Unpacking Gender

 What is Gender Inequality?

Our society suffers from many social evils andone of them is gender inequality. When distinctions are made between males and females and unequal treatment is meted out to boys and girls in different fields, it is called gender inequality. This evil has been practised in many countries for the last so many centuries.

Gender is a social construct and not determined by biological difference.

Different Types of Gender Inequality

There are many types of gender inequality but the chief among them are inequalities in the social and economic field.

Inequalities in the Social Field or Social Aspects of Gender Inequality are : 

1. In the social field the first unequality is the mortality inequality. When there is high mortality rate of women than men this is mortality inequality. As a result of this there are lesser number of women as compared to per thousand men.

2.The second inequality in the social field is the natality inequality. People in most countries prefer a boy child rather then a girl child. They celebrate the birth of a boy child. Instances of female infanticide (killing of a girl child) and female foeticide (killing of an unborn girl child) are heard of even today.

3.The third is the household or family unequality. In many countries the family itself becomes the root cause of greater inequality. Not only are boys preferred to girls but also differential treatment is given to them. Better food is served to boys as compared to girls. While boys are left free to play, girls are made to do household duties.

As far as schooling is concerned, in many countries everything is spent on the education of boys. A deliberate attempt is made to save money as far as the girls are concerned. 

Gender inequality prevails in the economic field as well:

In terms of employees and production in work and occupation, women often face greater handicaps than men. When the question of night duty, long distance or work involving hard labour comes then men are always preferred to women.

Even when and where women are employed often they are given less wages as compared to men.

In many countries women are not given any share in the property of their parents. In the case of any eventuality, e.g. the death of their husband, they have to live at the mercy of their family.

4. It has generally been found that the prevailing conditions make it hard for women to enter and flourish in commercial, economic (and even in social) activities.

Factors Responsible for Gender Inequality

Our society suffered and is still suffering from social ills and evils. Gender inequality or inequality between males and females was one of them. Women suffered from many disabilities. The chief among them were the following:

1.Low Status of Women in the Society : A woman was socially subordinate to man in one way or the other. She had seldom been permitted to live independently. She has been considered inferior to man.

2. Discrimination against the Girl-Child: The girl child is discriminated against in many ways. In many families, preference is given to the birth of a boy rather than a girl because it is said that continuity of the family depends upon the boy and not the girl who will shift to the family of her inlaws when she grows up and gets married.

The birth of a girl-child is considered as a liability in a traditional family because from her birth to death the parents have to spend on her, especially at the time of the marriage.

With a few exceptions, discrimination is made in offering food to a male-child and a female-child. While everything is spent on the education of boys every attempt is made to save that money as far as girls are concerned.

A girl is basically trained for household work. While every attempt is made to make the male child proficient in one occupation or the other, the girl is basically trained for house-work.

3. Female Infanticide. : As discussed above, to some people, birth of a daughter was nothing less than a curse. As such they used to kill them the moment they were born. It shows that at some places, women had no right even to live.

4. Neglect of Female Education :  Women were often neglected in the field of education. It was considered quite useless to educate them as they were neither required to seek employment nor to study scriptures.

5. Child Marriage : Children were married at a very young age. In some cases if the child husband died the child-bride became a widow to suffer a long life of agony while if a child-bride died the boy could get remarried easily.

6.The Dowry System. Marriage of a girl was almost impossible without a suitable dowry. Many poor girls had to remain unmarried or commit suicide to relieve the agony of their parents.

7. No Permission for Widow Remarriage : A man could marry as many wives as he liked but a woman, if widowed, was regarded as a burden both on the family and the society. She commanded no respect and lived a life of neglect and despise. For her, death was better than life in this cruel world. Many widows left their houses in disgust.

8. The Sati System:  It was regarded as the noblest virtue for a widow to burn herself on the funeral pyre of her dead husband. If she hesitated, the so-called priests and relatives would push her into the flames. It only proves how the selfish society had tortured the women-folk.

9. No Right of a Hindu Woman to Inherit Property. In the Hindu society, a woman had no right to inherit the property of her husband.

Contribution of Social Reformers in the Field of Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women The modern reform movements paid attention to the pitiable condition of women and tried to improve their plight. Chief among

the reformers was Raja Rammohan Roy who founded the Brahmo Samaj and laid stress on women's education and widow remarriage. He also gave suggestions to Lord William Bentinck to prohibit the Fig. 28.3: Raja Sati system by law. Rammohan Roy

Ishwar Candra Vidyasagar founded many educational institutions, encouraged widow remarriage and started the movement against the child marriage.

Swami Dayanand Saraswati founded the Arya Samaj and laid stress on equality of both the sexes and advocated the education of women. He also campaigned against the Sati system and the female infanticide.

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan demanded a ban on the purdah system and polygamy in the Muslim society. He also advocated education for Muslim women.

To some extent the efforts of the religious and social reformers of the 19th century improved the condition of women. Educational institutions, exclusively for women, were opened. Polygamy was looked down upon and widow remarriage was accepted. The Sati system and child marriage were legally banned. Female infanticide was also prohibited by law. Now the purdah system was also despised. Unless all these evils were totally eradicated neither education could spread among women nor they could take part in other fields of life.

Efforts Made by Government for Gender Equality and Improvement of Women

For generations the girls and women have suffered from gender prejudices and inequalities. 

The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation MSSRF), in Chennai, India has piloted a path Oreaking project, in the tiny coastal Union Territory of Pondicherry. The project, being run by the foundation's Rural Technology Centre, has helped local women become computer literate and in the process, empowered them. The programme has taught them how to download the latest weather reports from the US Oceanographic Department on the Net. The women broadcast these reports on the public address system information that is often crucial to their husbands out fishing on the high seas. They have earned respect from the community that once looked down upon them. Encouraged by this, the women have also started accessing information on issues crucial to them - reproductive health, basic education and so on. And this is just the beginning.

But when India became independent, gender inequality was recognised as a hinderance to progress and so various steps were taken for the empowerment of women.

1. Women were given the equal rights to vote- When India became free, all women above the age of 21 (later on reduced to 18) were given the right to vote like men. This was thought necessary otherwise democracy could not prove successful, if almost half the population was debarred from the right to vote. Our leaders gave many arguments in giving right to vote to women along with men.

 They said :

(i) Democracy is based on equality for all the citizens. But if women are not considered equal to men, democracy cannot flourish.

(ii) Women do not have as much freedom as men. But liberty is a must for democracy. And without liberty to all the members of the society democracy has no meaning.

 (iii) If men commit atrocities on women and exploit them it is a big blow to democracy.

2. Equal Share in the Property of Her Parents Formerly, women had no share in the d property of their parents. Only the sons enjoyed this right. This was a great injustice to girls. The Government of India passed the Hindu Code Bill and the Kamala Act to do away with this disparity. Now girls have the right to get an equal share along with their brothers in the property of their parents. However, this law is still violated in many parts of the country.

3. Declaring Dowry as Illegal Women suffered humiliation because of this demand. The Government of India has declared dowry as illegal and now no one can force the other party to give dowry. Such persons can easily be prosecuted. This very fact, has to a great extent, reduced inequality against women.

4. Women's Education - To impart education to girls various schools and colleges, exclusively for women, have been opened. Consequently, women are gradually coming forward and have begun to occupy high positions both in jobs and politics.

As a result of the above efforts made by the reformers and the government, much improvement has come in the status of women in the society. We now see women occupying high posts in different institutions. Many of them are Parliamentarians and some are Ministers. Some like Indira Gandhi have adorned the office of the Prime Minister too.

Women's Movement

All that was done for the uplift and betterment of women would not have been possible if women themselves had not started movements for their upliftment. The above steps taken by the government for the betterment of women was mostly the result of different movements started by various women organisations. They started campaigns against domestic violence, sexual harassment, dowry deaths etc, which forced the government to pass laws against all such discriminations against women. Women's groups took various steps to show their resentment against all injustice being practised against them. They came on to the streets, approached the court, put pressure on the different newspapers and television channels to take up their case in the right earnest. By doing all this they raised public awareness about all the issues from which they were suffering for long. Ultimately, many people, social organisations and political leaders took up their ause which forced the government to pass different ws for their upliftment and betterment.

However, in spite of the best efforts of the ocial reformers and the government, many social ls, especially the dowry system, still persists in the Ociety. More efforts are required to uproot this vil. The following measures can end the dowry stem prevailing in our society.

(i) Girls should be made economically independent. Right to work should be guaranteed to women so that they are not a burden on their parents.

(ii) Girls should be well-educated. Only educated girls can save themselves from falling a prey to greedy in-laws.

(iii) The government should make laws more strict against those who are still found demanding dowry at the time of marriage of their sons.

(iv) All the marriages should be registered and undertaking from the parents of the bridegroom should be taken that they have not taken anything in dowry.

(v) Programmes against dowry should be relayed on mass media like radio, television etc.

(vi) Boys should be educated so that as future citizens they do not support this system.

Gender Division of Labour

In the rural areas the girl child is made to do household and agricultural chores. Cleaning the house, preparing the food, looking after their siblings, the elderly and the sick, grazing the cattle and collecting firewood are some of the key tasks they have to perform. Households are therefore eluctant to spare them for schooling.

Lack of physical safety for the girls, specially when they have to travel a long distance to school and other reasons hinder girls' education.

In the urban areas, however, there is a visible difference in the opportunities that girls get for education and employment. Though the figures for girls would still be low as compared to boys, what is encouraging is that whenever given opportunity girls have excelled more than boys. he

For instance in the Central Board of Secondary fi Examinations for grades 10 and 12 which are at an allandia level, girls have for over a decade now S bagged almost all the top positions and secured a higher overall percentage compared to boys.

As a result of the fight for women's rights. increasing participation of women in various professions, right to vote, women have broken the Shackles and to some extent they have come out of their shell to which they were restricted earlier. while men worked outside the home.

However, this is not the end, and does not give us reason enough to rejoice. Though women now participate in all spheres, be it technical, art or production, the number of women and girls who have been left out of education and employment opportunities, far outweighs those who have got into them. What is required to change the scene, is not governmental effort or legislation alone, but a change in the norms of the society and the mindset of the people. Contributions in this area from media, the youth, girls, women and society will certainly improve the situation.

Role of Gender in Creating Inequality

There is no denying the fact that gender has played a great part in creating inequality in the society and resulted in the backwardness of women in the economic field. In the context of the developing world, lack of education has pushed many women into the economy as domestic helpers, labourers, vendors etc. Their work in these ields is not much appreciated and recognised. Just as women's household work is hardly recognised. So is the case outside her house. They often do not get protection from unions or employment laws.

Due to gender inequality the whole of society is affected, not only just the girls or women.

A recent in-depth report called Engendering Development released by the World Bank suggests that the gender equality is key to effective development in any society. It states that the societies, which promote women's rights and increase their access to resources, enjoy lower poverty rates, faster economic growth and less corruption than countries that do not.

World figures in literacy relate a sorry tale. Of the 130 million 6-11 year old children who do not go to school, a majority, i.e. 60% are girls. The figures only go to show how in most regions of the world (especially the developing societies) gender bias hinders girls' education.

It is also a known fact that educating girls is one of the best investments a society can make. An educated women has the skills, the self-confidence and the knowledge she requires to be a better citizen, family member, worker or parent. But the present time, represent a positive and a good sign of gender equality, people are respectful towards others, respecting  genders and elders. Moreover,  It should be noted that we should respect and treat  LGBTQ with equality and support them.