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| DIFFERENT FACES OF GENDER DISPARITY | | Issues that need investigation | | Dr. Pragya Khanna | 12/7/2015 11:23:48 PM |
| Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance-- Kofi Annan!
Education in primary schools and kindergartens holds an important role in building the mindset of children in the early stages, because in this phase, children maintain memories that last a lifetime. Children in this phase are sensitive to record every input especially of people, who are older, or people who are positioned to be the leaders for instance, their parents and teachers.
Yes, it is tough to prove gender bias sometimes, particularly when it is unintentional. That biases against women are often subconscious means people need extra prodding to comprehend and combat them.
Gender bias occurs when people make suppositions regarding behaviours, abilities, aptitudes or preferences of others based upon their gender. Since strong gender role stereotypes exist for masculinity and femininity in the society, students who do not match them can encounter problems with teachers and with their peers. For example, the expectation is that boys naturally exhibit boisterous, energetic, unruly behaviour, are academically able, rational, logical and socially uncommunicative, whereas girls are quiet, gentle, polite, refined and studious. Girls are also expected to possess better social skills than boys and to excel at reading and the language arts. So, girls who present discipline problems for teachers, or quiet, studious boys, may encounter a lack of understanding from peers and teachers. Gender bias can occur within subject areas and school activities. For example, in subjects such as mathematics and the sciences, there are different participation patterns for girls and boys. Gender bias propagates a myth that boys are naturally better at Mathematics and Science than girls. Though, the percentage of girls participating in science has increased and achieved parity with boys in Biology, Chemistry and Maths. However, subjects such as Engineering or Physics still remain mens' domain. While girls are not generally interested to take Agriculture as subject, boys are not allowed to take Home Science as a subject. Careers like Medical and teaching are said to be fit for females and Engineering and Management for males. From the very first language books for five year olds, conventional stereotypes with regard to male/female role models are established, and they are reinforced and elaborated in successive readers. One of the first illustrations is that of a girl helping her mother with household chores… Never is the male shown helping in the house, whether it is in the urban or rural setting. Similarly, the introductory social studies text tells us that the respect accorded to the mother is due to the fact that she cooks, cleans and cares for the family. Obviously, her role and place are defined within the context of the family unit. That she contributes to the economy and nation building activities is not recognized. Except for the early readers, girls are seldom shown playing outdoor games.
These are some examples of changes that need to be introduced in routine language use: replacement of the more universal "HE" for "he" or "she" depending on the context. Substituting "humankind" for the universal "mankind," this does not include the feminine category and renders it invisible. Similarly, substitute "chairperson" for "chairman" and so on.
Further, representation of women also needs to be changed. Instead of constantly seeing them referentially or as nurturing and caring, they could be seen in other roles-as doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc. This would not only redress gender bias but also present society more realistically.
The institution of the family stereotypes young girls into the acceptable modes of being 'a good girl' to prepare them for becoming a 'perfect wife'. The process of socialization is such where young girls continuously receive messages and are reprimanded if they do not follow the acceptable patterns of behaviour. Eventually this entire process affects the opportunities and choices girls have.
Schools are another foundation that both discriminate against and strengthen gender roles. The postulation is that when girls and women enter the public sphere, empowerment will follow unreservedly and that their life options will expand and they will be in a position to take greater control of their lives. But the paradox lies in the fact that schools themselves create the very boundaries that limit girls' possibilities. The language and the context that are created in school education are highly sexist and only help reinforce harmful gender stereotypes. Even the NCERT textbooks have been reported show gender bias, as the most adventurous and enterprising roles like that of astronauts, soldiers and sportspersons are those of men.
Gender inequality exists in most parts of the world, from Japan to Morocco, from Uzbekistan to the United States of America. However, inequality between women and men can take very many different forms. Indeed, gender inequality is not one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of dissimilar and interlinked problems. Let me illustrate with examples of different kinds of disparity.
Mortality inequality: it takes the brutal form of unusually high mortality rates of women and a consequent prevalence of men in the total population; Natality inequality: Given a preference for boys over girls that many male-dominated societies have, gender inequality can manifest itself in the form of the parents wanting the newborn to be a boy rather than a girl; Basic facility inequality;
Special opportunity inequality; Professional inequality; Ownership inequality: In many societies the ownership of property can also be very unequal. Even basic assets such as homes and land may be very asymmetrically shared; Household inequality; It is, for example, quite common in many societies to take it for granted that while men will naturally work outside the home, women could do it if and only if they could combine it with various inescapable and unequally shared household duties.
I may end by trying briefly to identify some of the principal issues I have tried to discuss. First, I have argued for the need to take a plural view of gender inequality, which can have many different faces. The prominent faces of gender injustice can vary from one region to another, and also from one period to the next and for juveniles to adults.
Second, the effects of gender inequality, which can deprive the lives of men as well as women, can be more fully understood by taking detailed pragmatic note of specific forms of inequality that can be found in particular areas. Gender inequality hurts the interests not only of girls and grown-up women, but also of boys and men, through biological connections (such as childhood undernourishment, foetal deprivation and distress, underweight babies and cardiovascular diseases at later ages) and also through societal connections (including economic and social life). |
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