In the afternoon of October 21, 2020, the 80 gender and development (GAD) advocates from all operating units of DMMMSU were trained on Gender Sensitivity with Dr. Nora A. Oredina, NLUC GAD Focal Person and Faculty from the NLUC College of Education (CE), as the resource person. The training was held via Google Meet.

Dr. Oredina explained the distinction of sex and gender, where the former is referred to as the biological differences between males and females and is fixed at birth, while the latter is referred to as the differentiated social roles, responsibilities, behaviour, capacities, and intellectual, emotional, and social characteristics attributed by a given culture to women and men.

In her presentation, she emphasized that a majority of behavioural scientists agree that “gender roles are not inborn; they are learned.” Dr. Oredina gave exercises on how to properly differentiate sex and gender roles. The engaging half-day training enabled the participants to appreciate and understand better what male, female, men and women are. They were able to recognize that there are other individuals in the society with different gender preferences.

This training was one of the month-long capability enrichment activities set in celebration of NARTDI’s 19th Founding Anniversary. (RMPajarillo)