Gender Discrimination

In the modern era, where women like Indra Nooyi, Marissa mayor, Sania Mirza, Oprah Winfrey ,
Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton, Sania Nehwal etc. are taking on the world head on, revolutionising it
in various professions, the term gender discrimination seem to be a myth. But is it? Has the laurels,
the accomplishments of a few women been so great that the fact that the sex ratio of India is still
945 per 1000 males can be neglected? Have they acquired so much education that the fact that
literacy rate in males is still higher than females by almost 17%? Isn’t it evident from these facts that
gender discrimination is still prevalent and a majority of our society follows it?

Now one may stress that the world is a society under progress and thus these facts and figures are
nothing but the figures of the transitional graph that is moving towards progress. And it is pretty
justified, because that’s what the trend indicates, the sex ratio has increased a lot in the past
decade, literacy rates are at the highest of all times . But at the same time one cannot ignore the
incidents like the Qualcomm and Wipro lawsuit, where such tech-giants failed to provide gender
equality to their employees. Many stereotypes claim that gender discrimination is not that big issue
after all but let’s see how the US law defines sex discrimination-“Discrimination based on gender (or
sex) is a common civil rights violation that takes many forms, including sexual harassment, lack of
equal opportunities, pregnancy discrimination, and unequal pay for women who do the same jobs
as men.” As it is written , it is a civil rights violation which is same as rendering you off your property
and acquiring it illegally.

Now talking about gender discrimination, we often stumble on the word- female foeticide, sexual
harassment, female infanticide, dowry etc. and that’s because they are directly related to gender
discrimination. Actually it works in a cycle i.e. gender discrimination eventually led to dowry
because of the fact that since women are considered as inferior to men , hence they should pay to
get married in the form of gifts and money. This led to problems like female foeticide and infanticide
as the girls now born were seen as a burden due to the dowry they will carry in the future. On the
other hand this not only led to the degradation of women in the society but also led to the
enhancement of the status of men because of the dowry they attract when they get married.

Another factor contributing to this problem was the Indian history, which considered males
as the carrier of generations and the rightful heir of the family, which is one of the main cause
behind this discrimination in India. Talking about the world, Saudi Arabia is one of the most extreme
cases of a developing nation following gender discrimination, where the even the voting by women
started in the year 2015. Generalizing it, the root cause to this problem for the whole world is mere
lack of knowledge and education. Women are often seen poor decision makers because of their
menstruation cycles which is quite ironical as it is what led to the birth of human race. The next
cause is that women are often seen as household maids, who should take care of the house, caress
the children and serve the male race, they are considered to be lacking physical strength, considered
weak in simpler terms, but is it really the case? Are they really weak? Do they lack physical strength?
I would defy the statement considering the pain a mother experiences at the time of delivery, which
is almost equal to 7 bones breaking together.

Summarising the above causes, it becomes quite clear that it is mere lack of knowledge and
education that has led to expanse of ignorant minds thus leading to an invent of a stereotypical
society where such an absurd practice is followed. Hence the only solution could be education, and
not just formal education but moral education which includes teaching of respecting the other
gender, proper sex education and motivating others to discontinue this social evil. The other
solutions like reservations for women in various fields are worth an applause but as it is said-
Respect can only be incorporated not enforced, thus there is a dire need of educating and
enlightening the society about this issue. Because if this evil prevails, it is not only a big hurdle to the
progress of the society but also is surely going to end with doom of the human race.

About Prayaas Corps-

"मानवीय सेवा ही इश्वरिये प्राथना है "

We started Prayaas with this motive and it reflects in our endeavour when we serve people. We
believe that just living is not enough, but one must have a purpose to live. And the person who
has a purpose to live leads a purposeful life.

Pranav Bharti

Intern at Prayaas Corps

A budding writer, blogger, app content writer, struggling coder ; dumbfounded by society and it’s
behaviour and with high emotional quotient.