Gender Inequality a social issue

Gender inequality

Gender Inequality is a way of thinking which shows that men and women are unequal and gender determines a person’s way of living. Under this, there is unequal access to various aspects of living such as employment, basic rights, unequal opportunities and many more.

Gender Inequality has always been a major issue for our society. It is not an issue but a stereotype, coming from a long way and now it is quite evident in showing the mentality of society. This has been more of an issue for women as they are victims of this inequality related to gender because it has been used as a tool of discrimination on them.

In today's world development of every being is on its peak but somewhere in our society, a striped person faces this problem of gender inequality every day in his/her life. Despite progress in the country or any state, many people are used to tolerating this kind of discrimination knowingly or unknowingly in our daily lives but the most alarming thing is that we can't help it.

Gender Inequality in India

Gender Inequality in India is one of the most debated issues in the country and women are the most affected of it. The discrimination due to gender inequality starts with the birth of a baby girl who is not welcomed especially in a way how a boy is welcomed which is a known fact in India.

This is the reason why the gender of a child is not revealed in India till the baby is born as gender revealing tests are banned in the country. But due to some malpractices, many girls are killed as a foetus and if she is born somehow then she is killed in infancy. The figures of India’s sex ratio reveal everything regarding this unequal treatment with girls.

Gender-based discriminations in India are prominent due to its patriarchal norms. This has marked females inferior to males. The girl child is seen as a burden on the family which is quite difficult to think in this modern era. Most of the fields are dominated by men and women face issues on a regular basis to maintain their dignity and self-respect.

In Indian households, gender inequality has taken a place to such an extent that it shows its effects on almost every aspect of life for a girl. Let it be Health, Education, participation or any opportunity, they are considered in a supportive role to a man as equal opportunities are not provided to them.

Child marriage is one other issue associated with gender inequality in India as many girls are married in their childhood. And the problem is even bigger when their grooms are a way older than them in age. We can’t think how much difficulties they have to face in their normal life which is Abnormal in every sense.

Socially constructed gender inequality is very common as we can see this at our home. In this treatment given to individuals according to their gender and the perception of gender roles is very different and unequal. But in the earlier era, this unequal behaviour and discrimination based on their gender types were not acceptable.

As we look into our ancient culture i.e. Vedas and Puranas. A woman has supreme powers, she is the creator and even Lord Shiva is incomplete without his Shakti (woman). A woman has always been worshipped in our culture as a goddess such as Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati.

The divine power is incomplete without women. Now, the question is what has happened that the condition of women in our society is getting worse. Our society has fixed the extent of discrimination between women and men. In our society, a man is allowed to go out while on the other hand a woman is only allowed to work inside the house.

'Sati system' was also the rule of this society and 'Triple Talaq' was also the rule of this society in which women have been exploited for many years. These practices are the symbol of commencement of inequality on the basis of gender in earlier generations in India.

In medieval India, the position of women declined even further after the invasion of Muslim rulers in our country. In that era the status of women hit its lowest point, particularly the Hindu women as some ridiculous customs of our society forced a community to safeguard the honour of girls by taking the step of child marriage which doesn’t benefit women at all.

In the era of these incursions, the purdah system and the polygamy system were practised by Hindu women and there were huge restrictions imposed on their movement outside their homes. Because of this polygamy system, women were made too dependent on men for their daily needs.

This situation of women has deep-rooted in the mentality of our society and has been going on for generations. In today's busy world no one has time; we see that people are limited in their own lives. They don't care about each other. People do not even know what is happening in their neighbourhood or surroundings.

If someone in our neighbourhood is suffering from domestic violence or any kind of violence due to this very busy nature of us we will never get to know about it and we would not be able to help the other person. We should try to figure this out by raising our voice against any sort of discrimination prevailing in our social environment.

Though the times have changed and now the condition is eventually improving but there is much to be done to improve the lives of our half population which is deprived of their basic rights as there is a dire need of change in the mindset of our people to start recognising the other gender as respectful as the first one. Equality among all is the key to the way forward and by this only we can improve the state of gender inequality in India.

Gender Inequality a social issue

We usually think people gender inequality a social issue is based in rural areas as they are the ones facing these discriminations on the regular basis but urban areas or big cities are not deprived of this discrimination. It has nothing to do with a place or an area as it is related to the mentality of a particular person.

This issue is prominent in many countries across the globe, no matter how developed a country is, but it is in the habit of many to try to suppress others when you are in the state of authority.

It doesn't matter how women empowerment evolves nowadays and how women are aware of their rights as mostly women suffer from this discrimination on daily basis in almost every place. It doesn't mean that the men are privileged as they too face similar problems but in a limited manner.

In thinking of our society men are usually regarded as a strong weapon due to which they cannot be harmed or discriminated against but that's not true. Our society has always sympathized toward women's violence and in this; all exploitations of men are being disappeared. This shows that gender inequality a social issue in males too though to a lesser extent.

Gender Inequality Types

We can differentiate these mostly in three types:

1) Biologically (sex-based)

2) Socially constructed (gender). 

3) Psychologically

The first of the gender inequality types is the biological differences which are due to natural differences that exist between a male and a female based on biological aspects.

Biological differences include body type, skin colour, average strength, life expectancy, cells and organs. According to an adaptation of sexual specialization, some basic changes in behaviour, strength, memory & height are influenced by the sex hormones. It is completely a biological process.

Women have a better life expectancy ratio as compared to men who live less than women on an average. There is a natural difference in the physical strengths of both the genders which is due to biological aspects too.

As we have already discussed the socially constructed impact on gender inequality so we are heading towards the third gender inequality type i.e. psychological impact. This type of gender inequality in our society is very subtle. There isn’t any difference in the general intelligence of a man or a woman.

We can understand this in a way that the men in most of the cases are more aggressive as compared to a woman in dealing with a situation. Due to this, we can observe many dominating features influencing a male’s mind where he thinks himself a level superior to the other gender.

It is a fact that men are more authoritative and aggressive while women are soft and docile. But the main point is that this should not be treated as a belief that women are any way lesser to a man because being soft and docile is not a trait of a weak person.

It has become a belief in some people’s mind that a man can use his flamboyant temperament to keep his point from above. This mentality is not only for men but also for women. Calm nature in females is regarded as one of their pros over a man

Psychological gender inequality has become a major part of our lives and many try to live as a part of life but this shouldn’t be the case because equality in almost every aspect of life is important. They live their lives every day with this mentality and this thing is being passed to their future generations too.

If we can change our behaviour then we can make a difference which will eventually benefit our future generations. Changing this mindset will take some time, but it is a continuous process that we should try to pass on others so that these gender inequality types are eradicated from our lives.

Gender Inequality at Home

Frankly speaking gender Inequality at home is the place where this problem starts. Home is the place where our children learn these stereotypes and they behave accordingly that’s why these discriminations are still prevalent in our society.

We have assigned specific roles based on gender which is no rationale. We often see that the head of a family most of the time is a man and he feels that he has the right over everything while women are believed to behave in a submissive manner and this is the basis of our patriarchal society.

At many homes, parents discriminate with their children based on gender as boys are free to do their stuff but the girls are not allowed to do so. It is difficult to believe that a parent can do any discrimination in his/her children. Even today, it is seen in many parts of the world especially in India that a girl's education is stopped due to financial burdens so that her brother can study in her place.

Even today in many homes across the world, most of the boys have the freedom to do the work of their choice but a similar thing isn’t prevalent for girls. Though this is not the case everywhere but has its prevalence in most places.

Often women have to endure physical and mental torture due to this very inequality. But gradually the human being is improving and There is a sense of realisation growing among masses that the status of a woman is as important as that of others. The issue of gender Inequality at home can be resolved if we try to eradicate this from our homes at first.

Gender Inequality at Workplace

Gender equality at workplace is the other main problem that our women have to face or go through in their daily work. At work, the main place where most women face discrimination of various kinds including gender inequality. Men always get their opportunities because we have in our mindset that they are stronger, intelligent, more confident, and more productive than women.

Men get more money as wages than women. They are privileged and surviving quite easily. But in the case of women, they need to put extra effort in every aspect of the workplace as they have to prove themselves every time that they are no lesser to men.

She gets less money as wages, less fame, even low appreciation as compared to men at their workplaces. In the field of work; women have to struggle a lot to maintain their position.  Men can get easily promoted while women have to work hard for that post.

Not only women but transgender also faced biased ness at their workplace. At first, they hardly get a suitable job of their liking and in that job too, they have to face many difficulties. It is very difficult to maintain the existence of your own in that company where you are right now.

But now we are seeing these things changing as women are uplifting themselves and trying to touch new heights in every field. Whether it is in school, in businesses, at home, in television and films, in politics. We find women everywhere but all they deserve is our support.

With support, I mean to say support in the form of encouragement while pursuing any dream of theirs. We have to encourage our women, especially at our workplaces to make their working conditions suitable for quality work to eradicate this gender inequality at workplaces.

Gender Inequality Causes

Gender Inequality causes include reasons why this problem has evolved so much in our history and still exists in our system. The main causes why women are suffering from this are Unequal access to education as many girls are deprived of education. We all know how important education is in one’s development and due to lack of influence of education in their lives, they tend to lag which hinders their progress.

Lack of educational opportunities gives birth to other problem i.e. Lack of employment opportunities. As better education is the main ingredient for good employment possibilities but women are deprived of it. And if someone finds a suitable job then there is job segregation based on gender.

Lack of religious freedom is one of the main reasons why gender inequality has become a serious issue as many religions across the world do not provide equal rights to women. Many religious leaders force women to follow certain ways to live which hinder their progress.

We have discussed how the social mindset regarding our women is not ideal and we don’t treat them well as we supposed to. We all need to change it otherwise many will be left behind.

Patriarchal society is one of the main reasons for this gender inequality. We have made our society where men feel that they are the ones who have the authority to make decisions for their families. They are considered to be the ones who go out to earn and the woman is considered to be at home to handle the household chores with taking the responsibility of their children. We experience this every day at our home. Just try to look at your mother and father, who’s the more dominant of the two.

These things are that we learn at our home, at school and public places. Undoubtedly the work of both irrespective of their gender is quite significant and must be appreciated.

But only one of them gets the respect and the other is left in the corner. The main thing is that they both deserve equal respect, equal opportunity, equal rights to live and make their dream come true. And it should begin at our home and with our thoughts and then slowly and steadily we must try to bring these changes in our society by doing it first and Only these gender inequality causes will be solved.

How to solve this gender inequality?

These problems can be solved though it will require great efforts from every section of the society to establish equality among all. First of all, what we need is the change in the mindset of our society and long-lived beliefs that have been inculcated inside us for many decades.

Despite having good governance, facilities, development and progress not everyone is on the same level to fight against these stereotypes. Both men and women are affected by gender inequality and we can't do anything about this unless we try to change our long-lived thoughts which are inducted in us. We must bring changes in ourselves so that our next generation is aware of this social cause. It's our responsibility to make a better world for them

We should treat each one of us equally as all of us deserve the same rights that we are entitled to. Education can be a major tool for improvement in this problem of gender inequality. More reforms can be implemented if education is provided to all or access to education is equal for all

For example, we can take the case of Triple Talaq for which we have to wait for many years to get it to be removed as now this Triple divorce or popularly known as triple talaq is a thing of the past.

Some Solutions to ponder

Here I suggest some solutions to reduce the impact of gender inequality from our society.

1) We must educate our children on all these issues which we unknowingly let them learn. Also, Educate girls and let them decide on their future. 

2) Some immediate measures such as Equal pay policies should be implemented in organizations around the world. This will maintain the faith of people especially our women in the system.

3) We require some informative reforms in our society. And for that, we must try to do some serious efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger which are one of the main reasons why this discrimination happens.

4) It is required that more is needed to invest in the health & education sector, in skill development so that the basic needs of the people who are facing this inequality are fulfilled.

 5) We should help women encourage women and help them build their confidence to attain success in their life by achieving their lifetime goals

6) The government has several programs for women. We should make them aware of those programs so that they can benefit from them and for this huge awareness is to be created.

7) In every district, every town, we should note that there is no injustice being done to women or men and if it is happening then how to get it corrected? And how can we contribute to improving the situation?

8) And the most important thing is that we have to change our mindset, it has been prolonged for centuries.  We have to start it first, and then only others will listen to you.

 Some Famous gender Inequality slogans and quotes

1) Treat your daughter and son equally.

2) Equality begins at home.

3) A mother's womb never differentiates between them.

4) Diversity, Equality & Unity 

5) Feminists aren’t anti-men. We’re pro-human.

6) Dignity, Respect and justice to all.

7) Equality for all.

8) Men with qualities do not fear equality.

9) Rise of a woman is equal to the rise of the nation.

10) Respect Existence or Expect Resistance.

11) Stop saying, l am someone’s sister, mother or daughter. I am someone and that should be enough.

 Written By: Lakshmi Gairola

Edited By: Mukul Budakoti