“Shatter the shackles of patriarchy’’

Smash stereotypes, break inequality, reject discrimination,

Embrace Gender equity

About 12 million girls are born in India every year. 4 million die in their 1st yr. Every 6th girl child’s death is due to gender discrimination.

On this International Women’s Day, Let us celebrate and rejoice in the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women all over the world.

Women are strong, powerful and invincible. Women are rising above societal hurdles each and every single day.

The progress made over the decades to combat gender discrimination is genuinely remarkable. Historically pivotal revolutions like the Suffrage movement have been the foundation for women’s rights activism today.

International Women’s Day was earlier called International Working Women’s Day where women marched through New York every year on 8 March to fight for equal rights — work hours, better pay and more.

“In the early 1900s, oppression and inequality pushed women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change. At the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen in 1910, Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year in every country, there should be a celebration on the same day to press for change.

International Women’s Day was born in the conference of more than 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties and working women’s clubs.

Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias against women that is still existing, which makes it difficult for women to move ahead. It is crucial to be aware that bias still exists and action is needed to level the playing field.

GENDER BIAS DEFINITION

Gender bias is the tendency to prefer one gender over another. It is a form of unconscious bias, or implicit bias, which occurs when one individual unconsciously attributes certain attitudes and stereotypes to another person or group of people. These ascribed behaviors affect how the individual understands and engages with others.

Examples of Gender Discrimination

Gender Gap in wages

Developing and developed countries have faced this social issue, although to varying degrees. Women in developed countries still face social hindrances owing to the gender — wage gap — a phenomenon that will still take 188 years to even up, according to the World Economic Forum.

Women also have fewer responsibilities and are given fewer rewards for their work.

Glass ceilings

Can male and female employees climb equally high on the ladder of opportunity?

If not, why? What makes a male or female better qualified to climb higher in the companies? If there is no justifiable reason for this, that glass ceiling needs to be removed. Each employee, regardless of gender, should have the same opportunity. All things being equal, men and women should be able to reach as high as possible, given their skills and performance.

Positional bias

What makes a woman better suited to be a secretary or receptionist? Why shouldn’t a man fill that position?

This type of gender bias is rampant in all types of businesses. Come out of the stereotype nightmare. If you get a male and female applying for the same position–be it secretary or security–hire them based on who you believe can perform best based on skills and past experience, not gender.

Be open to men working in roles traditionally filled by women and women placed in positions typically held by men.

Terminations

What are your reasons for terminating an employee? The termination of employees needs to be handled without bias. Rules and policies should apply for both genders–across the board.

Restrictions on Clothing
Upon the pretext that women should not ‘flaunt their beauty,’ women in many conservative communities have to wear a dress which covers the whole body and are loose-fitting when they out to public places

Sexual harassment

There is a reason why companies have had to implement policies regarding sexual harassment. There are no circumstances where sexual harassment should be permitted.

Honor Killing
This deplorable practice revolves around the hidebound idea that girls have to uphold the supposed ‘cachet’ of their families and abide by the patriarchal demands of society. Honor killing is largely attributed to the poor education system and ineffective government legislation among rural communities.

Female Infanticide
Unfortunately, this practice is rather prevalent among rural communities in India, Pakistan and China. Boys are thought to galvanize the financial security of the family, while women are treated as burdens and often seen only as child-bearers and caretakers of the household. In some regions, there are as low as 300 girls for every 1,000 boys.

Lack of Legal Rights
This form of gender discrimination is ubiquitous in many countries. From child custody and rape laws, this broad term encompasses many aspects where women are not given enough legal counsel. Spousal rape is not criminalized in many countries and complaints lodged with the police never materialize. In many countries in the Middle East, divorce laws are very weak. The evidence is often not admissible in court and eyewitnesses are always required for cases to be considered.

“We can break the bias in our communities. We can break the bias in our workplaces. We can break the bias in our schools, colleges and universities. Together, we can all break the bias — on International Women’s Day (IWD) and beyond

Let us all pledge to break the Gender Bias and embrace Gender equity