Gender is a socio-cultural term referring to socially defined roles and behavior assigned to males and females in a given society. Thus gender as distinguished from sex, which is a biological characteristic of human beings, is a man made concept.
The concept of gender inequality is used to denote discrimination against women based on their sex. Gender inequality is something pervasive all over the world. lives of millions of girls and women are still overshadowed by discrimination and disempowerment. Women are traditionally considered as weaker sex and are exploited, degraded, violated and discriminated both in home and outside. In Indian society, women’s exploitation is an age old cultural phenomenon.
Gender equality is first and foremost a human right. Women are entitled to live in dignity, free from fear of oppression and violence. Besides, gender equality is essential for sustainable development of the economy. If half the people are deprived and dispossessed of resources there can be no sustainability in the process of development. Suppression of women from participation in social, political and economic life hurts the people as a whole, not just women.
In view of the importance of gender equality, our Constitution provides for equality of status and opportunity as well as justice to all citizens and prohibits discrimination against any citizen on the basis of sex. Despite the constitutional provisions and enactment of several legislations to protect and safeguard the rights of women, they are often denied autonomy and dignity as individuals.
Because of sustained efforts, no doubt some improvement has been achieved in the field of education and health but still gender inequality persists. Some of the manifestations of gender inequality in the country are large scale prevalence of female feticide and infanticide, a fall in child sex ratio, a gender gap in education, low work participation rate among women and their greater concentration in low paid jobs. The gender inequality prevailing in different spheres puts India in a low rank among the countries of the world. As per UNDP’s Gender Inequality Index, 2014, India’s ranking is 127 out of 152 countries in the list. Similarly World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, 2014 which ranks countries on the basis of gender gap in economic participation and opportunity, educational achievements, health and life expectancy, political empowerment, puts India at 114 in the list of 142 countries of the world.
The root cause of gender inequality in India lies in its patriarchy system, a system of social structure and practices in which men dominate. It is true that women in India have made considerable progress in different spheres. They have entered into non-traditional sectors even like police, defence, administration, sports, media etc. and they have proved their worth. But due to the deep rooted patriarchal mentality women are still victimized, humiliated and exploited. The unfortunate part of gender inequality in our society is that women themselves through continued socio cultural conditioning have accepted their subordinate position and don’t consider the treatment meted out to them as unequal. Majority of women in India entering the labour market, do so because of economic reasons. With limited access to skill and knowledge they concentrate in informal sector in low paying jobs, where chances of exploitation are more. Work of men and women being rewarded differently in labour market, especially in unorganized sector are not rare.
The gender inequalities prevailing in the country relegate women to the status of second class citizens and make them more vulnerable and less able to protect themselves from discrimination. There are two rape cases, one dowry death, one sexual harassment and four molestation cases reported every hour in the country. The ongoing violation of women human rights, crime against them are not accidents but systematic outcome of our social framework.
The removal of gender inequality cannot be based on the presumption that the problem will resolve on its own in the process of economic expansion. Achieving greater gender equality involves a process of active social change which has no obvious link with economic growth. The concept of equality has to be developed in each and every household and from there it will spread to the society.
There is no tool for development more effective than empowerment of women, said Kofi Annan. Every year various schemes and programmes are added to the existing ones for the benefit and empowerment of women in the country, but not enough changes at the ground level are visible. India is often referred as good example of a country with an abysmal gap between policy and practice. Community based bodies need to be set up to monitor the programmes devised for empowerment of women.
In view of the deep rooted bias and prejudice prevailing in the society, empowering women socially, economically, educationally, legally and politically may be a difficult task, but not an impossible one. A concerted effort in this direction is essential. Women need to be perceived as individuals in their own rights. She is the person who takes care of everything in the family, sometimes at the cost of her own health and hobbies. The word ‘woman’ signifies that she is a wonderful mother, an outstanding friend, a marvellous daughter, an adorable sister and the nicest gift to man from God.
last but most important factor contributing towards gender equality, which cannot be over looked, is change in condition of women may conceivably result from external interventions but a more lasting and fundamental transformation in their position can only come through consciousness, awareness among women themselves.
(Dr Mohanty lives at N-3/314, IRC Village Bhubaneswar-751015)