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EUMIND-HUMAN RIGHTS
The root cause of gender inequality in Indian society lies in its woman, he was thinking, 'Who
patriarchy system. According to the famous sociologists Sylvia Walby,
patriarchy is “a system of social structure and practices in which men shall I give the power to, to
dominate, oppress and exploit women”. Women’s exploitation is an
age old cultural phenomenon of Indian society. The system of give birth to the next human
patriarchy finds its validity and sanction in our religious beliefs, whether
it is Hindu, Muslim or any other religion. being?' And God chose
The unfortunate part of gender inequality in our society is that the woman. And this is the big
women too, though, continued socio-cultural conditioning, have
accepted their subordinate position to men. And they are also part and evidence that women are
parcel of same patriarchal system.
powerful." - Malala
Extreme poverty and lack of education are also some of the reasons
for women’s low status in society. Poverty and lack of education
derives countless women to work in low paying domestic service,
organized prostitution or as migrant laborers. Women are not only
getting unequal pay for equal or more work but also they are being
offered only low skill jobs for which lower wages are paid. This has
become a major form of inequality on the basis of gender.
Not only in education, in case of family food habits, it is the male child everyone can be themselves."
who gets all the nutritious and choicest foods while the girl child gets
whatever is left behind after the male members have taken their meals
or the food which is low in both quality and nutrition. And this becomes — Gloria Steinem
major health issue in her later years. One of the main reasons for the
high incidences of difficult births and anemia in women is the poor
quality of food which a girl always gets either in her paternal home or
in her in-laws as also is the excessive workload that they are made to
bear from their early childhood.
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Introduction INDIA
These two important Global Indices show the sorry state of affairs in India as far as gender
equality is concerned. Only in case of ‘Political Empowerment’ India is doing fine which is a
welcome sign. But other indices are very poor and a lot need to be done to improve the
same.
- Female Feticide
- Female Infanticide
- Female literacy: 46%
- Maternal Mortality Rate: 178 deaths per 100000 live births.
These above mentioned indicators are some of the important indices which show the status of
women in our country.
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Introduction INDIA
Women live by the rape schedule – No, I did not just come up with it randomly, and we have
let the fear of rape govern our lives. We design our lives around a safety measure, we always
think about being safe all the time. We learn martial arts because we want to learn the art of
self-defense; we don’t go out late because we think we aren’t safe. The problem is that the
fear is so deeply embedded in our minds that we feel that if god forbid anything happens
then we will have absolutely no control over it. We are a victim even without actually being
one.
Reservations – Equality doesn’t mean having reservations in buses, trains, queues or anywhere
for that matter. Just to clarify, if we are looking to be equal to men, then why can’t we travel
in the general compartment of a local train? Why do women ask for reservations which only
prove that they are the weaker sex?
Outburst of emotions – Sick of the obligations set by the society; we have started seeing this
outburst of emotions when anybody even touches the topic of gender equality. The men
today are as clueless about those obligations as you, so I don’t think men should be blamed
for every little thing. Just because you want to prove your worth, it doesn’t mean you start
degrading the efforts or actions of the other sex.
Discrimination against women and girls is a pervasive and long-running phenomenon that
characterizes Indian society at every level.
Crimes against women show an upward trend, in particular brutal crimes such as rapes, dowry
deaths, and honor killings. These trends are disturbing, as a natural prediction would be that
with growth come education and prosperity, and a possible decline in adherence to
traditional institutions and socially prescribed gender roles that hold women back.
A culturally ingrained parental preference for sons — emanating from their importance as
caregivers for parents in old age — is linked to poorer consequences for daughters.
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Introduction INDIA
The dowry system, involving a cash or in-kind payment from the bride’s family to the groom’s
at the time of marriage, is another institution that disempowers women. The incidence of
dowry payment, which is often a substantial part of a household’s income, has been steadily
rising over time across all regions and socioeconomic classes.
This often results in dowry-related violence against women by their husbands and in-laws if the
dowry is considered insufficient or as a way to demand more payments.
These practices create incentives for parents not to have girl children or to invest less in girls’
health and education. Such parental preferences are reflected in increasingly masculine sex
ratios in India. In 2011, there were 919 girls under age six per 1000 boys, despite sex
determination being outlawed in India.
This reinforces the inferior status of Indian women and puts them at risk of violence in their
marital households. According to the National Family and Health Survey of 2005-06, 37% of
married women have been victims of physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their spouse.
Affirmative action
There is clearly a need for policy initiatives to empower women as gender disparities in India
persist even against the backdrop of economic growth.
Current literature provides pointers from policy changes that have worked so far. One unique
policy experiment in village-level governance that mandated one-third representation for
women in positions of local leadership has shown promising results.
Evaluations of this affirmative action policy have found that in villages led by women, the
preferences of female residents are better represented, and women are more confident in
reporting crimes that earlier they may have considered too stigmatizing to bring to attention.
Female leaders also serve as role models and raise educational and career aspirations for
adolescent girls and their parents.
Getting to parity
For India to maintain its position as a global growth leader, more concerted efforts at local
and national levels and by the private sector are needed to bring women to parity with men.
While increasing representation of women in the public spheres is important and can
potentially be attained through some form of affirmative action, an attitudinal shift is essential
for women to be considered as equal within their homes and in broader society.
Educating Indian children from an early age about the importance of gender equality could
be a meaningful start in that direction.