GOAL 5: Gender Equality - The Stark Reality

By-BM-C, 
Group 7
PGDM (BM) 2019-21
XLRI, Jamshedpur 

Co-Authors 
Anand
Dewang
Rohan
Samriddhi
Shagun
Suhasini
“Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.”
- Kofi Annan

 What is Gender Equality?

Gender equality, which is also known as sexual equality is the state in which equal ease of access to opportunities and resources is given to every sex. These opportunities will be independent of gender, including decision-making and economic participation; valuing the different behaviours, needs as well as the aspirations of each gender.


According to UNICEF, gender equality “means that men and women, boys and girls, enjoy the same rights, resources, protections, and opportunities. It does not require in any manner that boys and girls, or men and women, be the same, or that they are treated alike.   

Most of us have in some manner experienced the biases of society in some manner through gender inequality, be it a man or a woman. Many of the gender ratios all across the world have been skewed terribly because of gender inequality. 

 These gender inequalities are then the reason behind a lot of heinous crimes and activities that happen behind the bars of gender inequality. In fact, it took centuries for society to accept that there could be a third gender, becoming which is not their choice but natural to them. Even now, many of the countries in the world still don't accept the third gender hence brewing thousands of atrocities against them in various forms. 

Whereas, while it has already been more than 70 years to Independence, the sex ratio as per Census 2011 in India is bare of 943 females against 1000 males. This skewed ratio has resulted into lower participation of females in social, business, research or any other field. Their skewed representation further makes it hard in preserving their rights in these institutions. While the Government has brought up reservations and has set a minimum percentage of occupancy that has to be taken up by women, it sometimes can be the very manner of disrespecting the essence of gender equality by depriving men of opportunities in terms of their credibility due to reservations in terms of gender.
Origins and historic flow

The origins of Gender equality lie in the very beginnings of free thought. A society primarily evolved from the domination of the physically stronger species has resulted in a skew of power. The original structure of society where the male gender of the species led to incumbent patriarchy. The physically weaker species viz. female was dominated and deprived for a long time. The skew resulted in many contributions to the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics being neglected. The basic necessities of life were kept away from one gender. As society moved from a severely constrained one to a modern accepting one, many perils exist even to this day.

Towards the end of the 19th century, many countries in the west saw an uprising and many misogynistic laws and legislations were repealed. The right to corporal punishment by the husband, unequal hereditary rights, beginning of mixed-gender schools were some of the legislations which were repealed. The next move at the beginning of the 20th century was a move into the political domains. There were a few first-time women MPs elected to parliaments. The suffrage movement of 1917 was a significant milestone in the gender equality movement. There were movements in regard to legalising abortion which gave women more control over their health.

The movement for equal rights began in earnest on the global front in the 70s. The year 1975 was declared as the International Women’s Year by the United Nations General Assembly. Subsequently the years 1976-1985 were declared as the decade for Women. The Soviet Union was one of the first governments to recognise the role of gender equality. There were provisions for natal and prenatal leaves for the women. Despite recognition on paper, the legislations were rarely put to practice. The next phase in gender equality consists of modern workplace laws that mandated maternity help and readjustment friendly policies in many workplaces. Even today the global average pay of women to men in 77 cents to a dollar. There has been much support worldwide for more representation in higher levels of management. 21st century saw recognition of the third gender on the rise. Worldwide many governments acknowledged the need for holistic policies for all the three genders. There has been an increasing awareness in the common masses regarding sensitivity towards gender equality. Historically existing stereotypes are changing at a gradual pace. There have been many advances in the policies worldwide, but the implementation and the ground reality shows a different picture. The timeline of gender equality has seen many uprisings and uproar. The real need of the times is to focus on the grassroots and learn from history as we march ahead.


Modern context of gender equality

Over the past few decades, many would say that gender equality has increased and today, women and persons belonging to non-binary genders enjoy better rights, improved safety, and foremost, lesser discrimination. This positivity could have arisen form the various regulations set up by both domestic and international bodies. In 2017, Saudi Arabia remained the only country to not have any mention of gender in its laws. Despite these moves ahead, there remains irrefutable evidence which suggests otherwise.

A glaring example can be seen in the average pay scale differences between men and women. There exists a 24% difference, and this number is even higher for persons belonging to the LGBTQ+ category. In the modern context, these numbers are prevalent in the education, health and the social sector for women across the world – especially for developing and underdeveloped nations. The modern society is responsible for hiding these numbers under a garb of laws and goals. The fact remains that many women still find it difficult to access basic necessities like education and sanitary conditions. In countries ridden with war and disease, these issues increase exponentially and have disastrous impacts on the non-privileged genders there.

Violence is another metric which can be used to measure the sheer ineffectiveness of the regulations. Increased levels of violence have been reported in the recent years and they come in many manifestations. Rape, physical assault, female genital mutilations and trafficking are few of the visible forms of violence in the world. Domestic violence is rampant in countries and little steps have been taken in order to legally bind it under laws for a country like India. Many times, political motives hide these violent acts and are often modified to fit the political agendas. The International Day for the elimination of violence against women has been in existence since 2016.

Today, the resistance against gender discrimination has reached new heights, pushed by the social media and global participation. This has allowed a greater focus on questions of wage gap, employment opportunities, social constraints and inequalities in terms of structure. Many men of the new age have no qualms about being called a feminist and a holistic view by the binary genders is seen towards the LGBTQ+ community too.

Campaigns like #MeToo have struck a chord internationally and has garnered support from people across the world. Definitions of the world “consent” and “sexual abuse” has evolved and now contains legal and moral implications as well. These campaigns have their critics too which allows the public to view each aspect holistically. Countries have increased acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community, and have started legalizing same sex marriage in the recent years. The marginalized genders have started enjoying greater freedom than before, and the fight is still going strong.  

Gender Equality is evolving, especially for the tech-savvy, younger generation. Technology and new inventions are providing women a better chance at health at a cheaper cost. Reproductive health, especially abortion rights have seen an increased wave of support and legal changes. In 2018, Ireland famously overturned a ban on abortion. Governments across the world are treating abortion as a women-first issue and decreasing their controls on it entirely.

Going forward, gender equality will be a goal nations would continue to strive for. Primarily in three aspects, education, health and safety, this goal requires continuous changes in policies and in thought. It deeply affects all aspects of the society and emphasis on ending gender discrimination is the greatest need of today’s time.


 Examples and anecdotes

Because of the unrelenting efforts of few women and men, who have been the torchbearers of promotion of gender equality, more and more women are earning educational degrees, getting employment opportunities and becoming self-reliant.

One such leader who has exemplified and emphasized the importance of gender equality through her own experiences is the well-known author and philanthropist Sudha Murthy. In a recent appearance on “Kaun Banega Crorepati”, she revealed that she was shocked to read a advertisement call for a factory job from Telco that called for male applicants only. Regardless, she applied for the role and explained the interviewers why it was high time that women too should be considered for the position and got selected for the role.

The Indian advertisement industry and Bollywood should also be given credit for actively pushing the envelope and spreading across the message for gender equality. Arial’s Share the load campaign threw light on some of the daily chores that contemporary professional women are involved in and implores the men in their lives to chip in and help reduce their burden by “sharing the load”. Ki and Ka focused on creating awareness of the gender stereotypes and entertained the audience by contradicting the stereotype and depicting how a working woman and her homemaker husband are initially questioned by the society, but they eventually manage to overcome these societal barriers and conventions.


In another glowing example, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was globally lauded for ensuring that 50% of his cabinet included women. Trudeau continue to stand up for gender equality by including measures for equal pay and longer parental leave, and a foreign aid policy that promises to deliver more funds to girls’ education and women’s economic empowerment.


 Need for efforts

We need to eliminate gender equality as its presence can be observed across the world and at all age groups affecting population productivity while leading to a hostile social environment. Currently, 1 in 5 women aged 15 to 49 has faced some form of sexual or physical violence in the past 12-month period. Forty-nine countries have no legal procedure to protect women from domestic violence. While progress has been observed in issues such as child marriages and female genital mutilation, which has decreased by about 30%, there is still a long way to go.

The extent to which gender equality could change society as we know it is astonishing. Statistically speaking, infant mortality significantly reduces with a mother's education. If all women had secondary education, infant mortality rates would reduce by half, saving over 3 million lives. While in some countries such as Africa, 8% of women finish secondary education, in Ireland, 93% do. We can therefore imagine how important it is for us to close the gap.

Economically speaking, if women work identically to men as labor, the Global annual GDP will increase by 26% by 2025. Gender inequality both causes and is an effect of poverty and hunger, turning into a vicious cycle where women comprise 70% of people living in poverty worldwide.

There is dire need to provide adequate social, legal, and economic support and education to women to help upliftment of societies. It will ensure rapid development and better living standards in general. We also need to work towards coming up with a better and a stronger legal framework to eliminate gruesome crimes targeted towards women.

We cannot achieve gender equality without men. Hence, it is important to discuss unexpected social pressures that men face, such as always acting tough, restrain themselves from expressing their emotions freely, being aggressive and in control, thereby falsely justifying their dominance over women. Although in modern times, many women now work in regular jobs, the pressure on men to be the primary providers of the family remains. Hence, achieving success within a short span is a leading pressure that men face almost constantly.

Hence, it is important to understand that it would take a collective effort of all members of the society, irrespective of their gender, to stand together against gender inequality to enable people to become a freer version of themselves.
Way forward

1.      Gender Equality begins at Home
Parents are the first teachers of their children. Therefore, if they grow up to have seen gender inequality being exercised or tolerated in their relationship, they are more likely to become exposed to negative gender stereotyping. It’s important that parents share household and external responsibilities, participate equally in financial matters, exercise equal decision-making authority and treat each other respectfully so as to inculcate the same in their kids.

2.      Tackling Stereotypes
We have to create an environment for the next generation which imbibes a spirit of gender equity in them right from the very early age. Children who grow up in gender-equitable environments are seen to believe in lesser stereotypes than their friends who have grown up in gender-inequitable surroundings. Schools have to take up the major responsibility for this as they form a very significant proportion of the lives of children

3.      Gender Equality in its complete sense
The usual understanding of gender equality is only limited to the concept of equality only pertaining to women and girls. More than 487 thousand people in India are transgender as per the 2011 census. Gender stereotypes affect all people in general, affect women more and affect the ‘third gender’ even more. Until we realise and accept them as one of us and include them in our definition of gender equality, all our efforts to create equality in the society are incomplete.

4.      Focus on Girl Power
Through a consistent focus on inculcating knowledge and skills in girls and by developing a sense of leadership, we can build a resilient, motivated and empowered generation. Such a generation would not only set high aspirations and standards for itself but also have a higher commitment to gender equity. It’s the need of the hour to not only empower women but also sensitise men around them in order to create an enabling environment for this process.

5.      Media is “THE” Game Changer we need
It’s the utmost responsibility of media to promote Gender Equality through Shows, movies, documentaries etc. They can easily capitalise on their ability to communicate this message to the masses. Only when we are aware, can we act. Recently there have been many movies like Parched which have tried to show the face of reality which most people won’t even believe exists. Media is the “facilitator of unity” as seen in various cases we faced in the past and they need to fuel up this debate whenever required.

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