Women vs Equality

 

   “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression”

                                                                                        -          Nelson Mendela

 

These wise words said by Nelson Mendela highlight a predominant issue in our society, that is, gender inequality. According to Wikipedia Gender inequality is the social process by which men and women are not treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in the society. Some of these distinctions are empirically grounded while others appear to be socially constructed.

Discrimination against women and girls is a pervasive and long-running phenomenon that characterises Indian society at every level. India’s progress towards gender equality, measured by its position on rankings such as the Gender Development Index has been disappointing, despite fairly rapid rates of economic growth.

The root cause of gender inequality in Indian society lies in its patriarchy system. According to the famous sociologists Sylvia Walby, patriarchy is “a system of social structure and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women”. Women’s exploitation is an age old cultural phenomenon of Indian society. The system of patriarchy finds its validity and sanction in our religious beliefs, whether it is Hindu, Muslim or any other religion.

For instance, as per ancient Hindu law giver Manu: “Women are supposed to be in the custody of their father when they are children, they must be under the custody of their husband when married and under the custody of her son in old age or as widows. In no circumstances she should be allowed to assert herself independently”.

Causes of Gender Discrimination:

There are several hurdles in the way of achieving gender equality in India. The Indian mindset dwells on the deep-rooted patriarchal system. Boys are given more value compared to girls who are just looked upon as a burden.

For this reason, the education of girls is not taken as seriously, which again poses a threat to gender equality in India. Child marriages and child labor also contribute to the lack of gender equality in India.

Poverty is another pitfall in gender equality in India because it pushes girls into sexual abuse, child trafficking, forced marriages, and domestic violence.

Insensitivity toward women exposes them to rapes, stalking, threats, unsafe atmosphere at workplaces and roads due to which achieving gender equality in India has become a tough task.

 

Gender Inequality in India: Important Data

Global Indices:

Gender Inequality is also reflected in India’s poor ranking in various global gender indices.

• UNDP’s Gender Inequality Index- 2014: India’s ranking is 127 out of 152 countries in the List. This ranking is only above Afghanistan as far as SAARC countries are concerned.
• World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index- 2014: India’s ranks at 114 in the list of 142 countries of the world. This Index examines gender gap in four major areas:
• Economic participation and opportunity.
• Educational achievements.
• Health and life expectancy.
• Political empowerment.

India’s position on these indicators was as follows:

• Economic participation and opportunity: 134^th
• Educational achievements: 126^th
• Health and Life expectancy: 141^st
• Political empowerment: 15^th

These two important Global Indices show the sorry state of affairs in India as far as gender equality is concerned. Only in case of ‘Political Empowerment’ India is doing fine which is a welcome sign. But other indices are very poor and a lot need to be done to improve the same.

Gender Inequality Statistics

Gender inequality manifests in varied ways. And as far as India is concerned the major indicators are as follows:

• Female Foeticide
• Female Infanticide
• Child (0 to 6 age group) Sex Ratio: 919
• Sex Ratio: 943
• Female literacy:46%
• Maternal Mortality Rate: 178 deaths per 100000 live births.

The causes mentioned above are only the tip of the iceberg. Serious groundwork needs to be done if we are ever to establish gender equality in India. We can all make a small yet significant change to improve gender equality in India.

Parents must teach their boys to respect girls and take them as equals. For this, both mother and father can be their role models. Education must become a necessity for all the girls without which hoping for gender equality in India would be worthless.

School education and social culture also play an important role in spreading gender equality in India. Sex education, awareness campaigns, complete eradication of female feticide, the toxic effects of dowry and early marriages, should all be taught to students.

The road to an absolute gender equality in India is tough but not impossible. We must be honest in our efforts and work on changing the social outlook toward females. For a full-fledged gender equality in India, both men and women must work together and bring a positive change in society.