#32 Gender Disparity

Gender disparity

This article has been written in response to an article that was published in TOI(Times of India) on 27^th NOV,2013 under the section Times Nation , entitled “ India’s gender gap among the worst” . According to the Global Gender gap index released by the World Economic Forum, India stood at 101 in list of 136 nations. India ranked a lowly 101^st of 136 countries, indicating a huge disparity in access of women to economic, political, educational, health care opportunities and their participation in such services. While India has bettered its rank by 4 positions from previous years, it emerged at the near bottom of the heap. Laxmi Lingam, deputy director, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, believes India has traditionally being Schizophrenic in its treatment of women, worshipping them on the one hand and neglecting the girl child on other. The only sign of optimism lies in the political empowerment of women. Despite parliamentary dithering over the passage of women’s reservation bill for equal representation in the legislature, India bagged a healthy 9^th rank when it came to political empowerment of its women.

      

So, by now Indians might have got aware of their position in treating the women of their country, if not then there is a strong need of introspection. Since childhood, we’ve been made to feel that we live in a patriarchal society where all the important decisions reside in the hands of men. The girls as infant grow up in fear in their hearts, no matter how successful they become in their lives, they have never been able to keep themselves out of this vicious and ugly cycle of discrimination. There is absolutely no wrong in adoption of patriarchal form of society until the rights and aspirations of the opposite gender are preserved. It is unfortunate to state that the mindset of some men have not changed after the tragic incident happened to Nirbhaya. In spite of getting lesson from this incidence, violence against women is still on rise. It’s completely shameful to find the newspaper filled with the news of cases of violence against women.  This curtails a woman’s freedom in many spheres, the most important being safety. They have to think many times on what they wear, where they want to go and at what time which is just ridiculous. Even though this fast paced electronic era has been successful enough to reduce the geographical distances between the countries, yet the gap between a boy and girl still remains unbridged. If you carefully look at the advancements made by the women, then you will feel difficulty in finding an area where women have not proved their supremacy. If you start the process of citing the examples of success of women from history to till date in a chronological order, you may probably never accomplish this task in your lifetime!! Malala’s speech against Taliban on the issue of education of Women, “Women are strong but Taliban fears that they may grow stronger through education” indicates a male’s insecurity of his position. In the words of ex President of USA, Abraham Lincoln “You can never make someone strong by making the stronger one weak.”  For fair competition between the two genders, the prerequisites must be equal opportunities.

It is totally absurd to state women to be the weaker section of the society and there by exempting them from taking up tasks that the opposite gender can perform. It is nothing that a woman can’t perform and a male can better than them. Women are beautiful creations of God and should be offered equal opportunities. They want respect and dignity from the society as they constitute an integral part of it.

I would like to end this article through a sms(after making few amendments) lying dormant in the inbox of my mobile. Here it goes:

It’s great to be a girl

We are the epitome of beauty and charm

We can use tear as threat

We can be both sweet and furious

We are the centre of universe,

We are the subjects of all most all love songs.

We are the most sought after species on this planet,

We don’t always mean what we say,

We don’t always say what we mean.

Our handwriting- better than boys.

We are daddy’s priceless princess

Mom’s helping hands

Every elder brother’s adorable doll

 Younger brother’s teacher

Sister’s best company

That’s why we are born in this world

And we are proud to be girls.

NOTE: This article does not intend to hurt the sentiments of any individual.

Swati Sarangi

4.11.2013