Gender Inequality
WHAT is GENDER INEQUALITY?
Gender inequality is a condition or a situation where males and females are not treated equally. Undoubtedly, gender inequality is an issue that the whole world is facing. It is not just about a single country or state; almost each and every state, country or a territory of the world is still fighting its own battle against it.
Women, being biologically weaker than men often face inequalities or discriminations. It is the historical thinking of people that has divided the social roles of each gender. Women are expected to handle the domestic work and take care of their children, while men go outside the house to earn livelihood for the family. Not in just domestic issues, these social roles have also dominated the working abilities of women. Inequality can also be seen in a work place. Even in the 21st century, where people are fighting for their own rights; there are some male categories who continue to dominate their wives, sisters and daughter just to show that they hold more power on account of them being the ‘head of the family’.
Fortunately, situations are changing now, even if only very slowly. There are still some families who allow their daughters to go outside and pursue their dreams, to study and to be a contributing member to earning the livelihood for the family. But these changes are yet to be seen on a large scale.
How can gender inequality be defined?
Gender inequality is basically a consequence of society’s expectations about how a person should think and behave or act as a girl or a boy, or as a man or a woman. It is more associated with biological, social and legal status of men and women. Gender is an acquired identity. And because of these attributes, they are changeable and vary across the culture.
Simone de Beauvoir, in her book, explains that the gender differences in the society have made man superior to woman. Men are superior because of their role as a bread winner. This has given them a position of power within the families and society.
Gender equality actually depends on three approaches
First, there is a need for men to identify themselves as allies for gender equality.
Secondly, there is a need for men to change their attitudes and behavior against reproductive rights.
Thirdly, in many places, men and women are represented in a negative light. This creates an unrealistic demand on men and women to behave in a narrowly defined way. Thus, if one is asked to define gender inequality, then it is the consequence of historical thinking and the social construct of roles for men and women.
Causes of gender inequality – how such prejudices affect a country?
Though many changes have now taken place in the society regarding gender equality, women continue to face dominance within the workplace, in academics, and even in athletics. Gender discrimination or inequality has its roots in history, where handling domestic chores was the main work for women.
Even today, there are still some countries who have not legally assigned fundamental rights to women. For instance, in the United States and other countries, women earn significantly less than men for similar work responsibilities. In Saudi Arabia, men are allowed to drive cars while women are not. Though, the scenario in Saudi Arabia is now changing, the mentality remains the same. In fact, in Russia, there are more new born boys than girls that further outnumber the women until age of 31; but after the age of 32, women are more in number than men. It creates a huge difference between the population of men and women. For 100 women, there are 86 men in Russia; but still women face discrimination at their workplaces, households or within the society. Almost 56% of Russian women face violence in the form of beating by their husbands and 80% of Russian women face psychological violence.
Discrimination in terms of wages for same job: Employers hire women just to attract more customers. Women are always appreciated for their beauty, which allows them to get a perfect job, but sadly not enough wages. That is why, women need to work at different places at the same time to earn the same amount as men earn from their single job.
Employment for women: Though women are benefitted by maternity leaves, certain companies either avoid paid maternity leaves or fire pregnant women to avoid hindrances in their work.
Men and women both should be given an equal chance to showcase their talent. It is a fact that males are superior to females in terms of masculine power and managing work, but the role of females should not be undermined. It is time that we universally acknowledge the fact that males and females both are equally responsible for the development of a society or a country.
#1. Uneven access to education
Around the world, women still have less access to
education than men. ¼ of young women between 15-24 will
not finish primary school. That group makes up 58% of
the people not completing that basic education. Of all the illiterate people in
the world, ⅔ are women. When girls are not educated on the same level as boys,
it has a huge effect on their future and the kinds of opportunities they’ll
get.
#2. Lack of employment equality
Only 6 countries in the world give
women the same legal work rights as men. In fact, most economies give women
only ¾ the rights of men. Studies show that if employment became a more even
playing field, it has a positive domino effect on other areas prone to gender
inequality.
#3. Job segregation
One of the causes for gender inequality within
employment is the division of jobs. In most societies, there’s an inherent
belief that men are simply better equipped to handle certain jobs. Most of the
time, those are the jobs that pay the best. This discrimination results
in lower income for women. Women also take on the primary responsibility for
unpaid labor, so even as they participate in the paid workforce, they have
extra work that never gets recognized financially.
#4. Lack of legal protections
According to research from
the World Bank, over one billion women don’t have legal protection
against domestic sexual violence or domestic economic violence. Both have a
significant impact on women’s ability to thrive and live in freedom. In many
countries, there’s also a lack of legal protections against harassment in the
workplace, at school, and in public. These places become unsafe and without
protection, women frequently have to make decisions that compromise and limit
their goals.
#5. Lack of bodily autonomy
Many women around the world do not have authority over
their own bodies or when they become parents. Accessing birth control is
frequently very difficult. According to the World Health
Organization, over 200 million women who don’t want to get
pregnant are not using contraception. There are various reasons for this such
as a lack of options, limited access, and cultural/religious opposition. On a
global scale, about 40% of pregnancies are not planned and while 50% of them do
end in abortion, 38% result in births. These mothers often become financially
dependent on another person or the state, losing their freedom.
#6. Poor medical care
In addition to limited access to contraception, women
overall receive lower-quality medical care than
men. This is linked to other gender inequality reasons such as a lack of
education and job opportunities, which results in more women being in poverty.
They are less likely to be able to afford good healthcare. There’s also been
less research into diseases that affect women more than men, such as autoimmune
disorders and chronic pain conditions. Many women also experience
discrimination and dismissal from their doctors, broadening the gender gap in
healthcare quality.
#7. Lack of religious freedom
When religious freedom is attacked, women suffer the
most. According to the World Economic
Forum, when extremist ideologies (such as ISIS) come into a
community and restrict religious freedom, gender inequality gets worse. In a
study performed by Georgetown University and Brigham Young University,
researchers were also able to connect religious intolerance with women’s
ability to participate in the economy. When there’s more religious freedom, an
economy becomes more stable thanks to women’s participation.
#8. Lack of political representation
Of all national parliaments at the beginning of 2019,
only 24.3% of seats were filled by women. As of June of 2019, 11 Heads of State
were women. Despite progress in this area over the years, women are still
grossly underrepresented in government and the political process. This means
that certain issues that female politicians tend to bring up – such as parental
leave and childcare, pensions, gender equality laws and gender-based violence –
are often neglected.
#9. Racism
It would be impossible to talk about gender inequality
without talking about racism. It affects what jobs women of color are able to
get and how much they’re paid, as well as how they are viewed by legal and
healthcare systems. Gender inequality and racism have
been closely-linked for a long time. According to Sally Kitch, a professor and
author, European settlers in Virginia decided what work could be taxed based on
the race of the woman performing the work. African women’s work was “labor,” so
it was taxable, while work performed by English women was “domestic” and not
taxable. The pay gaps between white women and women of color continues that
legacy of discrimination and contributes to gender inequality.
#10. Societal mindsets
It’s less tangible than some of the other causes on
this list, but the overall mindset of a society has a significant impact on
gender inequality. How society determines the differences and value of men vs.
women plays a starring role in every arena, whether it’s employment or the
legal system or healthcare. Beliefs about gender run deep and even though
progress can be made through laws and structural changes, there’s often a
pushback following times of major change. It’s also common for everyone (men
and women) to ignore other areas of gender inequality when there’s progress,
such as better representation for women in leadership.
These types of mindsets prop up gender inequality and delay significant change.
HOW WE CAN
ELIMINATE GENDER INEQUALITY
The list of
legislations as well as types of discriminations or inequalities may go on but
the real change will only come when the mentality of men will change; when the
male species of human beings would start treating women as equal and not
subordinate or weaker to them. In fact not only men but women also need to
change their mindset as through cultural conditioning they have also become
part of the same exploitative system of patriarchy and are playing a supportive
role in furthering men’s agenda of dominating women.
Therefore, what is needed is
the movement for Women’s empowerment where women can become economically
independent and self-reliant; where they can fight their own fears and go out
in the world fearless; where they can snatch their rights from the clutches of
men and they don’t have to ask for them; where women have good education, good
career, ownership of property and above all where they have freedom of choice
and also the freedom to make their own decisions without the bondages of age.
Let’s hope and
wish that our participative democracy, in times to come, and with the efforts
of both women and men, would be able to found solutions to the problem of
gender inequality and would take us all towards our cherished dream of a truly
modern society in both thought and action.
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