The concept of gender helps us to understand how relief and development work affects men, women, girls, and boys.
Gender describes characteristics of men and women which are determined by society .
Sex , in contrast, refers to those characteristics of men and women which are determined by biology . This distinction between sex and gender is important. People may be born male or female, but learn what their appropriate behavior and attitudes, roles and activities are and how they should relate to other people. Since society determines gender, everything women and men do and everything expected of them changes over time. As societies and cultures change, so do their concepts of gender.