First Rank - Chaursiya Anita

 Why girls are facing lots of problem in Indian society? 

Why do gender inequality exists? 

It is the biggest question. But we can answer as we are already seeing from medieval time that girls are not getting the equal rights as boys. 

Till now the mind set is not changed. There are lots of things that differentiate boys and girls. Even in this modern time the mindset of people are not good enough. In some areas of India the society don’t like girls who join jobs. 

There is no gender equality in Indian society at all. Most of Indians still differentiate between a boy and a girl. It is not just about girls being treated poorly but also boys are treated inequally than girls. In the middle of the night if a boy enters the home then no one asks him anything, it’s fine. But same time if a girl enters her home then everyone starts to question her. If somebody see a girl walking alone at night then they will either molest her or they will say her prostitute behind her back. 

A few religions are there who worship goddess (female god) and our religion (hindu) is one of them. And in the other hand gender discrimination, gender inequality, female molestation are the major problem of our nation. 

This picture describes how we worship goddesses in one hand in other hand how the people molest them. 

Problems in our society? 

When we talk of boys, there are still many people who feel that a boy is necessary to run the family name in future and a girl being born is looked down upon. Also, a boy is given all freedom and not necessarily taught how to behave with girls. 

A girl getting raped is treated as a culprit as if the rape was her fault. Clothes of girl are blamed but not the crude actions of the rapist who would have raped any girl irrespective of clothes. A full- clothed girl is raped only as much as a girl wearing short clothes is. A 1 month old baby is raped only as much as a 40 year old woman. It is the mentality of the rapist that is to be blamed but unfortunately some ill-minded people blame girls for the same. 

Now, when we talk of a girl’s part, there are many girls and women who even after being at fault are supported by the society blindly just because she is a ablanaari. If a girl slaps a guy, the people support her assuming that it must be the boy’s fault but when a boy hits a girl he is thrashed without even assuming that the girl can be at fault too. In context where if a girl is blaming a boy for misbehaviour, doesn’t necessarily mean the boy is really at fault but the society without even thinking supports the girl without caring to even listen to the guy’s side. Honestly, there are many girls and women who are misusing the rights given to them in the name of getting harassed or molested by men and they lead to blackmail the man and society supporting the woman blindly which traumatizes men to commit suicide. 

Boys and girls both are treated inequally in different scenarios from the childhood itself. Indian society also fails to look upon the harassment a boy/man goes through because of a girl/woman, wherein a girl even being harassed is given limelight just because that is sensitive. Yes, even men are harassed, even men go through pain because of shitty women but no one is bothered to look upon that. 

Gender equality will only take place in India when boys are taught to never look down on a girl and to have respect for her in eyes and to never hit her unless her mistake and when girls are taught to never misuse the rights given to her and to never slap or hit a guy just to get support from the people even when the guy is not at fault and also when our beloved society do not blindly get sympathetic towards a girl without even listening to the boy. 

How can the Indian government ensure gender equality in India? 

Care India has been, for the last several decades, working to empower women and girls from the most marginalized communities across India, enabling them to live secure and resilient lives with dignity. The organization’s primary goal is to work with 50 million women and girls, to help them meet their health, education and livelihood entitlements. 

Over 60% of women, between the ages of 20-24, with no education, were married before 18. Regarding domestic violence, there are several gaps in the implementation of laws at the state level, as 82 % respondents are dissatisfied with the complaint redressed of government institutions such as helplines and police stations. Only 72 % of the stakeholders involved in addressing domestic violence issues were aware of all the various provisions under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. As per other statistics, as of 2012, 40 % of all government schools lacked a functioning common toilet, and another 40 % lacked a separate toilet for girls. 

Women Rights are on it’s height, women have access to almost every sector and society, there has been stricter laws implemented to empower women, Reservations have been provided in almost every government sectors, social media are also completely taking care of empowerment for women. 

Even in Construction sector, companies are now hiring women staff on and off fields. Households are also changed now, wives are working apart from their husbands to support the families. There are women who are persuing studies by working part time jobs. Companies have women in there board member team and also in the positions of C.E.Os. I have seen Women with there own established businesses and consultancies have political parties with powerful women on the forefront (Corrupt or not is a different issue). Indian Army also declared to recruit Women cadets for border securities, rest of the branches have women staffs, even the Air force have women pilots flying our jets now. 

Some tips on how to gender sensitize children: 

1. Fight Gender Stereotypes: Children learn a lot from their immediate surroundings — families, friends, school, neighborhood, media and books. Stereotypes based on gender and its internalization starts at an early age. Children, who grow up in gender-equitable environments, tend to believe in gender stereotypes less than their peers, who grow up in a gender-inequitable environment.

2. Promote Gender Equality At Home: It is important for parents to treat girls and boys equally (food, sports, education, equal celebration at birth, etc.). Parents are the first role models children have. So, if they grow up seeing gender inequality being exercised or tolerated in this relationship, they are more likely to be exposed to negative gender role stereotyping. It is important for parents to share household chores as well as outside chores, participate equally in financial matters, exhibit joint decision making and treat each other with respect. 

3. Talk About Gender Issues With An Age Appropriate Lens: Often, parents try to shield children from incidents related to gender-based violence, but children still get to know of these issues through friends or media exposure. It is important for parents to talk to children about gender-related issues in an age-appropriate manner so that they grow up to be more gender-aware, gender-responsive and respectful. 

4. Imbibe Gender Equality And Respect As Core Values: Mutual respect for all irrespective of their sex, caste, socio-economic status, religion, region and educational status. These are core values which start getting ingrained in young minds from an early age. Hence, it is important to imbibe mutual and unconditional respect, equality and opportunity amongst all to lay a strong foundation for a gender-equal society. 

5. The Right Gender Messaging — Gender Is Not Synonymous With Women And Girls: Gender is often misrepresented as pertaining only to women and girls. It is important to create awareness that society creates gender norms and stereotypes. Gender stereotypes impact all of us, yet affect women, girls and the ‘third gender’ more.

  6. Tap Into Girl And Woman Power: Through knowledge, skills and leadership development of girls and women, we can build a resilient, empowered, and motivated generation. Such a generation will have high aspirations for self and a commitment to gender equality and equity.

  7. Engage With Men And Boys: We all must share responsibility and commitment towards gender equality, not only women and girls. It also should not focus only on women and girls. Engaging with men and boys is equally important and helps in creating an enabling environment for an equitable society.

  8. Gender Sensitize Service Providers: Service providers – whether education, health, financial, or legal – play a significant role in reinforcing gender stereotypes. If we sensitize this group on gender, they can promote positive gender roles and norms, leading to a wider impact. They can also provider gender-sensitive services such as separate toilets in schools for girls. Further, specified areas in public places for young mothers to feed their infants would help a lot. Also, there should be discussions about crèche facilities at workplaces for young mothers who lack support systems.

  9. Celebrate And Promote ‘Positive Deviants’ In Society: Breaking barriers require bold steps by both women and men, paving way for an enabling environment. Recognizing the ‘positive deviants’ in our society like Mary seeta, the geeta Sisters and their father is important. We must promote their stories to motivate others for progressive change. 

10. Media As A Game Changer: All forms of media must promote positive gender role models and equitable gender norms through movies, shows, documentaries, and articles. They can communicate to the masses and have an impact due to the depth of messaging and the reach. 

Example : I happened to come across an instance myself, wherein a family has 2 kids, a boy and a girl of age under 8 to 10 years. Whenever the boy kid hits his sister the parents do not scold him at all but if the girl hits him back, the parents start scolding her that she is never supposed to hit a boy. I was shocked to see that such young kids are not taught the right things by the parents themselves. Instead of telling the boy to never hit a girl unless her mistake and to teach a girl to never bear getting hit by anyone when you are innocent, their parents are teaching them the wrong thing. There are many such people who still follow the pathetic thinking of boy being superior to girls and it is a shame. 

Conclusion : At last I would like to say that we all are humans no one is superior or inferior. To build up a good society or country the women are much necessary as men, remember that. There is a need to be more aware of the challenges women and girls in our country still face, and what we, as a society, can do to make a more a gender-sensitive environment, bust stereotypes, and make our children, whether boys or girls, more gender-friendly.