;
- Discrimination against women

Gender Equality
The state in which women and men enjoy the same status and conditions and have
equal opportunity for realizing their potential to contribute to the political, economic, social and
cultural development of their countries. As a result, both should also benefit equally from the
results of the development

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Gender Equity
Focus is borderless in terms of equal treatment, providing help to those who have less
on the basis of needs, and taking steps to compensate for historical and social disadvantages
that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field

Gender Equity can be understood as the means, while gender equality is the end.
Equity leads to equality.

Other classroom activities:

- Getting responses/reactions on the news story and photo clips that touch on GAD
sensitivity
- Processing of reactions and responses and leading the students towards imbibing
sensitivity that is anchored on the laws and principles of Human Rights
- A brief glance on enacted laws for women

REFERENCES:
1. Materials on Gender and Development from NCRFW and PCW;
2. Laws on Women: Sec14, Art 2, 1987 Philippine Constitution
RA 7192 of the Women in Development and Nation Building Act
Philippine CEDAW
3. 1948 United Nations Declaration of Rights/ 1979 UN CEDAW
4. Lecture materials culled from GAD Training/ Seminars
5. Study on Masculinities by R.W Connell
6. Yogyakarta Principle on SOGI
7. SNAPPA News (Yahoo, facebook)
The Genderbread Person

Gender Identity
Woman Genderqueer Man
Gender identity is how you, in your head, think about yourself. It’s the chemistry that composes
you (e.g. hormonal levels) and how you interpret what that means.

Gender Expression
Feminine Androgynous Masculine
Gender expression is how you demonstrate gender (based on traditional gender roles) through
the ways you act, dress, behave, and interact.
Biological Sex
Female Intersex Male
Biological sex refers to the objectively measurable organs, hormones, and chromosomes
Female = vaguna, ovaries, XX chromosomes; male = penis, testes, XY chromosomes; intersex
= a combination of the two
Sexual Orientation
Heterosexual Bisexual Homosexual
Sexual orientation is who you are physically, spiritually and emotionally attracted to, based on
their sex/gender in relation to your own

Handout 2

What is Gender Awareness and Development?

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 Gender Awareness is the knowledge and understanding of the differences in roles and
relations between women and men, especially in the workplace. It is about recognizing that
gender biases impede development because:
 They prevent people from attaining their full potentials.
 They exacerbate social inequity.
 They distort understanding of social realities and limit the impacts of
development efforts.

It also refers to the development perspective and process that are participatory and
empowering, equitable, sustainable, free from violence, respectful of human rights, supportive
of self-determination and actualization of human potentials. It seeks to achieve gender equality
as a fundamental value that should be reflected in development choices; seeks to transform
society’s social, economic, and political structures and questions they validity of the gender
roles they ascribed to women and men; contends that women are active agents of development
and not just passive recipients of development assistance; and stresses the need of women to
organize themselves and participate in political processes to strengthen their legal rights.

SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY (SOGI)

The word “sexuality” means different things to different people. Generally, it refers to an
individual’s personal experience of being attracted to other people and the body’s sexual
feelings and response to those people. Terms that are connected to sexuality are defined as
follows:

Sex refers to a person’s biological status and is typically categorized as male, female, or
intersex (i.e., atypical combinations of features that usually distinguish male from female).
There are a number of indicators of biological sex, including sex chromosomes, gonads, internal
reproductive organs, and external genitalia.
Gender refers to the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates
with a person’s biological sex. Behavior that is compatible with cultural expectations is referred
to as gender-normative; behaviors that are viewed as incompatible with these expectations
constitute gender non-conformity.
Gender identity refers to “one’s sense of oneself as male, female, or transgender”
(American Psychological Association, 2006). When one’s gender identity and biological sex are
not congruent, the individual may identify as transsexual or as another transgender category
(cf. Gainor, 2000).
Gender expression refers to the “…way in which a person acts to communicate
gender within a given culture; for example, in terms of clothing, communication patterns and
interests. A person’s gender expression may or may not be consistent with socially prescribed
gender roles, and may or may not reflect his or her gender identity” (American Psychological
Association, 2008, p. 28).
Sexual orientation refers to the sex of those to whom one is sexually and romantically
attracted. Categories of sexual orientation typically have included attraction to members of
one’s own sex (gay men or lesbians), attraction to members of the other sex (heterosexuals),
and attraction to members of both sexes (bisexuals).
Coming out refers to the process in which one acknowledges and accepts one’s own
sexual orientation. It also encompasses the process in which one discloses one’s sexual
orientation to others. The term closeted refers to a state of secrecy or cautious privacy
regarding one’s sexual orientation.

ORIGIN OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY

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 I. Towards a Notion of Sexual Orientation
Genital sexual activity with another person of the same sex has been recorded since
antiquity. Fertility cults surrounding Israel were condemned by priests and prophets for utilizing
both opposite and same-sex cult prostitutes in worship. Pederasty, the practice of men using
young boys for sexual intercourse, was widely accepted practice in ancient Greece. The focus of
the ancients was on human sexual behavior. The direction of a person’s inner sexual object-
orientation is neither described nor contended. During the middle ages, sexual intercourse with
those of the same sex was considered sin. Those participating in same-sex genital activity were
not thought to be differently oriented than those engaging in sexual activity with the opposite
sex. Persons continuing in such same-sex activity were considered morally depraved. In the
seventeenth century, genital sexual activity with those of the same sex was considered a crime.
Such activity could result in imprisonment or hanging, yet the participants were not considered
a different category of human beings. Major changes occurred in the nineteenth century,
shifting the consideration of same-sex genital activity to the nature, not simply the behavior, of
the participant. In 1869 a pamphlet printed in Leipzig employed the term homosexualität in
argumentation that would soon thereafter define homosexuality as mental illness—as a
condition. It was not until 1892 that Charles Chaddock, an early translator of Krafft-Ebing’s
classical medical handbook of sexual deviance, introduced the term homosexuality into the
English language. Sexual inversion, the term most commonly used during the 1800s, referred to
a broad range of deviant gender behavior. Deviant object-choice was but one of the many
pathological symptoms exhibited by those whose sexual expression was at variance with that
conventionally understood to be appropriate to one’s anatomical sex. Early in the twentieth
century medical doctors, particularly psychiatrists, viewed homosexuality as a pathological
condition. Persons exhibiting homosexual behavior were considered immature, lacking in ego
strength, arrested in childhood or early adolescent stages of development, or possessing
paranoid and schizoid personality disorders. Understanding homosexuality as a pathological
condition as well as “deviant” sexual behavior constituted a major shift in the understanding of
the relationship of sex and sexuality to gender identity, gender roles, and a person’s essential
being and place in society.

II. Sex Becomes Sexuality

This reconceptualization of sexual inversion as homosexuality was predicated on another

nineteenth-century shift in the western societal understanding of sex. In this shift, sex becomes
sexuality, i.e., a psychological and physiological reality constituting something essential to the
self. This sexual dimension of the self was identified as a drive or basic unconscious instinct
shaping conscious human life and governing genital functions. Sex (a primarily anatomical and
behavioral reality) became sexuality (a central organizing principle of the self). David Halperin
writes of this reconceptualization: Sexuality, in this latter interpretation, turns out to be
something more than an endogenous principle of motivation outwardly expressed by the
performance of sexual acts; it is a mute power subtly and deviously at work throughout a wide
range of human behaviors, attitudes, tastes, choices, gestures, styles, pursuits, judgements,
and utterances. Sexuality is thus the inner most part of an individual’s human nature. It is the
feature of a person that takes longest to get to know well, and knowing it renders transparent
and intelligible to the knower the person to whom it belongs. Sexuality holds the key to
unlocking the deepest mysteries of the human personality; it lives at the center of the
hermeneutics of the self. With sex having become sexuality, and sexuality having become
homosexuality, bisexuality, and heterosexuality, a person’s sexual identification has come to be
viewed by sexologists as complex and multi-dimensional. One’s “sex” is determined by one’s
anatomy, by one’s genitalia. On this basis persons are declared male or female at birth. One’s

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“gender identity” refers to one’s inner sense of one’s sexuality, to one’s experience of oneself as
male or female. John Money asserts:

Because sex differences are not only genitally sexual, although they may be
secondarily derived from the procreative organs, I found a need some thirty years
ago for a word under which to classify them. That word, which has now become
accepted into language, is gender. Everyone has a gender identity/role, one part of
which is one’s genital or genitosexual gender identity/role....the masculinity and/or
femininity of your gender role is like the outside of a revolving globe that everyone
can observe and read the meaning of. Inside the globe are the private workings of
your gender identity.

It is possible to be an “anatomical” male and have a female gender identity or vice

versa, as is the case for transsexuals. One’s “gender role” is determined by the complex
interaction between one’s sex and the culture’s determination of what is expected of or
appropriate for women or men to be and do. On this basis men and women are said to be
masculine or feminine. For example, it is acceptable for an anatomical female who understands
herself to be a woman to wear traditional men’s clothes, i.e., trousers. In the United States
such is regularly the case. It is not usually acceptable for an anatomical male who understands
himself to be a man to wear traditional women’s clothes, i.e., skirts. In the United States such a
person is a cross-dresser; in Scotland he may be in traditional garb—a kilt.

III. The Search for Causes

One such contentious effort has been the search for the “origin” or “cause” of
homosexuality in social relationships and culture. Once homosexuality came to be understood
as a pathological condition, psychiatrists and psychologists set out to study and treat it.
Numerous psychoanalytical theories were advanced. Incestuous attachments to the parent of
the opposite sex, too close attachment to the parent of the same sex, failure to identify with
the same-sex parent, castration anxiety among males, and the narcissistic quest for a symbol of
one’s own self are but a few of the theories put forth that were eventually discovered to be
unfounded, inconsistent, or unprovable.

“Therapies” grounded in these assertions were found by most researchers to be ineffective

in “treating” homosexuals. Richard Isay writes:

Kinsey and his co-workers for many years attempted to find patients who had been
converted from homosexuality to heterosexuality during therapy, and were surprised
that they could not find one whose sexual orientation had been changed. When they
interviewed persons who claimed they had been homosexuals but were now
functioning heterosexually, they found these men were simply suppressing
homosexual behavior...and that they used homosexual fantasies when they attempted
intercourse.

Other therapists developed approaches which they claimed made significant strides
toward treating the “dissatisfied homosexual.” Joseph Nicolosi’s reparative therapy effects
significant change in male homosexuals who want to change by exploring the source of their
problems, developing non erotic same-sex relationships that diminish their sexual attraction
toward men, making them more secure in their gender identity, and bringing them to enjoy
heterosexual relationships.
In 1956, Evelyn Hooker’s study, in which three eminent psychologists failed to
distinguish thirty homosexual from thirty heterosexual males on the bases of the best

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psychometric instruments, challenged the notion that gay men were pathological. Her study
became the first in a series that demonstrated that homosexuality could not be viewed as
mental illness. In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association deleted homosexuality from its
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual signifying it no longer considered homosexuality a disease.
Even as psychiatry found little evidence regarding the origin of sexual orientation and
developed contested assertions about the “treatment” of homosexuality, the biological sciences
began their own inquiries into its etiology. Research emerges in three major arenas: anatomy,
physiology, and genetics.

Anatomical research into sexual orientation grows out of neurological studies of both the
fetal development and adult structure of the brain. The most well known of these studies is that
of Simon LeVay, a neurobiologist at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California. LeVay studied the
nucleus of certain cells in the hypothalamus of forty-one persons who had died at hospitals in
California and New York. Nineteen of these persons were homosexuals who had died of AIDS;
six were women presumed to be heterosexual; and sixteen were presumed to be heterosexual
men, six of whom died of AIDS. In his study, LeVay discovered the volume of the nucleus was
more than twice as large in heterosexual men as it was in homosexual men and the
heterosexual women.7 Although his study was not tightly controlled for variables and has not
yet been duplicated, LeVay argues that his work indicates at the very least that sexual
orientation in humans can be studied biologically. Richard Pillard at Boston University School of
Medicine asserts on the basis of his study of the effects of hormones on fetal development that
a key hormone present in embryos may, depending on its presence or absence, prevent the
male brain from defeminizing, thereby creating “psychosexual androgyny.” Thus gay men are
understood as men with physiologically induced feminine components, and vice versa for
women.8 At best Pillard’s research, linked with that of others such as psychiatrist Richard Green
at the University of California at Los Angeles, circumstantially implicate physiology in sexual
orientation. Perhaps the most influential genetic study has been the one on twins conducted by
Michael Bailey, a Northwestern University psychologist, in cooperation with Pillard. In their work
they discovered that the gay-gay concordance rate for identical twins raised separately was 52
percent, compared to 22 percent for fraternal twins and 11 percent for adoptive brothers. They
argue that if homosexuality is genetic, then the more closely related persons are, the more
likely the sexual orientation of one can be predicted by the sexual orientation of the other.9
Even though biological research into the origins and nature of sexual orientation is by no means
conclusive and is difficult to understand and interpret, it points toward the conclusion that such
factors play a significant role in determining human sexual orientation.

VARIOUS FORMS OF SOGI-BASED VIOLATIONS

Widespread and systematic human rights violations on the basis of sexual orientation,
gender identity, and homosexuality persist in the Philippines. The arrests, harassment, and
discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Philippines
demonstrate the urgent need for the Government of the Philippines to act. Though an Anti-
Discrimination bill was first introduced to Congress twelve years, the Philippines does not have
Anti-Discrimination legislation. The State also fails to address the overwhelming amount of hate
crimes and murders of LGBT individuals in the Philippines and the number of hate crimes
against LGBT people in the Philippines is increasing. State-actor violence against LGBT Filipinos
is pervasive. Police raids on LGBT venues occur regularly and without warrants. During these
raids, police regularly illegally detain, verbally abuse and extort money from clients. Police will
also frequently charge LGBT individuals with violating the “Public scandal” provision of the
Revised Penal Code which is a broadly worded public morality law discriminatorily applied
against the LGBT community. There are glaring instances of discrimination, marginalization and
exclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity issues from various legislative bills. The

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President of the Philippines, Benigno Aquino, removed sexual orientation as a protected
category from a congressional bill on sexual and reproductive health after after Congress
attempted to include it. The Philippines also intends to pass legislation that will make changing
one’s first name and sex on a birth certificate illegal for transsexual and intersex individuals.
The State has also been responsible for inciting homophobia. In January 2012 during the
Philippine National AIDS Council plenary meeting, the Philippine Secretary of Health Enrique
Ona stated that “parents should rein in their homosexual children and get them tested” to
address the rapid rise of HIV cases in the country; his statements only contributing to a general
ignorance and hostility toward LGBT people already pervasive within the country. LGBT persons
are entitled to their full rights under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR.) In order to protect access and enjoyment of these rights the Government of the
Philippines must take positive steps to repeal discriminatory laws and combat violence targeted
at LGBT individuals. There is urgent need for the Committee to take appropriate action to
ensure LGBT people can enjoy the rights within the Convention to which they are entitled.

Non-discrimination, Equality between Men and Women (Arts. 2, Para (1), 3 and 26)
Articles 2(1), 3 and 26 of the Convention provide for the respect, equality and non-
discrimination of all individuals on the grounds of, inter alia, race, colour and sex. In the
landmark decision of Toonen v Australia in 1994, the Committee found not only that the
reference to “sex” in Articles 2(1) and 26 must be taken to include sexual orientation, but also
that laws which criminalize consensual homosexual acts expressly violate the privacy
protections of Article 17.1 In the past twelve months alone, the Committee has called upon
States on five occasions to take positive steps to end national prejudice and discrimination
against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

I. Scope and Status of the Anti-Discrimination Bill in Congress

Despite arduous lobbying by LGBT activists, the Philippines still does not have anti-
discrimination legislation. In its List of Issues, the Committee asked the Filipino State to provide
information on measures to eliminate discrimination specifically regarding the scope and status
of the Anti-Discrimination Bill(s) presented in Congress. An Anti-Discrimination Bill (ADB) was
first introduced in 2000 during the 11th Congress. However, after twelve years the bill has still
not been passed. The Anti-Discrimination Bill that has been lobbied for by LGBT activists was
re-filed in the Senate and in the Lower House of Congress during the 15th Congress. The Anti-
Discrimination bill seeks to prohibit and penalize a wide-range of discriminatory policies and
practices against Filipino LGBT persons in schools, workplaces, commercial establishments,
public service, health institutions, police and the military. The Senate was able to approve the
bill on the third reading as part of a comprehensive Anti-Discrimination legislation that covers
sexual orientation and gender identity as well as race, religion, ethnicity, and other statuses. In
order to be enacted into law, the bill must be approved by the bicameral conference committee
and submitted for approval to the president. Though the bill’s passage through the Senate is a
positive step, as the national elections approach in May of 2013 and the close of the 15th
Congress draws near, the window of opportunity to pass this national antidiscrimination
legislation becomes narrower. The State must act quickly in order to pass this Anti-
Discrimination legislation that has been pending for more than 12 years. Comprehensive Anti-
Discrimination legislation is a vital part of adequate protection of the LGBT community.

II. Criminalization of Homosexuality under the Revised Penal Code

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 Police raids on LGBT venues occur regularly and without warrants. During these raids police
unlawfully detain individuals then verbally abuse and extort money from them. Police will also
frequently charge those unlawfully detained with violating the public scandal provision of the
Revised Penal Code. An individual may be charged under the “Grave scandal” provision of the
penal code if the person “offend[s] against decency or good customs” by engaging in “highly
scandalous conduct.” Because the provision does not clearly define the conduct for which it
requires, police are given broad discretion for its implementation resulting in disproportionate
and discriminatory application against LGBT individuals. One July 18, 2012 the Presidential
Human Rights Committee (PHRC), headed by Undersecretary Severo Catura, approved a
request by gay activists to organize a dialogue between the PHRC and the Philippines National
Police (PNP) in order to put a stop to illegal raids by errant police officers. As a result of this
discussion, the PHRC committed to ensuring the PNP adheres to the legal process in conducting
raids. The PNP promised to provide training to police on the legal procedure during raids and to
emphasize the recent police policy prohibiting arbitrary arrest.

III. Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

While some legislators and state agencies have proven supportive of LGBT rights, there
are also glaring instances of discrimination, marginalization and exclusion of sexual orientation
and gender identity issues from various State branches and departments.
Local government units from different cities all over the Philippines have been proactive
in passing and filing city ordinances banning LGBT discrimination. In Quezon City,
antidiscrimination in employment was enacted in 2004 and LGBT-friendly provisions are
supplemented in the Quezon City Gender and Development Ordinance. Albay Province and
Bacolod City passed an anti-discrimination ordinance. Angeles City not only passed
antidiscrimination legislation but created a Gay Rights Desk as well. In Cebu City while an
antidiscrimination ordinance is being deliberated, a city resolution was filed urging the
Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) to issue a memorandum to all
government agencies to include the LGBT sector in their Gender and Development (GAD)
Programs.
In the House of Representatives, Representative Raymond Palatino of the Kabataan
Partylist filed House Resolution No.1333, which seeks to investigate prejudicial, discriminatory,
and unjust practices and policies against LGBT students implemented and tolerated in schools
and will be partnering with the Department of Education (DepEd) and other government
agencies to explore the inclusion of a Comprehensive Gender Curriculum on basic and
secondary education and in vocational and technical school to incorporate discussion on issues
of LGBT persons. In May of 2012, the Department of Education issued DepEd Order No. 40 or,
“The DepEd Child Protection Policy” to guarantee the protection of children in schools from any
form of violence, abuse or exploitation regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Despite the passage of these government actions addressing LGBT violence and
discrimination, the State has failed to address the overwhelming amount of hate crimes and
murders of LGBT individuals in the Philippines. For example, the report the Filipino State
submitted to the Committee for the Philippines’ fourth periodic review did not confront the
gravity and gruesomeness of LGBT killings that have occurred in recent years within the State
nor the fact that the number of hate crimes is continually increasing. The report discussed
proposed antidiscrimination legislation but failed to discuss the importance of including LGBT
people in the legislation. Furthermore, as mentioned above, Anti-Discrimination legislation for
LGBT persons was introduced twelve years ago and is still pending in Congress.

IV. Marginalization and Exclusion of SOGI Issues by the State

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 The President of the Philippines specifically excluded LGBT individuals from equal
protection in a reproductive health law in 2011. Although the original draft of the Reproductive
Health Bill included sexual orientation as a protected class under section two of the bill,
President Benigno Aquino intentionally removed sexual orientation from that protected status,
singling out LGBT people and depriving them of having equal rights among other sectors
enumerated in that section.
If the President of the Philippines signs the proposed “Clerical Error Law of 2001” of the
Philippines in its current status, the Philippines will make changing one’s first name and sex on
a birth certificate illegal for transsexual and intersex persons. LGBT groups headed by the
Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP) actively engaged with the Senators
who authored the bills in March 2012 about Section 5 of the bill. Section 5 expressly states that
the government will not grant a petition made for change of gender by a person who has
undergone sex change or sex transplant. In their initial discussions, the Senators assured the
activists that they were not intending to violate their rights and agreed to consult with LGBT
groups to change the provision of the bill. Then, in June of 2012, one of the Senators changed
his position. At present, the consolidated version of the bill has been signed by the Speaker of
the House and the Senate President and is now with the President waiting for his approval and
signature.
The State has also been responsible for inciting homophobia. In January 2012 during
the Philippine National AIDS Council plenary meeting, the Philippine Secretary of Health Enrique
Ona suggested “parents should rein in their homosexual children and get them tested” to
address the rapid rise of HIV cases in the country. His discriminatory statement not only
demonstrates a general ignorance and hostility toward LGBT people but contributes to the
growing cases of HIV/AIDS in the Philippines as well. Both HIV/AIDS and LGBT activists called
for the Health Secretary’s resignation for his malicious and dangerous remark. Aside from the
fact that the Philippines is one of only seven countries in the world where HIV rates are rapidly
rising, men who have sex with men (MSM) are identified as major driver of the epidemic.
Among the factors contributing to the rise of HIV/AIDS cases in the Philippines are having
unprotected sex and sex with multiple partners. The Catholic Church’s ban on condom use, the
lack of public education about HIV, the shame of living with the disease prevent many from
acknowledging infections and seeking help. The absence of public-awareness campaigns and
cultural taboos against homosexuality, HIV/AIDS and sex are other contributing factors.
Because data demonstrates that countries where discrimination against gays or other groups
exacerbates the epidemic, the State must work on combating homophobia in order to be
successful in decreasing the rate of HIV/AIDS transmission. This includes holding government
officials accountable for homophobic statements like the one made by the Health Secretary in
2012.

MANIFESTATIONS OF GENDER BIAS

Political Subordination
Politics is an issue of power, because the productive sphere is given pre-eminence in
society. Because women are viewed as “weaker sex.’ Women do not share power and prestige,
status and societal position.

Economic Marginalization
The division of society into the spheres of production and reproduction has led to the
under or even non-valuation of women’s work. The tasks that are related to housework, child
rearing and family care are largely taken for granted and perceived as minor functions that are
once in a while given patronizing importance but are generally seen as ”natural” functions that
do not have direct contributions to societal development. This situation is carried over to the

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public economic domain where women are the last to be hired and first to be fired while at the
same time receiving unequal pay for work of equal value.

Multiple Burden
Women, even as they are viewed as having primarily reproductive functions actually
participate in a host of other activities. Women are part of the labor force, not only because
women work in agriculture, fisheries, manufacturing, service occupations, the informal sector,
industry and the various professions. And yet, no matter that women put in essentially the
same working hours as men outside the home, housework and child care are still primarily a
woman’s concern. As a result, women carry a double burden in terms of longer hours of work
and a wider breadth of responsibility.

Gender Stereotyping
Women are stereotyped from birth. Social perceptions and value systems ingrain an
image of women as weak, dependent, subordinate, indecisive, emotional and submissive.
Women’s roles, functions and abilities are seen to be primarily tied at home. In a very real
sense, women are trapped within these stereotypes which severely limit their opportunities to
development, bare them to innumerable hurdles and consign them to a fate that robs them of
the right to be equal human beings.

Commodification of Women
Women are perceived as “commodities.” The portrayal of women in media as persons
endorsing products presents two vivid pictures of women – “the virgin and the vamp.” This
gives the picture of women as “sex objects.”

Violence against Women

There is a web of verbal, psychological and physical abuse that all women ae exposed
to. Because of their low status in the society, many women experience a variety of verbal abuse
coupled with psychological assaults – insults, threats, emotional blackmail especially in relation
to children, economic dependence.

Personal Loss of Esteem/ Obstacles to Personhood Development

All the above-mentioned manifestations of gender-bias have a direct negative effect on
the personhood of every woman. Growing up and living in a world which limits a woman’s very
right to be human, which operates on a double standard that applies to sexes, which diminishes
an individual’s dignity, hits at the very core of each woman’s personhood. As a result, females
generally possess lower levels of self-esteem and confidence compared to males.

Definition of Terms:

Violation against Women and their Children. It refers to any act or series of acts
committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former wife, or against a woman
with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or with whom he has a
common child, or against her child whether legitimate of illegitimate, within or without the
family abode, which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or
suffering, or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion,
harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty. It includes, but is not limited to, the following
acts:
Physical Violence. It refers to acts that include bodily or physical harm.
Sexual Violence. It is an act which is sexual in nature, committed against a woman or
her child.
It includes but is not limited to:

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 a. Rape, sexual harassment, acts of lasciviousness, treating a woman or her
child as a sex object, making demeaning and sexually suggestive remarks,
physically attacking the sexual parts of the victim’s body, forcing her/him to
watch obscene publications and indecent shows or forcing the woman on her
child to do indecent acts and/or make films thereof, forcing the wife and
mistress/lover to live in the conjugal home or sleep together in the same
room with the abuser;
b. Acts causing or attempting to cause the victim to engage in any sexual
activity by force, threat of force, physical or other harm or threat of physical
or other harm or coercion; and
c. Prostituting the woman or child.
Psychological Violence. These are acts or omissions causing likely to cause mental or
emotional suffering of the victim such as but not limited to intimidation,
harassment, stalking, damage to property, public ridicule or humiliation,
repeated verbal abuse and mental infidelity. It includes causing or allowing the
victim to witness the physical, sexual or psychological abuse of a member of the
family to which the victim belongs, or to witness pornography in any form or to
witness abusive injury to pets or to unlawful or unwanted deprivation of the right
to custody and/or visitation of common children.
Economic Abuse. It refers to acts that make or attempt to make a woman financially
dependent which includes, but not limited to the following:
a. Withdrawal of financial support or preventing the victim from engaging in any
legitimate profession, occupation, business or activity, except in cases
wherein the other spouse/partner on valid, serious and moral grounds as
defined in Article 73 of the Family Code;
b. Deprivation or threat of deprivation of financial resources and the right to the
use and enjoyment of the conjugal, community or property owned in
common;
c. Destroying household property; and
d. Controlling the victims’ own money or properties or solely controlling the
conjugal money or properties.
Battery. It refers to the act of inflicting physical harm upon the woman or her child
resulting to the woman or her child resulting to the physical and psychological or
emotional distress.
Battered Woman Syndrome. It is a scientifically defined pattern of psychological and
behavioral symptoms found in women living in battering relationships as a result
of cumulative abuse.
Stalking. It refers to an intentional act committed by a person who, knowingly and
without lawful jurisdiction follows the woman or her child under surveillance
directly or indirectly or a combination thereof.
Dating Relationship. This is a situation wherein the parties live as a husband and wife
without the benefit of marriage or are romantically involved over time and on a
continuing basis during the course of the relationship. A casual acquaintance or
ordinary socialization between two individuals in a business or social context is
not a dating relationship.
Sexual Relations. It refers to a single sexual act which may or may not result in the
bearing of a common child.
Safe Place or Shelter. This is any home or institution maintained or managed by the
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) or by any other agency
or voluntary organization accredited by the DSWD for the purposes of this act or
any other suitable place the resident of which is willing temporarily to receive the
victim.

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 Children. It refers to those below eighteen (18) years of age or older but are incapable
of taking care of themselves as defined under Republic Act No. 7610. As used in
this act, it includes the biological children of the victim and other children under
her care.

GENDER POWER AND DEVELOPMENT

One of the processes in overcoming gender inequality is women empowerment. Gender

inequality is reflected as:
 Gender roles involve unequal burdens of work
 Unequal distribution of resources
 Pervasive at the level of tradition and social practice
 Discrimination against women

RIGHTS AND NEEDS OF WOMEN

Practical Gender Needs

These are linked to women’s condition in society, the concrete realities they face, their
“material state” and “immediate sphere of experience.” These can be addressed by provision of
specific inputs: food, water pumps, day care centers, credit facilities, transport facilities,
maternity leave benefits, non- formal training, skills development, etc.

Strategic Gender Needs

These arise from women’s position in society, their “social and economic standing
relative to men.” These can be attained through consciousness-raining increasing self-
confidence, education, strengthening women’s organizations, political obligations, etc.

BASIS FOR GENDER EQUALITY

Legal Concept of Gender Equality

What is gender equality? In the context of International Human Rights, the legal
concept of gender inequality is enshrined in the 1848 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as
well as in the 1979 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women.
The convention, which has been ratified by over 100 countries, states clearly and
unequivocally that “discrimination against women violates the principles of equality of rights and
respect for human dignity.’
Often described as an “International Bill of Rights of Women”, this convention provides
for women’s civil rights and their legal equality in all fields. It is the only International Human
Rights treaty to affirm the reproductive rights of women and to target culture as influential
forces shaping gender roles and family relations.

Violations against Women

Women are actual and potential victims of specific kinds of violence that are distinctly
different because these acts are born out of the status of women in society:
a. Abuse (verbal, psychological and physical)
b. Sexual harassment

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 c. Acts of lasciviousness
d. Seduction
e. Abduction
f. Molestation
g. Wife-beating
h. Prostitution
i. Rape
j. Corruption of minors
k. Abuse of children

The Importance of Magna Carta of Women to the 8 Millennium Dev Goals (MDG)

The 8 Millennium Development Goals:

G1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
 Achieve decent employment for women, men and young people
 Have the proportion of people living on less than 1 dollar a day
 Have the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
G2. Achieve universal primary education
 By 2015, all children can complete a full course of primary schooling, girls and
boys
G3. Promote gender equality and empower women
 Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by
2005, and at all levels by 2015
G4. Reduce child mortality rates
 Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
G5. Improve maternal health
 Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio
 Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health
G6. Combat HIV and AIDS, malaria and other diseases
 Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS
 Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who
need it
 Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other
major diseases
G7. Ensure environmental sustainability
 Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and
programs; reverse loss of environmental resources
 Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of
loss
 Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to
safe drinking water and basic sanitation
 By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100
million slum dwellers.
G8. Develop a global partnership for development
 Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and
financial system
 Address the special needs of the Least Developed Countries (LDC)
 Address the special needs of landlocked developing countries and small island
developing states

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  Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through
national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the
long term
 In co-operation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable,
essential drugs in developing countries.
 In co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new
technologies, especially information and communications.

THE ROLE OF LAW ENFORCERS AS PRIME MOVERS OF APPRECIATING

GENDER POWER AND DEVELOPMENT

Gender Responsive Skill Development in the Philippine National Police (PNP)

 The first point of contact in the justice system is usually the police. The police officer
based in the local precinct responds to calls from the victim, neighbors or barangay
officials, often arriving at the scene of a crime in progress. At the precint, the women’s
desk officer for victims of gender- based crimes assist the complainants, accompanies
her to the medical examiner, and prepares her affidavit for filing with the public
prosecutor.
 The initial responder and women’s desk officer are the first to see the victim and her
physical and emotional condition following the incident. Some gender sensitivity training
has been provided to first responders and to women’s desk officers. Coverage is
incomplete and the training content varies. No procedures manual exist to guide women
desk officers or first responders dealing with gender-based violence.
 A recent study of women desk officers shows inconsistent management of gender-based
violence cases. While continuous exposure to violence and trauma builds stress,
women’s desk officers face additional stress given the nature of the crime as they can
associate with the victim and become traumatized themselves.
 To ensure their best performance for gender sensitive handling of the victim and for
securing information and evidence essential to the case, these officers need a
procedures manual, gender sensitive training and stress management.

Gender Sensitivity Capacity Building for National Prosecution Service

 The next point of contact for a crime victim is the NPS under the Department of Justice
(DOJ). Gender-based crimes are tried in the family courts where family court
prosecutors do the investigation. They must understand how to build cases for
prosecution under gender based violence laws including how to use gender sensitive
language and behavior and how to develop rapport with the victim.
 Gender sensitive performance indicators have been developed for public prosecutors but
no benchmarking or training needs assessment has been carried out. It is estimated that
only 10 percent of the public prosecutors have received any gender sensitization training

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