STUDY NOTES

ON
FORMS OF GENDER INEQUALITY AND ISSUES

NOTES FOR B.ED STUDENTS

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 FORMS &ISSUES OF GENDER INEQUALITY

Mortality inequality :-
Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in
a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time.
Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1000 individuals per
year.

Though biologically women live longer than men,

there exists a high mortality rate of women. The higher rate of mortality of
women, which is found in India, is mainly due to the neglect of health, nutrition
and other interests of women that influence survival. Women often die on
account of one gender specific cause of maternal mortality. Maternal deaths in
developing countries account for a high proportion of all deaths of women.

Every woman face a variety of health problems during

pregnancy. Some women do not seek medical care because they have been
taught to believe that suffering is women’s fate. It has also been observed that
the nutritional intake of women is not only less than that of men but also quite
less relative to their requirements. Sick girls are not taken to the doctors as
frequently as their brothers.

It has been widely observed that given similar healthcare and

nutrition women tend typically to have lower age specific mortality rates than
men do. Indeed, even female fetuses tend to have a lower probability of
miscarriage than male fetuses.

Natality inequality :-
Natality rate is the number of births per 1000 individuals
in a particular area in a particular time period. It is often observed that the
natality rates of boys are higher than girls. These kind of gender inequality exists
because parents want the new born to be a boy rather than a girl. There was a
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time when this could be no more than a wish but the availability of modern
techniques to determine the gender of fetuses, sex selective abortion has become
common in many countries.

The son preference and subsequent sex selective

abortions lead to female feticide contributing to the natality inequality. The
notion that women are economic liability to the family because of dowry system,
the notion that son would carry on the family lineage and the lack of security for
girls in the society were the three major reasons for son preference.

Basic facility inequality :-

Girls also suffer with inequalities when it comes to
matter of basic facilities. Basic facility inequalities will include various preferences
and privileges given to boys and men in everyday life such as nutrition , health
care, education et c. girls in India are discriminated in several ways such as less of
nurturing and play, less care of medical treatment if they fall ill, less of special
food and less of parental attention.

When boys are sent to schools irrespective of the

financial capacity of parents, education of girls is discouraged on various grounds.
Girls receive less encouragement to cultivate their natural talents. Parents
believe that, they must educate their sons because they are the ones who will be
later required to support their parents in old age. The girl will ultimately get
married and join to her husband’s family. Religious traditions may encourage girls
and women to stay at home, raise a family and take care of their husbands, thus
discouraging the desire for education. Still in rural areas the parents are more
willing to send their male child to schools and female child is engaged in different
household works. The parents are found to be reluctant to provide even basic
education to their female children.

Special opportunity inequality :-

Special opportunity inequalities exist with regard to
professional education, skill training facilities etc. In case of opportunities of
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getting educated, there is relatively little difference in basic facilities like
schooling. But in case of higher education girls lag a way behind boys. If a parent
has to choose between the son and daughter for higher education in a
professional college, naturally a son is benefited. Within some culture, there is
less or limited opportunities to access jobs which restrict the position of women.
Also the girls do not get enough scope for their skill development. The economic
conditions of the space they live affect women’s standard of living and ability to
find work outside the home.

Professional inequality :-
In terms of employment as well as promotion in
occupation women face greater hardship than men. There are some jobs which
are exclusively reserved for male candidates and [participation of women is
denied . women have less time available for paid work because they are still
expected to do more house work and perform most of the care giving works. As
women have household responsibilities, they tend to work mostly in a narrow
range of occupations such as textiles, clothing, food and beverages etc. in these
fields wages are usually lower than other industries.

In most societies it is pre assumed that women must allocate

bulk of their time to the upbringing of children, hence cannot perform the job
commitedly. In such societies wages for women’s works are low as well. Women
are not able to move up into higher paid positions as quickly as compared to
men. In the workplace the men usually hold higher positions and women often
hold lower paid positions such as secretaries. In rural areas, women are paid
much lower wage than men even if their skill efficiency and devotion for job are
same. Where jobs require greater mobility, women are thought to be inferior.

Ownership inequality :-
In many societies ownership of property is very
unequal. Basic assets such as land, home, household devices are unequally shared
between men and women. The absence of claims to property can not only

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discriminate the rights and voice of women but also make it difficult for women to
enter and flourish into commercial, economic and some social activities. Though
there are legal provisions for women to have equal share in parental property, the
laws fail to be implemented in reality. Whenever sisters are given equal share at
par with their brothers, they are no longer permitted to enjoy the benefits of
ownership, as the property gets transferred to the names of brothers/husbands
immediately. If any new asset is bought for home then it is more likely to be in the
name of the son than daughter.

Household inequality :-
There is unequal sharing of burden of housework and
childcare. Boys are expected to become wage earners to support their families.
Girls are seen as providing service to their families, by staying at home and
helping their mothers with housework. Even if a woman works outside home she
has to do all the household activities. There is unequal division of labour in our
society. Whatever work done by a male in his household is considered as a help or
support to the female of the home rather than his responsibility. Women are also
excluded from household decision making process including those taken in regard
to their own health care, major household purchases, daily household spending,
visits with family or relatives outside of the household. Women are not allowed
even to control their own income.

Gender inequality in school context :-

Access and participation :-
Discrimination based on gender is one of the primary
impediments to education. It affects both boys and girls but girls are more
affected in some regions, boys’ educational opportunities are limited by gender
roles that force them to work rather than attend school. These financial
responsibilities are often increased in boys’ adolescent years, making it difficult
for them to complete secondary school in some regions. However in many parts

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of the world, girls are more often the victims of gender discrimination as they
pursue on education.

There is a gap in enrollment in schools of girl students when

compared to boys. The social barriers standing in the way of girls attending
schools are poverty, compulsions of older girls in families having to look after the
home and siblings, the conception or misconception that girls do not need
education and what is taught in schools are irrelevant to them, lack of women
teachers, supportive facilities like adequate clean toilets in schools and transport
facilities to travel to school and back. All these reasons inhibit parents from
getting their girls enrolled.

Girls have to stay at home once they attain puberty and

must be protected till they are married. And they become part of another family
leaving parents’ home. The belief that marriage is everything to girls leads to early
marriage and pregnancy. So naturally the son is sent to school and not the
daughter. This limits the access of girls to schools and their participation in
educational activities.

Only enrollment of girls in schools is not sufficient, it is also

important that they complete their education. In many places in rural areas
where there are only primary schools. There is no scope for studying further as
secondary schools are far away and some parents do not want to send girls to far
away places. Also the girls in many families could not attend schools regularly due
to poverty and load of household works.

Gender stereotype role assignments :-

School is a part of our society through which gender roles
are transferred to children. This is mainly accomplished through peer influence.
The materials used within the classroom also have an influence on the gender
roles children learn. Gender stereotypes are generalized beliefs about the
characterstics and qualities attributed to men and women in society. The schools
teach students how to behave, dress how to behave, dress, think and talk

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according to their gender. The gender role strategies that school produce include
the notion that girls are caring, nurturing, quiet, helpful, considerate of others
and place others needs before their own.

Schools prefer boys for school works that need to be

done outside school campus. Girls in school perform the work related to
gardening, cleaning, decorations, book keepi9ng accounting etc. while boys
perform physical works like shifting, painting, weight lifting, construction works,
farming, administration etc. Gender role stereotypes also influence classroom
interactions between teachers and students. Overall, boys are more likely than
girls to answer teachers’ questions. A risk taking behaviuor is expected of males
and seeks the teacher’s attention. In contrast girls are more likely to receive
criticism rather than praise for such risk taking behavior. Teachers reward girls
for becoming quiet and helpful which are stereotyped feminized behavior. Boys
are rewarded for assertive behaviours but when a girl is assertive , she is told to
stop behaving like a boy. When a boy cries he is discouraged by saying to stop
behaving like a girl.

Gender role stereotyping impacts students’ perceptions

of their abilities and achievements. In classroom situations boys talk more,
interrupt more, they define the topic and women tend to support them. Boys are
viewed as less able in language and arts subjects. Similarly, it is considered that
boys are more capable than girls in the field of math and science. A boy is praised
for his knowledge while a girl is praised for her appearance and obedience.
Academically able girls’ achievements are attributed to their hard works where as
successful boys are thought to be naturally gifted. Underachieving male students
are considered as lay where as under achieving female students are considered as
not capable.

School sports are also important measure by which gender

stereotyping behaviours are taught and reinforced. There are different areas of
playground attributed for playing of boys and girls. Boys are encouraged to take
up rough up sports like cricket, football, hokey etc. while girls are encouraged to
take up dance, music, drawing etc. boys are encouraged to play with boys while
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girls are encouraged to play with girls. In all cases, boys receive more corporal
punishment than girls for the same mistake. Girls are taught to be more simple,
silent and disciplined. Female teachers often ask male teachers to beat students
for them.

Children are brought up to believe that girls and boys

should behave differently. Gender stereotyping among younger children has an
adverse impact their learning abilities and world view of both boys and girls.

Curriculum and textbooks :-

Curriculum refers to the means and materials with which
students will interact for the purpose of achieving identified educational
outcomes. Curriculum reflects the knowledge that society considers valuable and
appropriate to be taught in schools. Thus the gender inequality that persists in
society is also reflected in the curriculum. Textbooks that constitute the most
significant components of the curriculum have a significant role in educating
children. They not only spreads knowledge and information but also develops
appropriate values and gender role perceptions.

Every society has it’s gender system and gender role

stereotypes and these are reflected and picturized through textbooks. When
children enter the school, their concepts about gender, self image, behavior,
aspirations and expectations about men and women learned from the family are
reaffirmed through the images portrayed in textbooks. The students learn about
gender stereotyped images by seeing the images. For example, in a book there is
an image of a boy playing football while in another page there is an image of a girl
sewing clothes. Similarly, there was an image in which boys are playing kites while
a girls is standing near by observes.

In a tradition bound society like that of India, the

textbooks strengthen the traditional values regarding gender roles. Here men are
represented as active, outgoing, adventurous and bread winners and women are
in weak, passive and housewife roles who need to be protected and taken care of

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by the men. Often in textbooks men are represented at a great variety of
occupations but most women characters are shown as sisters, wives and mothers.

The number of female characters in general education

textbooks is small while conversely they are over represented in vocational
courses bin the health and social welfare fields. Men and women remain confined
with the personalities, roles and socio economic activities with which they are
traditionally associated. Often in narratives the decision making roles are men.
Men are shown as leaders in stories. In textbooks women are represented in less
number of occupations such as teachers, cooks, doctors, nurses etc. but men are
shown in various profession s such as pilots, artists, astronauts, magicians, rulers,
postman, vegetable sellers, police man, librarian, driver etc. The role models,
social reformers, politicians often presented in history books are men.

Following steps should be taken to make textbooks free of gender biasness :-

 Select books carefully. Encourage children to read books that include

alternative life style choices.
 Examine your curriculum and materials for examples of successful men and
women ; supplement if necessary. When discussing occupations or
presenting storylines or math problems to students, educators should make
conscious effort to muse he and she equally.
 The gender role expectations reflected by written text and pictures should
be gender sensitive to promote the concept of gender equality.
 It is important that all text, reading material and books be free of notion of
gender inequality.
 Include in the curriculum women’s and girls’ experiences, achievements
and contributions.
 Developing and using contexts which are relevant and meaningful for girls
as well as boys.
 Providing curriculum which supports the development of individual and
social identity based on broad views of what it means to be female or male.
 Both female and male role models should be presented in text books.

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Inadequate gender sensitive facilities :-
In schools, the inadequacy of gender sensitive facilities is
one of the main reason of drop out of girl students. Some parents refuse to allow
their children to attend school due to inadequate sanitary facilities. Often toilets
are unusable, there may not be separate lavatories males and females and there
may not be sufficient privacy for girls. Furthermore, sanitary facilities may be
located outside the main school compound. Students may therefore be at risk of
bullying and sexual violence, which is especially a concern for female students.

Also there may not be separate common rooms for boys

and girls. The school design and infrastructure particularly the sitting
arrangements should offer equal comfort level to both the genders. There should
be provision of safe drinking water facility. In some areas there are absence of
proper access roads to schools which may be an issue of safety of girls.

Teachers’ preferential treatment :-

Consciously or unconsciously teachers show biased
behaviours towards boys and girls in classrooms. Every time students are seated
or lined up by gender, teachers are affirming that girls and boys should be treated
differently. Different behaviours are tolerated for boys than girls. Teachers
socialize girls towards a feminine role.

Teachers of all levels of experience tend to interact

more with male students than with female students. Regardless of the gender of
the teacher, boys receive more criticism, praise for correct responses, monitoring
of work and general contact with the teacher. Boys tend to dominate classroom
talk and there is evidence to suggest that teachers deliberately gear the content
of lessons towards boys’ interests in order to retain attention and control. Girls
remain largely passive and invisible in class and teachers have been found to
downgrade their achievements.

Teachers pay more attention and give more feedback

to boys. When asked why, teachers stated that boys are often more demanding,
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shouting out answers in a manner that it is difficult to ignore. When female
students behave similarly teachers often discourage them and correct their
behavior. Because of this boys learnt that they are valued and feel comfortable
taking risks while girls feel that not much is expected of them and are not as
confident in speaking out in class.

In case of classroom transactions, usually males receive more

teacher questions than females. Minimal wait time is given for female’s answers.
More frequent follow up questions with males. Boys are more likely to be called
up to the front of the room to do demonstrations. When it comes to taking
leading, teachers often prefer boys than girls.

Some of the reasons why girls have learning problems

include the low expectations of teachers regarding their intellectual abilities,
coupled with a low level of feedback from teachers. Teachers often discourage
girls from taking science subjects by saying that it is too difficult for girls. If
teachers assume that a girl can learn science and mathematics, it will affect their
approach to teaching girls and their expectations of what girls achieve in their
subjects.

Sexual abuse in school :-

Abuse is defined as “ to ill use or to misuse or to insult “.
Adults use children to meet their own sexual needs and gratification. This includes
intercourse, oral sex, fondling and also the showing off or taking part in
pornographic pictures ore videos. Sexual abuse is defined as intentional sexual
contact characterized by use of force, threats, intimidation, abuse of authority or
when the victim does not or can not consent.

Sexual abuse includes rape, forcible sodomy and other

unwanted indecent contact that is aggravated, abusive or attempts to commit
these acts. It encompasses a diverse set of problem behaviours including verbal
comments, sexually explicit media contact such as producing or showing sexual
images or videos, exposure of genitals, grooming and procuring and contact

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offences ranging from sexually touching to violent sexual assaults causing physical
injury and rare cases death.

In schools, girls are around twice as likely as boys to be sexually

abused. There is a chance of sexual abuse by teachers, administrators,
supervisors, non-teaching staffs and even by elder students. Effects of sexual
abuse are shame, self blame, depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder,
self esteem issues, sexual dysfunction, drug or alcohol addiction and even suicidal
attempt.

The school should take following steps in order to prevent sexual abuse in
schools:-

 Ensure teachers, volunteers and anyone else with access to children are
properly screened and trained.
 Implement and enforce a policy for reporting sexual abuse and handling
disclosures from children.
 Assess your environmental structure and take every possible step to make
it safer for children.
 Provide programmes and roles for parents to make them a part of their
children’s safety and security at school and while going to and from school.
 Provide accurate and age appropriate information to students. Many
children do not know that certain types of touching is dangerous or harmful
because they have never been told.
 Teachers should encourage one to one discussion with students. This will
built trust between teachers and students; teachers can learn about the
issues troubling students and timely help can be provided.
 Students affected by sexual abuse must be provided appropriate counseling
to resolve the issue.

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