Jargon Free Forum

Gender Inequality

“Gender” is a socio-cultural term referring socially defined roles and behaviors assigned to ‘males’ and ‘females’ in a given society; whereas, the term ‘sex’ is a biological and physiological phenomenon which defines man and woman. In its social, historical and cultural aspects, gender is a function of the power relations between men and women where men are considered superior to women. Therefore, gender may be understood as a man-made concept, while ‘sex’ is the natural or biological characteristics of human beings.

Gender Inequality, in simple words, may be defined as discrimination against women based on their sex. Women are traditionally considered by society as the weaker sex. She has been accorded a subordinate position to men. She is exploited, degraded, violated and discriminated both in our homes and in the outside world. This peculiar type of discrimination against women is prevalent everywhere in the world and more so in Indian society.

Pre-session assessment

The total numbers of participants were 25 children of 11th standard. The following points were discussed with the children in the pre-session assessment: 

Question for all students 

What were your first thoughts when you heard the term "gender inequality"?During the interaction, most of the students were clueless about the concept. Some explained that discrimination between boys and girls in society is called gender inequality. Who believes that girls are gentle and boys are tough? Most of them replied that girls are gentle and boys are tough. While some had different opinions on the matter, most were in favor of the statement. Do men tend to be more logical while women tend to be more emotional? All of them agreed with this statement. Are women shy while men are not, and so on? There was a mixed response to this question. What are the responsibilities of men and women? Some students said that the main responsibility is to respect women, follow social norms, take care of the family, motivate other men to respect women in society, give equal opportunities to their children (regardless of gender), and support women in every situation. Another group of students replied that a woman's responsibility is to pursue higher education, take care of her parents and in-laws, teach her children good life lessons, and keep her family together in difficult situations. How should a girl/boy be? Some students wrote that every boy should respect girls, support weaker girls, avoid having an ego and dependency on others. Other students wrote that a boy should be mentally fit and polite. A girl should participate in every household activity and focus on proper education, while also being fashionable (although some students noted that fashion is not gender-specific).

Activity conducted during the session

Start with boys - #StartWithTheBoys - This film by Vinil Mathew starring Madhuri Dixit for VogueEmpower#StartWithTheBoys tackles the issue of domestic violence from a different perspective. We watch baby boys, raised all their lives to not cry with the phrase "boys don't cry". Cut off from expressing feelings of joy, frustration and fear through tears, is emotionally stunting and can lead to bottling up feelings and dysfunctional behavior. There is nothing wrong with crying, but making someone cry is wrong. Muskan animated movie -  https://youtu.be/9HkIP4YkXu4 - The Short film is a story about a young girl Muskaan who accidentally happens to know that her pregnant mother is being forced to undergo a test to determine the gender of her unborn child, that would be aborted if it turns out to be a girl. Muskaan takes up the challenge to change the mind of everyone in the family and to save them from committing such a horrific and inhumane act. While convincing her family members she breaks many gender biases and notions prevalent in the society that drive people to commit Female Feticides. Meena - Dividing the Mango https://youtu.be/OHaX-_cVEiU - Meena works hard every day but it is Raju, her brother, who is always given the larger portion of food. When Meena and Raju decide to swap jobs for the day, Raju realizes that Meena works very hard and deserves the same share of the food. Raju decides he will help Meena and from now on he will share half and half. The girl story – https://youtu.be/CJAO5MQf05s - Educate a boy and you educate an individual, but educate a girl and you educate a community." Wise words indeed!

Post-session assessment

Where do these thoughts come from? - Some students mentioned that they observe these things in their day-to-day lives. What is their role in their household? - Some groups of girls said that their role at home is to help their mothers with household work and also study, while some groups of boys said that they help with outside work. Some boys said that they also help their mothers with household work, while some girls claimed that they do outside work as well. Are you actually equal? - Some students replied that they are treated equally in their homes. Some girls said that they have equal freedom as their brothers have at home. Some boys said that they do not do any household work as it is considered "women's work". Some students replied that they are not equal as their responsibilities are different.