Gender

Gender

The term ‘gender’ is defined in Article 3 of the Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention as ‘the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men’. Other international organisations, such as the United Nations and its agencies, equally use ‘gender’ as a reference to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female.

Gender refers to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female and the relationships between women and men and girls and boys, as well as the relationships between women and those between men. These attributes, opportunities and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialisation processes. They are context- and time-specific and changeable. Gender determines what is expected, allowed and valued in a woman or a man in a given context. In most societies there are differences and inequalities between women and men in responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken, access to and control over resources, as well as decision-making opportunities. Gender is part of the broader socio-cultural context. Other important criteria for socio-cultural analysis include class, race, poverty level, ethnic group and age (“Towards gender equality in the cultural and creative sectors”, report of the OMC (open method of coordination) working group of member states’ experts, june 2021).