In countries like India, gender inequality and discrimination are rooted in the culture. Family as a social institution plays an influential role in moulding the thought process of a child. Socialization through gender norms, values and stereotypes start from home. The moment a child is born, gender roles are assigned according to the biological sex of the child.
Sadly, this also defines how the child will receive opportunities and resources. Societal gender norms operate in a binary, pushing non-binary people to the periphery. These assigned gender labels also come with expected gender roles and stereotypes. For example, in many societies, it is assumed that women should be demure and docile.
1. Girl Child And Educational Preference
In a patriarchal society like ours, boys are preferred over girls because it is believed that they will be the breadwinners of the family. This translates to education too. Few studies have shown that school dropout rates in India have increased over the years because of patriarchal beliefs as well as the kind of abuse girls experience in their schools.
2. Unpaid And Unequal Domestic Labour
People have been conditioned to believe that women must be the ones to do household chores. This belief is not only unfair, but it also doesn’t count as formal employment, and this unequal domestic labour is unpaid. Household work is not considered as labour because it is considered as the duty of women!
This has impacted the girls’ education negatively. Apart from studies, girls have to lend a helping hand in housework duties as well. It lessens the time they can put in their schoolwork, which is why many girls drop out of formal education.
Many times, cultural relativism has been used as an excuse to uphold these power relations. Discrimination against girl child when it comes to education is well known. Instead of challenging these unfair norms, people uphold them. I believe it’s important to change mindset rather than to change the schooling pattern for girls.
3. Barriers To Employment
Women’s education level influences their ability to be employed. It is time for the government to look at policies and implement reforms. In India, policies have failed to understand the needs of men and women differently. When it comes to reducing gender inequality, efforts have been quantitative, which assumes that giving each gender the same platform will reduce inequality.
This discards other socio-cultural inequalities among different genders. Structural inequalities like that of class and caste will also have to be taken into consideration. For example, upper-caste women will have better opportunities in terms of education as well as resources for employment as compared to a Dalit woman. These depict the need to evolve policy and interventions at a structural level with an intersectional approach to achieve gender parity.