Creating and Sustaining a Century of Life: Challenges for a New Era

In the common work for human liberation, civilization progresses.

It is natural that humankind questions what we achieved in the last century and what we can expect in the next.

The twentieth century has seen commendable progress in the fields of science and technology, improvements in health, and advances in human rights.

On balance, however, it has been a time of unprecedented tragedy and human suffering, marked by appalling and ceaseless wars, projecting false reality into people’s minds to entertain them while their gender is being exploited, an era of wanton disregard for human life for disconnecting biology from gender.

To develop an informed understanding about the topic; “Disconnecting Biology From Gender.”

ASSUMPTA with Gwen Gyimah Addo, a CEO that serves with love and passion. A woman considered to become Ghana’s first female president will have an open dialogue on the topic subject; Can Biology be disconnected from Gender?

ASSUMPTA : I have great respect for those who fight for peace.

GWEN : Many people talk about peace but few take action for the cause. I understand you are Namibian? A country on the south-west coast of Africa.

It is one of the driest and most sparsely populated countries on earth, with the Namib Desert in the west and the Kalahari Desert in the east separated by the Central Plateau.

ASSUMPTA: Thank you for your thoughtful description. I am very well aware that Africa is a very beautiful continent. I was born in Namibia. I grew up with a keen awareness of the spiritual significance of my birthplace.

GWEN : Well, I was born in 1982 at Korle Bu hospital in Ghana’s capital called Accra. Accra is Yoruba àkàrà meaning; ‘bean cake.’

Àkàrà (Yoruba)(English: Bean cake Hausa: kosai, Portuguese: Acarajé (Portuguese pronunciation: [akaɾaˈʒɛ] ( listen)) is a type of fritter made from cow peas or beans (black eye peas). It is found throughout West African, Caribbean, and Brazilian cuisines.

ASSUMPTA: I have heard of Ghana’s delicious cuisine. I still have my vivid holiday memories of the sightseeing night clubs and beautiful blue sea from the seashore near my hotel at labadi.

GWEN : Very interesting, indeed. Turning to our today’s dialogue, I want us to develop an informed understanding about the topic; “Disconnecting Biology From Gender.”

ASSUMPTA : It is natural that humankind questions what we have achieved in the last century and what we can expect in the next.

GWEN : The twentieth century has seen commendable progress in the fields of science and technology, improvements in health, and advances in human rights.

On balance, however, it has been a time of unprecedented tragedy and human suffering, marked by appalling and ceaseless wars, projecting false reality into people’s minds to entertain them while their gender is being exploited, an era of wanton disregard for human life and disconnecting biology from gender.

ASSUMPTA: I have one really bitter memory. One day I was in a city swimming pool some young people came along unexpectedly and, finding a boy who identified himself as Homosexual, began to bully him and held him under water till he died.

I was made painfully aware that the fact that men turn into women or women turn to men scared some people.

GWEN : Gender is thus “socially constructed” in the sense that, unlike biological sex, gender is a product of society. We often hear that “gender is socially constructed.

ASSUMPTA: ”What does that mean? Is it true?

GWEN: The popular idea that gender is socially constructed might be summed up as follows:

There is a difference between “sex” and “gender.” Sex is “biological” while gender is “psychological,” “social,” or “cultural.”

 A person’s gender can be different from a person’s sex. Gender is thus “socially constructed” in the sense that, unlike biological sex, gender is a product of society. 

If society determines what is masculine or feminine, then society can change what is considered masculine, feminine, or anything in between. No one needs to be locked into fixed gender categories. Any individual is free to identify their gender as they see fit.

ASSUMPTA: Unless gender and related matters – looks, clothes, parenthood-are relevant to your point, leave them unmentioned. 

Do you use any occupational stereotypes? Watch for the use of female pronouns for nurses and male ones for scientists, for example. Do you use language that in any way shows a lack of respect for either sex? 

Have you used “he,” “him,” “his,” or himself to refer to people who may be female?

   Facts versus Fiction & Sex versus Gender?

 GWEN : In many Women’s Studies classes,  one of the fundamental concepts students are expected to master is the difference feminists see between an individual’s sex which feminists understand as one’s biological makeup and that person’s gender which feminists define as a social construction based on sex. 

Because this principle is so fundamental to understanding much of the material in many Women’s Studies courses, expressing the difference between sex and gender is an important element in many writing assignments given by Women’s Studies.

ASSUMPTA: Does Biology or Society determine gender? We’ve been discussing the question of whether sex or biology determines gender in my Women’s Studies class.

As women we had to research both sides of the biological side of the argument, which in my opinion, was slightly easier to argue since I could base my points on scientific facts. 

Either way, I can definitely appreciate both sides of the argument after doing research and analysing both.

To provide definitions of both sex and gender, and I think understanding both is essential in order to be able to discuss the argument properly. 

Sex is the categories of male and female, and the biological characteristics and properties of bodies placed in their categories. 

Gender is the masculine and feminine characteristics assigned to bodies in cultural contexts and the social expectation that everyone will fit into their designated gender roles.

GWEN : Indeed when you analyse the “society determines gender” portion of the debate using several sources. “The only way we notice how gender is produced is if there’s a disruption in our daily lives regarding men and women’s behaviour.” 

Therefore, we usually fail to notice gender signs until they are missing. “Gender construction begins with the assignment to a sex category at birth, depending on genitalia.” 

After that, parents dress their babies in a certain way in order to avoid people asking them whether their baby is a boy or a girl. 

Once a child’s gender is evident, others treat them in a specific way, and the children behave differently. Children learn to walk, talk, and gesture the way their social group says girls and boys should.

ASSUMPTA : I know what you mean. My biological science professor said to me that, biology plays a much bigger role in determining the gender of a person. 

For example, hormones play a huge part in the development of a person’s personality and affect their behaviour. Testosterone is more present in males than in females, who have larger doses of oestrogen. 

“Testosterone acts upon the hypothalamus, which results in masculinization of the brain, and causes typically male behaviours such as aggression, competitiveness, visio-spatial abilities, higher sexual drive, etc.” 

There have been tests run on animals, in which scientists have increased the females’ exposure to testosterone, and the results stated that they engaged in much more aggressive behaviours.

GWEN : So your final takeaway on this topic is that both biology and society definitely affect gender. 

ASSUMPTA : While biology plays a huge role in influencing a person’s behaviour, their interactions with other people and the way they are viewed and treated majorly affects their development and changes their personality. 

Also, a person’s gender identity might not match their biological sex, which could cause some confusion in the person’s life and lead them to become transsexual or transgender. Therefore, I conclude that gender is shaped by both social and biological factors.

GWEN: Exactly. This should be our point of departure for parents earnest yearning to love and care for their children to awaken to the critical realities of birth and defend it.

Thank you. ASSUMPTA.