Understanding Gender Beyond Sex: Philosophical and Historical Perspectives on Equality and Justice

Abstract: In a world where more diversified voices are being heard, people tend to mix up important concepts. Misunderstanding often cause problems: stereotypical impression, incorrect behaviors and reactions, discrimination and inequality, and even warfare and hatreds. As the term feminism getting a higher frequency of use, and as more and more women winning their power, people start to reflect on this social group. They fight for gender equality, pursuing their aims of social justice. But when referring to gender equality, it is often that people mistakenly link it to the equality between biological female and male. That is, separating gender from sex, and view social problems through the idea of gender instead of sex is still something in need of discussion. This essay tends to clarify such misunderstanding, discusses how gender is different from sex and why is gender important from both philosophical and historical perspectives. In these analysis, this essay also includes the discussion of femininity and masculinity, making a point on the proper use of these descriptive words. In the end, this essay also tries to give practical political and societal solutions to achieve a higher level of social equality and justice.