In celebration of Pride Month, the General Education Center (GEC) organized two LINANGAN sessions focusing on the discussion of various challenges and issues encountered in the integration of gender and sexuality in the GE pedagogy, as well as strategies and best practices for cultivating an inclusive learning environment for students.
The first session, titled “Gender Mainstreaming the GE Courses: A Webinar Workshop” was a two-part webinar-workshop held on June 18, 2024. To formally start the program, UP Diliman Gender Office (UPDGO) coordinator Anna Myrishia Villanueva delivered her opening remarks, providing an overview of the workshop topics and emphasizing the need for gender mainstreaming to create a more inclusive and equitable educational environment.
The first workshop was facilitated by Giano Ray Potes, SOGIE & training officer at the UPDGO, who focused on reviewing the basic and fundamental concepts related to SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression) and analyzing the current trends and mandates related to gender and development. He also underscored the promotion of gender-responsive and inclusive educational institutions and workplaces through the application of these concepts, suggesting various tips, techniques, and best practices in gender mainstreaming.
The subsequent part of the program featured the workshop facilitated by Ferdinand Vincent Hermoso, Gender and Development Associate at the UPDGO. The workshop delved into the discussion of gender-fair language as well as related current trends and issues in the Philippines. It included a discussion of the different forms of sexism, featuring the role of using gender-fair language as a means to combat discrimination. Practical tips and applications for employing gender-fair language, along with the identification of common pitfalls in writing that perpetuate sexist language, were also addressed in his talk, underscoring the importance of gender-fair language in advancing equality, diversity, inclusivity, and empowerment of marginalized groups.
To wrap up the two-part workshop, GEC Director Assoc. Prof. Anna Sibayan-Sarmiento, PhD presented the certificate of appreciation to the facilitators and delivered a brief synthesis of the workshops. She also expressed her hopes that the workshop would inspire reflection upon the participants on how to make GE classes more inclusive and mindful of marginalized identities.
The second LINANGAN session, entitled “Teaching Gender and Sexuality: Notes from SOSC 3 and Pan Pil 19,” took place on July 15, 2024 and featured the presentations with a special focus on the pedagogy and course content of SOSC 3: Exploring Gender and Sexuality and Pan Pil 19: Sexwalidad, Kasarian at Panitikan.
The program commenced with Asst. Prof. Xavier Bilon, Project Leader of UP Rainbow Research Hub delivering his opening remarks wherein he provided an overview of the topics that were to be covered in the session. He also briefly shared his experience on taking up SOSC 3, underscoring the importance of teaching and tackling gender and sexuality to reflect and analyze the influence of social structures and systems on identity, which consequently leads to fostering of more inclusive societies where everyone can live fully irrespective of their gender and sexual identities.
The first talk featured Asst. Prof. Madilene Landicho from the UPD Department of Anthropology, College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. She discussed the pedagogy and her experience teaching SOSC 3, tracing the history of the implementation and changes the course has undergone through the years as well as the topics covered in the course. Furthermore, she briefly discussed the typical composition of her class where she acknowledged the challenge of accommodating the differences in the depth of knowledge and understanding of gender and sexuality among her students and stressed the importance of staying updated on modern trends and issues to engage with students effectively.
Following this, Asst. Prof. Bernadette Neri from the UPD Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, College of Arts and Letters, presented her experience teaching Pan Pil 19. She outlined the topics covered in the course as well as the gender issues tackled in the course during her talk. She also discussed how each content of the topics covered in the course is delivered, providing real-life examples of expected output by the end of the lesson as well as reading and video resource materials she uses in her class. To conclude her talk, she underscored the importance of exposing students to various reading materials to foster in them a more critical approach, not just in matters related to gender and sexuality, but also in terms of the history and struggles faced by the country.
Upon the conclusion of the talks by the speakers was the open forum which was moderated by Giano Ray Potes, SOGIE & training officer of the UP Diliman Gender Office (UPDGO). Salient questions raised by the participants include asking about the challenges encountered during the implementation of SOSC 3 and Pan Pil 19, how to deal with differences in views between and among students and colleagues, and foster inclusivity inside the classroom. The key takeaway from the open forum was the significance of receiving administrative support and the opportunity to implement the courses, as well as the importance of having an openness to talks and discussions regarding gender and sexuality despite dissenting views.
More timely and relevant issues will be addressed in the following LINANGAN sessions. Interested participants may register for future LINANGAN sessions through this link. Meanwhile, individuals who missed the previous LINANGAN sessions may watch the recorded livestream on GEC’s YouTube channel.
