Reg:70731034/level5

SSU3209

1. Discuss what is meant by gender discrimination and the influence of certain cultural practices maintaining certain discrimination. Gender discrimination refers to the practice of granting or denying rights or privileges to a person inappropriate based on their gender. In some societies, this practice is longstanding and acceptable to both genders. Certain religious groups embrace gender discrimination as part of their dogma. However, in most industrialized nations, it is either illegal or generally considered Attitudes toward gender discrimination can normally be traced back to the roots of certain segments of society. Much of the discrimination is attributed to stories such as a woman being made from mans rib and societal practices such as dowries paid to fathers by prospective husbands to purchase their daughters to be wives. Countless literary fiction references are made to females being the fairer, weaker sex and males being the strong, invincible hunters of the world. The combined power of these societal and religious beliefs left little room for equitable thinking for centuries. Women are also handicapped by biological factors on account of three main events connected to their life; namely menstruation, childbirth and menopause. Gender discrimination, also known as sexual discrimination, is the practice of letting a person's sex unfairly become a factor when deciding who receives a job, promotion, or other Gender discrimination is often based on gender stereotypes of a particular society, i.e. considering men physically strong and women as emotionally sensitive, employment benefit. It most often affects women who feel they have been unfairly discriminated against in favour of a man. But there have also been cases where males have claimed that reverse discrimination has occurredthat is, the woman received unfairly favourable treatment at the expense of the man. The major determinants of gender discrimination include the social setup, culture, religion, geographical conditions, economic setup, moral standards and education level of the society. All these factors individually or in combination make up the face of gender discrimination.

Reg:70731034/level5

SSU3209

Culture is something which is closely associated with the discrimination especially in Asian countries. In most of the developing third world countries as well as Asian counties men are give a higher place as well as treated with high respect than women. Especially it is the culture which has created the discrimination of women in society. Family is the most as well the smallest unit in the society and it is the place where this discrimination starts. When we take the situations at home as instances we can clearly see that discrimination is something which female faces from their small age regarding food, benefits.......etc. The better half of everything is most of the time enjoyed by the male partners at home. Ex: Male is served food first as well as they are given the best part of the meal. According to the culture women should be confined to kitchen and their main achievement in the life should be the motherhood. If a women cant bare a child that women is treated badly in the society. Sometimes even she became bad women.....and people would not like to meet her when they go out from the home. So in some societies there are not given the equal chance for education as men. Culturally it is the responsibility of the man to play the part of the breadwinner of the family. Through that he gets the economical power of the family and the women have to be at home and look after his children. In some societies it is believed that men should not help or do house hold work especially kitchen work because it confined to women. Women are expected to live under the guidance and protection of men throughout her life. Due to the very many cultural practices the women have to undergo unpleasant as well as bad experiences throughout her life time. These kinds of cultural practices have enhanced the women discrimination in the society. So this type of cultural habits should be eradicate and uproot from the society.

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SSU3209

2. Describe the three development theories on Women

Women in Development Approach

The term "women in development" came into use in the early 1970s, after the publication of Ester Bose ups Women's Role in Economic Development (1970). Boserup was the first to systematically delineate on a global level the sexual division favour that existed in agrarian economies. . In Woman's Role in Economic Development, Boserup attempts to highlight the myriad ways in which modernization of agriculture affects women in developing countries. Focusing on Africa, Boserup claims that this process of modernization unavoidably alters the sexual division of labour. She maps out her understanding of the particular problems of women as they are deprived of their previous productive functions and values. Ultimately, Boserup describes this pattern of female deprivation as a significant obstacle to the success of development policies. She has pointed out that it is essential to distinguish mens work from women when planning and implementing development policies and treat them as such. Boserup's research was later criticized by for its oversimplification of the nature of women's work and roles but it was Seminal in focussing scholarly attention on the sexual division of labour and the differential impact by gender of development and modernization strategies. FEMNET has criticized Boserups women in development approach in several ways Doesnt not target the main issues Based on traditional assumption that all developing countries have to follow the steps as developed countries in order to archive. Doesnt challenge the assumption on gender roles and focussed only on the productive aspect of women in work.

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SSU3209

Women and development Approach WAD is primarily a neo-Marxist, feminist approach with a strong emphasis on the importance of social class and the exploitation of the "Third World". This approach emerged in the second half of the 1970s in response to the limitations of modernization. WAD gets some of its theoretical base from dependency theory, whose main thesis is that, at the global level, developed regions became developed through the exploitation of other regions. The WAD approach assumes that women have always been active participants in development. Advocates of this approach say that both the paid and unpaid labour of women is essential to development. In contrast to WID, the WAD approach believes that under global capitalism, women's oppression cannot end. The major criticism of the WAD approach is that it fails to undertake a full-scale analysis of the relationship between patriarchy and women's subordination. It implicitly assumes that women's participation will improve if institutional structures change. Although work which women do inside and outside homes is central to development, WAD preoccupies itself with the productive aspect at the expense of the reproductive side of women's work and lives. Gender and Development Approach Caroline Moser developed the Moser Gender Planning Framework for GAD-oriented development planning in the 1980s while working at the Development Planning Unit of the University of London.GAD origin as an alternative to WID and WAD approaches and influenced by socialist feminine thinking. It Offers a holistic perspective looking at all aspects of womens lives and questions the basis of assigning specific gender roles to different sexes. And also it Recognizes womens contribution inside and outside the household, including non-commodity production. GAD applies gender analysis to uncover the ways in which men and women work together, presenting results in neutral terms of economics and efficiency.

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SSU3209

GAD rejects the public/private dichotomy. It gives special attention to oppression of women in the family by entering the so called `private sphere It emphasizes the states duty to provide social services in promoting womens emancipation. Women seen as agents of change rather than as passive recipients of development assistance. Stresses the need for women to organize themselves for a more effective political voice. Recognizes that patriarchy operates within and across classes to oppress women Focuses on strengthening womens legal rights, including the reform of inheritance and land laws. It talks in terms of upsetting the existing power relations in society between men and women.

GAD has been criticized for emphasizing the social differences between men and women while neglecting the bonds between them and also the potential for changes in roles. Another criticism is that GAD does not dig deep enough into social relations and so may not explain how these relations can undermine programs directed at women. It also does not uncover the types of trade-off that women are prepared to make for the sake of achieving their ideals of marriage or motherhood.