Fem-anger-Unfold-021
Introduction
India is dominated by the ideology of patriarchy. Patriarchy is a system which is the violence of freedom, equality and basic human rights. It is deliberate that the cause and the surviving of the patriarchy are by that privilege group. The first group of people that gender bias is going to affect is the one growing up around these stereotypes.
Bias by Birth
The first and foremost bias faced by women is regarding their birth. The major wrong key here is that boys are seemed useful and easy to carry then a girl child, because nobody wants to take the stress and fear. In short, the fathers are afraid of other’s fathers. It is all about their disappointment about the girl child’s expenses from education to dowry. And the questions that they need to face in their life until their daughter is handed over to her husband. Such as “how you are going to raise a girl child in this modern society?”, “you better plan for another child, hopefully that will be a boy child.”
In India, men are granted all the rights to inherit the family name and possessions, and they are seen as a pillar of the family. They find their boy child would bring them an additional source of work and income.
Bias by Religion
As there are some religious practices or rituals for their parents after their death, the bias is hot and cold. Then obviously the dowry system is an added privilege to the male such as gold, car, land and all the household items at the marriage period. All these factors contribute to the bias of not wanting a girl child in every family. This bias can be seen through many ways, like the gender roles mentioned in the holy books. There is still female foeticide on finding the unborn is female. Some religious rituals are never supporting and never accepting women’s power and their accountability. First of all, there are more restrictions and formalities for women than men in any religion.
Bias by Education
The bias in education is seen globally. Education of girl children is very compared to boy children, even though the literary rate is being high about girl children, yet it is not equal to those of boy children. This type of bias is seen because; the Indian people’s mindset is filled with the toxic thought that educating a girl child will be wastage of money. And spending for their education, they are practiced to think about the expenses they meet on their marriage time. They believe it as an investment when they educate a boy child, so that it would be resourceful. These toxic practices make the society to believe and accept women only as housewives, caretakers, maids and mothers etc.
Gender bias in the workplace
When it comes to workplace, the gender bias can happen from employing to treating. Mainly women face more challenges from all the grounds in the workplace, which distressed women and their careers.
Many recruiting approaches are biased, which can be from where and how people recruit candidates. The officials and the HRs are purposefully posting vacancy as open roles on platforms by actively boarding men through ads.
Even the job description contains the insensible gender bias. Most of the job descriptions have more necessary or strict requirements that eventually weed out women from applying the roles.
The interviewers ask questions that can be biased based on the candidate’s personality and gender. The HRs also asks female candidates about their parental plans and responsibilities.
Even when the female candidates passed the entire interview rounds, they select male candidates predominantly. This is for the reason that they believe that by a support for a family, because people are considering a woman’s salary as the secondary income in the family.
Gender bias in compensation and rewards
The compensation and rewards now days reflect gender bias which compares men and women with the same jobs and the same qualifications.
In fact, by the gender pay gap women are segregated to low-paying jobs and are not able to shift the high-paying positions due to bias in the industries. When considering the compensation and rewards, the officials prefer men than women, where women are not appreciated to perform higher roles.
Bias in allowances and benefits
The benefits and allowances companies and industries offer are seriously being biased among genders. In simple, when it is compared the working parent (women) with the single mother or a widow, the benefits will be applicable in high status. Because they believe that by paying bonus to a single mother will be helpful for her family that is the primary income. But when it comes for a woman as a working parent her salary will be the secondary source in the family. The patriarchal mindset results in giving incentives and bonuses to men workers than women workers because of their patriarchal mindset . The so called patriarchal mindset where a man or the eldest man in the family will be the head of the family. All these factors contribute the gender bias even in the perks and the benefits given by the company or the institution.
Gender bias in opportunities
Cook but not chef
Gender bias can be found in some common roles in this patriarchal society. Such as, women are considered as cooks in the families, but roles like chefs in restaurants are highly subjugated by men and their performance as we watched in the Tamil movie: Annapoorani.
Wife but not Therapist
Gender bias stereotypes nursing and therapy roles in the medical and psychology fields as women’s work, despite the fact that both men and women may be suitable for these works.
Home maker but not an egghead
In politics, the parliament is heavily dominated by the men. There are very few reservations that appreciate women participate in the parliamentary discussions. In the military sector, women are not encouraged. They never allow them to have combat roles because that all are reserved for men, as considering their physical strength. Women also considered low in every family when it comes to the medical benefits. In patriarchal society, women are expected to be a home makers yet intelligent women are often discouraged.
Bias in property rights
As the statistics and a research shows, there is an absolute lack of awareness among women about their property rights.
In every conservative to modern family, some women are getting property as per their rights today where some are not. Even in the former case, women get only 60% as a complementary and as an add-on for those laws and rights but not as a “right to property” taboo, when it is compared to men.
Despite government laws, women still face prolonged delays in obtaining their rightful property rights.
Conclusion
To stop the gender bias in the society, we must rejoice at a girl. Women should learn to be self-sufficient when they grow up. They should be alert about the rights and laws in this patriarchal society. Both men and women belong to the same society & same family. For women, despite the fact that there is still long way to overcome the N number of difficulties and battles.
-Writer.Jerl.
(Contents are Authoress’ own)