Group3_D | SDG5: Gender Equality - Many Genders, One Human
Introduction to Gender Equality-by BMD Group3
In 2015, when newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau selected 30 members, half were women, and Canada got its first-ever gender-equal government.
Yes, we focus on one of the most persistent human rights issues present globally, gender equality. Gender equality states that all humans must have equal access to resources, opportunities, economic participation, and decision-making, irrespective of their genders.
So, where do we stand in 2020?
Canada’s not the only country earning a gold star for female political participation. Finland comes in the first place, with ten female ministers out of 16. Not far behind are Sweden and Cape Verde, with 53% female representation. Sharing the bronze with Canada are France and Liechtenstein with 50%.
A handful of societies around the world have flipped the script of Planet Earth as Big Boy’s Club? In parts of Canada, Indonesia, China, and West Africa, among other places, women run the show to varying degrees. Whereas on the other side, the quarantine imposed by the government has made it much more difficult for women to escape home violence, causing a “shadow pandemic.”
Yes, we focus on one of the most persistent human rights issues present globally, gender equality. Gender equality states that all humans must have equal access to resources, opportunities, economic participation, and decision-making, irrespective of their genders.
So, where do we stand in 2020?
Canada’s not the only country earning a gold star for female political participation. Finland comes in the first place, with ten female ministers out of 16. Not far behind are Sweden and Cape Verde, with 53% female representation. Sharing the bronze with Canada are France and Liechtenstein with 50%.
A handful of societies around the world have flipped the script of Planet Earth as Big Boy’s Club? In parts of Canada, Indonesia, China, and West Africa, among other places, women run the show to varying degrees. Whereas on the other side, the quarantine imposed by the government has made it much more difficult for women to escape home violence, causing a “shadow pandemic.”
There has been a significant increase in many Latin American countries – a doubling in some cases – in reports of domestic violence and murders of women and girls since stay-at-home orders were set up. Also, when women lose their jobs and financial independence, they can find themselves dependent on a violent partner. In some countries, calls to helplines have increased five-fold.
While the policymakers, Individuals, and related institutions are trying to show the way to the world on how to move forward, it's important to remember that the world has a long way to go before gender equality is achieved.
The Relevance of Gender Equality to India
India is one of the world’s largest democracies, and like every democracy, India has its issues while growing and one of them is the caste system. The gender equality issues started to gain momentum after independence, but amidst all the uplifting of its suppressed classes, the case lost its importance. Indian society from ancient times has always been a dominant male society, and events like Sati pratha, veil system, girl child abortion, and dowry system showcase the same. The inequality starts from childhood when boys while growing up, enjoy greater freedom than the girls who face restrictions and limitations.
The gender equality system is evolving, but it still has a long way to go. The mindset of people is changing towards gender equality. The government also organized camps and spread awareness regarding the prevention of female foeticide abortion. The percentage of female teachers in India for primary education with respect to male teachers has also increased from 15.2% during 1950-51 to 54.37% in 2020. For the female’s encouragement towards schooling, all the government exams charge either a small amount or no charges for application forms. Activists like Aranya Johar have started leveraging the increasing internet penetration (almost 50 percent in 2020)to increase the sensitivity of inequality in our country. Most of the corporates now are trying to equate the gender ratio in their companies. Companies around the country have made strict policies against sexism. But the idea of gender equality is still far fetched because a change in the people’s mindset is the primary requirement for eradicating quality.
Business implications and Responses
The Supreme court ordered equal roles for women in the Indian Army. Why was there a need for an order when we live in a country where citizens have a fundamental right to equality?
When the world has lived the glass cliff example of New Zealand, women still face inequality regarding wages or position. As was suggested by "Functional theory“, women are perceived as a better fit for household chores; only a fourth of the total women population is employed. In addition, the pay disparity percentage of Bihar is as high as 63% depicting the roots of inequality in India.
At times, the entry to corporates is biased where the female interviewee is questioned differently and more intensely. It also includes questions suggesting that the role is more suited for men. A very evident example was the absence of female restrooms in training centers of the Indian Air Force.
Also, females are offered lower responsibility positions, and they suffer from the glass ceiling effect. Some female employees get terminated if they complain regarding unfair treatment, and despite the presence of sexual harassment policies, women's harassment cases are on the rise.
According to a study published by the National Human Rights Commission in 2018, about 92% of transgender people are not employed in the Indian formal sector. But there have been small and meaningful impacts from time to time like Padmini Prakash, who became India’s first transgender news anchor at LOTUS TV; Jennifer Pritzker, the first transgender billionaire and the founder of Tawani Foundation; etc. who have broken through the barriers and made their names in the corporate world.
Governments of various nations, international organizations and corporate organizations are taking many Initiatives for gender equality. The Indian government is launching multiple schemes such as the “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” campaign, “Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana” for women empowerment, which is a prerequisite step for gender equality at the workplaces. Government projects such as ‘Project VAYATI’ are initiatives to employ transgender people in formal sectors. So far, corporate organizations have made many efforts towards gender equality but lagging gender equality among top-level executives. Sanofi’s 45% of the overall workforce is made up of women, bringing the force close to gender parity. But, at the top of the organization, only 36% of top leaders are female. The notion of equality is multifaceted as corporates are mostly focusing on male and female genders for equality. But State Street is working towards giving equal opportunities to transgenders in their workforce. State Street also supports establishing a gender regime in Hong Kong to protect transgender employees and customers.
Analysis of Gender Inequality
Even though every country is trying to bridge the gap between the genders, the notion of all genders being provided with equal opportunities and their treatment as one still seems quite far-fetched. Men around the world have become aware of the indifferences that women face, for e.g. in 2010, only 39% of the men in the U.S. were conscious regarding gender inequality, which, after the awareness campaigns, increased to 57% for the current year. The awareness regarding the issue is the first step towards creating gender equality.
The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the existing gender inequalities globally. It has been found that the female gender is at a much higher risk than males to lose their jobs due to sectoral segregation. Additionally, closed childcare centers and remote education for their children are compelling women to leave their jobs. For example, in the United States, four times more women left their jobs in comparison to men. There is also a rise in the domestic violence rates which has intensified the crises of gender equality.
These indexes indicate the gender gap with respect to four categories including economic participation, health and survival,educational attainment, and political empowerment. It measures female to male literacy rate, estimated sex-selective abortion, number of years the nation had a female head of state, calculated income ratio of female to male in the country, and various other measures.
The Tales from 2012: The indices in the table above indicate the performance of India in 2012. India improved in the gender gap index and showed various improvements in terms of political empowerment. The scores lagged in terms of sex-selective abortion, male to female literacy ratio, and health rankings.
It can be seen that there has not been much improvement in the past eight years, and the pandemic situation has worsened the conditions.
According to Oxfam’s 2020 India Inequality Report, women in India contribute more than 3 billion hours of unpaid care work, contributing to a tune of Rs. 19 trillion a year to the economy. Also, the contribution of women to the GDP is the lowest in the world at 17%. It was also found out that there is also a link between unpaid care work and violence against women. Due to the current pandemic and lockdown conditions, the burden of unpaid care work has increased on women, hence negatively impacting their participation in the workforce.
The Way Ahead
There are specific steps that organisations and individuals can undertake in their day to day tasks to ensure a fair and equal environment for all genders.
1. Stop differentiating, Start Integrating towards an equal world
Usually, in our day to day life, we stereotype different genders. We differentiate among people based on their genders, judge their capabilities, and make decisions using our preconceived notions. Generally, people do not look at the bigger picture of gender equality, impact businesses, embrace balance in society, and reduce issues faced by various genders in the dominant male world. As a society, we need to give equal opportunities to all genders in our community.
2. Create a gender-inclusive culture with inclusive facilities
Inclusivity doesn't mean admitting or employing people to an organization; instead, inclusivity is a part of belongingness which is the third factor of Maslow’s hierarchical model which shows its prime importance in any person’s life. It makes people feel they belong to a group or a place, thus improving their mental health. Along with inclusive minded culture we need inclusive facilities that include equal pay for equal work, infrastructure facilities like washrooms, etc.
3. Think before using gendered languages
Gendered language is one of the hidden factors towards creation of gender biases in human minds. When a person is called a ‘gossiper,’ he or she is unconsciously related to femininity similarly when a person is called ‘aggressive,’ he or she is related to masculinity. This makes people conscious of their behavior. This bias has created a need for an evolved brain, where understanding a person is the fundamental basis of differentiation instead of gendered languages or pronouns.
4. Confidentiality is the key to trust, and thus access to people
Disclosing information about themselves should be the right of every individual, irrespective of their gender. Allowing people to talk freely about their gender, their lives or anything sharable to their organization and expecting them to keep safe is another essential part of inclusivity, safety, and equality.
5. Diversity and sensitivity training for employees
Diversity training at the corporate level will help establish an inclusive culture from the grass-root level and sensitize employees about the numerous gender identities and expressions. Organizations should encourage employees to call out discriminatory behaviour respectfully and make others understand what kind of actions are considered insensitive and/or offensive as employees may engage in such behaviours unknowingly.
Organizations, as well as our societies, need to work on bringing in gender equality. Today, the definition of gender has broadened to become an umbrella and the goal is to include all of them. But the truth is that we are still struggling with bringing gender equality for women in our workplace to date. The situation for transgenders is even weaker here.
The time is not to make jumps in terms of workplace inclusivity, but leaps.That being said, some organizations as well as individuals are making visible change and impact that shows us that we are on the right track. We need to encourage more such initiatives and ramp up our efforts to ensure that all genders get equal opportunities and feel equally comfortable at workplaces, without facing any kind of discrimination.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_equality
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/canadas-new-pm-scores-major-points-for-gender-equa/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_inequality_in_India
https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics/SSE1112.pdf
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_pay_gap_in_India
http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/GII
https://www.accenture.com/_acnmedia/PDF-120/Accenture-Corporate-Citizenship-Report-2019.pdf
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