Gender Equality Will Remain Lofty Dream in Pakistan

GENDER EQUALITY WILL REMAIN LOFTY DREAM IN PAKISTAN
The topic revoles around the inequality of rights of every person,if a men or a women are considered to be equal them their rights are also exactly same.

Because being equal is to be recognized as fully equal in every aspects of life .Its true that both gender have differences but should be equally valued.

Equally rights are extremely importan in every factor .Because we want to be same it is also fair .

Now we would talk about the gender equlity will remain lofty dream in pakistan .Present condation of our country proves this statement .Gender inequality is exist everywhere.U can see it in ur daily life .Ur day start from travelling and if u travel from bus ,u wil face inequality overthere .there is less portion for the women than men ,infact most of the time women portion is ful of men .If we talk about the uni points it is totally different situation ,there is less portion for the men.

But in pakistan women are face more problems as compare to men b/c pak is called the socity of men .Women have to face alot of problemsevery field of life .Not only outside but also in our home.Many families who are illatrate ,they differentiate b/w girls and boys but many latrate families also behave like illatrate people.A women has been faceing many problems since her childhood sametime as daughter,sometime as sister ,sometime as ,sametime as wife or sametime as daughter in law.

After passing many years the women are still treated in a very inhumane manner.women are not given the respect what they deserve .there is no visiable urge in them to servive for a better life.they are not getting their rights and are killed by the cause of ignorance .There are many people who still don't like women to go out to get education ,to do jobs.Men can't bear the situation that a women holds on them or regulate and and system of job .Women should also work for the progress of the county .

If we talk about our religon so ,our Islam also emphasizes the equality of rights of men and women.HAZRAT MUHAMMAD S.A.W.W gave women the rights of inheritance in both property and wealth.

Fari
What is gender equality?

An important human rights issue, gender equality means equal empowerment and participation for both men and women in all spheres of public and private life. This does not imply that both sexes are the same but rather that they are equal in rights and dignity. As with all human rights, gender equality must be constantly fought for, protected and encouraged.

For more than a hundred and fifty years, the women’s emancipation movement has focused on eliminating the pervasive discrimination experienced by most women and attaining more equal participation of men and women in the life of the community. As a result, the lives of most European women and men today differ considerably from those of a century ago. Key areas of advancement for women are:

• equal access to education

• women entering the labour market in large numbers

• the economic status of women

• distribution of work in the home and childcare

• family structure

• youth culture

• new information and communication technologies.

Although significant progress has been made in terms of gender equality and related attitudes, a number of obstacles to gender equality are still a daily reality in Europe.

What is gender?

Sex and gender are not the same thing. Sex is a biological fact. Almost all human beings are born in one of two biologically differentiated types: a girl or a boy. Gender, on the other hand, is a social condition.

As the World Health Organisation (WHO) explains:

‘Sex’ refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.

‘Gender’ refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.

To put it another way:

‘Male’ and ‘female’ are sex categories, while ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ are gender categories.1

Some examples of sex characteristics:

• Girls will begin to menstruate while boys do not;

• Boys have testicles while girls do not;

• Women will be able to breastfeed a baby but men cannot;

• After puberty most boys develop greater muscle capacity than girls.

Some examples of gender characteristics:

• In Europe, women earn significantly less money than men for similar work;

• In many countries, girls dance more while boys play more football;

• In the whole world, women and girls do more housework than men and boys;

• Boys more often suffer from corporal punishment than girls.

An important part of one’s identity and individuality, gender roles are formed through socialisation. Today, not only the family, school and workplace influence such socialisation, but also the media, including new information technologies, music and films. Both traditional and such new socialising forces serve to preserve and transmit gender stereotypes.

Gender equality is far from being a reality in Europe

Traditional gender stereotypes remain deeply rooted in European culture and manifest themselves in daily practise. As a result, men and women still have unequal opportunities. Britta Lejon, former Minister for Democracy and Youth in Sweden, illustrated in a presentation how this inequality is a reality amongst young people in Europe:

• Young men earn approximately 20% more than young women;

• When young men and women live together, women do twice as much housework as men;

• Very few young fathers take parental leave in countries where it is possible.2

Men continue to take part in many more key decisions than women. In spite of several affirmative measures, women’s political participation is still very low: in Europe only 21% of parliamentarians are woman, ranging from 4.4% in Turkey to 45% in Sweden.3 Because men hold the key roles in politics, in the financial world and in the media, they are able to set the political agenda and the public discourse. In general, men continue to be regarded as the human norm and standard of performance.

Gender stereotypes

Many institutions of society reinforce traditional gender stereotypes. In the media, for example, women predominantly appear as objects of action, as victims and as caretakers, whereas men are usually portrayed as creative, strong, clever and full of initiative. While the media highlights a man’s power and achievement, a woman, even an accomplished woman, is usually first evaluated by her appearance. In these ways the media, which includes television, radio, schoolbooks, children books, magazines, films and many forms of electronic communication, preserve and transmit stereotypes about men and women.

As with the media, the family, schools and leisure centres also have responsibilities for reinforcing gender stereotypes. A recent study shows teachers more often evaluate boys positively if they are dynamic, aggressive, independent, explorative and competitive, while girls often receive positive feedback for being obedient, kind, gentle, passive and positive to the community.4 Because such gender stereotypes are principally formed during school years, many girls are discouraged from taking independent action, from competing and from engaging themselves in the public sphere.5 Girls who do not conform to stereotypical expectations can experience criticism, ostracism and even violence.

Traditional gender stereotypes can hurt boys as well as girls. Stereotypical male expectations of strength and competition often conflict with a boy’s daily experiences such as living in atypical family structures, male unemployment or women’s growing presence in the public sphere. Such conflicts can confuse the development of boys’ gender identity. Boys who do not fit the typical male stereotypes can suffer from bullying, exclusion and discrimination.

QUESTION: To what extent does our community conform to traditional gender stereotypes? How do these stereotypes affect children’s lives? Your life?

Gender-based violence

Gender-based violence is a term that can be used to describe any form of violence, be it physical, sexual, psychological, economic or sociocultural, that has a negative impact on the physical or psychological health, development and identity of a person, and that is the result of gendered-power inequities that exploit distinctions between males and females, among males, and among females. Gender-based violence may affect both men and women, but it disproportionately affects women and girls and, therefore, gender-based violence is often simplified to the term ‘violence against women’.

Gender-based violence is present in every country and cuts across boundaries of culture, class, education, ethnicity and background. For example, statistics show that 12% to 15% of girls and women in Europe face violence in the home every day6. Bullying and sexual harassment towards women are also present in various life settings, including educational institutions and workplaces.

However, of course, gender-based violence affects men as well. For example, boys and men who do not practise traditional ‘male virtues’ face teasing and violence. Similarly, gays and lesbians are also often subject to physical and verbal violence, particularly in schools where children and young people are discovering sexuality.

Gender-based violence poses a serious obstacle to equality between women and men and is a human rights violation. Acts of gender-based violence are generally committed by individuals often close to the victims. State institutions, however, have a key role and responsibility in responding to the victims and working towards the prevention of all forms of gender-based violence. One of the most important human rights instruments in working towards this goal is the United Nations ‘Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’ (CEDAW) which, currently, 185 countries are party to.

According to the United Nations, “The Convention provides the basis for realizing equality between women and men through ensuring women’s equal access to, and equal opportunities in, political and public life – including the right to vote and to stand for election – as well as education, health and employment. States parties agree to take all appropriate measures, including legislation and temporary special measures, so that women can enjoy all their human rights and fundamental freedoms.”7

What is gender education?

Gender education, especially if it addresses both girls and boys, can be a positive force for creating gender equality in modern society. It seeks to change the roles that girls and boys and women and men play in private and public life. By reducing gender stereotypes, gender education assists children in building a genuine civic equality where males and females live in relationships of cooperation and in mutual respect.

Gender education starts with building gender awareness. This means recognizing the negative impacts of gender stereotypes and addressing the inequalities that arise from them.8 The outcome of gender education for girls is greater self-confidence, assertiveness, independence and engagement in the public sphere. The outcome for boys is overcoming fear of failure, learning to be less aggressive, becoming more sociable and responsible and engaging more in the private sphere.

An important function of gender education is to distinguish between facts and beliefs or opinions. By analysing stories or their own activities, children can quickly accept as normal that girls can be boyish and boys can be sensitive and vulnerable. All children need to accept themselves as complex and unique individuals with a wide range of characteristics. Stereotypes and rigid gender expectations can hinder individual development and the realisation of the full potential of both girls and boys.

Gender education is an ongoing process that cannot be limited to specific educational activities. Educators must avoid gender stereotypical activities from early childhood and ensure that girls and boys have the same opportunities for participation and interaction in any activity. Girls should be encouraged to compete in both academics and sports while boys should participate in caring activities. Both sexes should be encouraged to participate in all kinds of activities, e.g. choirs, drama and dance, woodwork, cooking, hiking, and chess. Girls should receive positive feedback on their achievements, and boys for being caring and showing solidarity.

Another important aim of gender education is to help children recognize the social value of traditional female activities, such as motherhood, and characteristics such as caring, attention, cooperation and tolerance. This recognition can lead to genuine partnerships between men and women, which is a key goal of gender education. In this way, children learn that the different contributions of men and women to family and society are equally important and that both men and women have equal rights and responsibilities.

To be effective at gender education, educators must recognize their own gender stereotypes and reflect on their whether their teaching methods, language and interaction with boys and girls reflect the gender equality they are striving to convey.

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What is meant by "gender"?

The term gender refers to the economic, social and cultural attributes and opportunities associated with being male or female. In most societies, being a man or a woman is not simply a matter of different biological and physical characteristics. Men and women face different expectations about how they should dress, behave or work. Relations between men and women, whether in the family, the workplace or the public sphere, also reflect understandings of the talents, characteristics and behaviour appropriate to women and to men. Gender thus differs from sex in that it is social and cultural in nature rather than biological. Gender attributes and characteristics, encompassing, inter alia, the roles that men and women play and the expectations placed upon them, vary widely among societies and change over time. But the fact that gender attributes are socially constructed means that they are also amenable to change in ways that can make a society more just and equitable.

What is the difference between gender equity, gender equality and women’s empowerment?

Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women’s historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity leads to equality. Gender equality requires equal enjoyment by women and men of socially-valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards. Where gender inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged in relation to decision-making and access to economic and social resources. Therefore a critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives. Gender equality does not mean that men and women become the same; only that access to opportunities and life changes is neither dependent on, nor constrained by, their sex. Achieving gender equality requires women’s empowerment to ensure that decision-making at private and public levels, and access to resources are no longer weighted in men’s favour, so that both women and men can fully participate as equal partners in productive and reproductive life.

What is the difference between gender equity, gender equality and women’s empowerment?

Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women’s historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity leads to equality. Gender equality requires equal enjoyment by women and men of socially-valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards. Where gender inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged in relation to decision-making and access to economic and social resources. Therefore a critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives. Gender equality does not mean that men and women become the same; only that access to opportunities and life changes is neither dependent on, nor constrained by, their sex. Achieving gender equality requires women’s empowerment to ensure that decision-making at private and public levels, and access to resources are no longer weighted in men’s favour, so that both women and men can fully participate as equal partners in productive and reproductive life.

What is the difference between gender equity, gender equality and women’s empowerment?

Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women’s historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity leads to equality. Gender equality requires equal enjoyment by women and men of socially-valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards. Where gender inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged in relation to decision-making and access to economic and social resources. Therefore a critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives. Gender equality does not mean that men and women become the same; only that access to opportunities and life changes is neither dependent on, nor constrained by, their sex. Achieving gender equality requires women’s empowerment to ensure that decision-making at private and public levels, and access to resources are no longer weighted in men’s favour, so that both women and men can fully participate as equal partners in productive and reproductive life.

What is the difference between gender equity, gender equality and women’s empowerment?

Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, strategies and measures must often be available to compensate for women’s historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field. Equity leads to equality. Gender equality requires equal enjoyment by women and men of socially-valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards. Where gender inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged in relation to decision-making and access to economic and social resources. Therefore a critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives. Gender equality does not mean that men and women become the same; only that access to opportunities and life changes is neither dependent on, nor constrained by, their sex. Achieving gender equality requires women’s empowerment to ensure that decision-making at private and public levels, and access to resources are no longer weighted in men’s favour, so that both women and men can fully participate as equal partners in productive and reproductive life.

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. Seven Types of Inequality

IT was more than a century ago, in 1870, that Queen Victoria wrote to Sir Theodore Martin complaining about "this mad, wicked folly of 'Woman's Rights'." The formidable empress certainly did not herself need any protection that the acknowledgment of women's rights might offer. Even at the age of eighty, in 1899, she could write to A.J. Balfour, "We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist." That, however, is not the way most people's lives go - reduced and defeated as they frequently are by adversities. And within each community, nationality and class, the burden of hardship often falls disproportionately on women.

The afflicted world in which we live is characterised by deeply unequal sharing of the burden of adversities between women and men. Gender inequality exists in most parts of the world, from Japan to Morocco, from Uzbekistan to the United States of America. However, inequality between women and men can take very many different forms. Indeed, gender inequality is not one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of disparate and interlinked problems. Let me illustrate with examples of different kinds of disparity.

(1) Mortality inequality: In some regions in the world, inequality between women and men directly involves matters of life and death, and takes the brutal form of unusually high mortality rates of women and a consequent preponderance of men in the total population, as opposed to the preponderance of women found in societies with little or no gender bias in health care and nutrition. Mortality inequality has been observed extensively in North Africa and in Asia, including China and South Asia.

(2) Natality inequality: Given a preference for boys over girls that many male-dominated societies have, gender inequality can manifest itself in the form of the parents wanting the newborn to be a boy rather than a girl. There was a time when this could be no more than a wish (a daydream or a nightmare, depending on one's perspective), but with the availability of modern techniques to determine the gender of the foetus, sex-selective abortion has become common in many countries. It is particularly prevalent in East Asia, in China and South Korea in particular, but also in Singapore and Taiwan, and it is beginning to emerge as a statistically significant phenomenon in India and South Asia as well. This is high-tech sexism.

KAMAL KISHORE/REUTERS

A woman worker in New Delhi.

(3) Basic facility inequality: Even when demographic characteristics do not show much or any anti-female bias, there are other ways in which women can have less than a square deal. Afghanistan may be the only country in the world the government of which is keen on actively excluding girls from schooling (it combines this with other features of massive gender inequality), but there are many countries in Asia and Africa, and also in Latin America, where girls have far less opportunity of schooling than boys do. There are other deficiencies in basic facilities available to women, varying from encouragement to cultivate one's natural talents to fair participation in rewarding social functions of the community.

(4) Special opportunity inequality: Even when there is relatively little difference in basic facilities including schooling, the opportunities of higher education may be far fewer for young women than for young men. Indeed, gender bias in higher education and professional training can be observed even in some of the richest countries in the world, in Europe and North America.

Sometimes this type of division has been based on the superficially innocuous idea that the respective "provinces" of men and women are just different. This thesis has been championed in different forms over the centuries, and has had much implicit as well as explicit following. It was presented with particular directness more than a hundred years before Queen Victoria's complaint about "woman's rights" by the Revd James Fordyce in his Sermons to Young Women (1766), a book which, as Mary Wollstonecraft noted in her A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792), had been "long made a part of woman's library." Fordyce warned the young women, to whom his sermons were addressed, against "those masculine women that would plead for your sharing any part of their province with us," identifying the province of men as including not only "war," but also "commerce, politics, exercises of strength and dexterity, abstract philosophy and all the abstruser sciences."1 Even though such clear-cut beliefs about the provinces of men and women are now rather rare, nevertheless the presence of extensive gender asymmetry can be seen in many areas of education, training and professional work even in Europe and North America.

(5) Professional inequality: In terms of employment as well as promotion in work and occupation, women often face greater handicap than men. A country like Japan may be quite egalitarian in matters of demography or basic facilities, and even, to a great extent, in higher education, and yet progress to elevated levels of employment and occupation seems to be much more problematic for women than for men.

In the English television series called "Yes, Minister," there is an episode where the Minister, full of reforming zeal, is trying to find out from the immovable permanent secretary, Sir Humphrey, how many women are in really senior positions in the British civil service. Sir Humphrey says that it is very difficult to give an exact number; it would require a lot of investigation. The Minister is still insistent, and wants to know approximately how many women are there in these senior positions. To which Sir Humphrey finally replies, "Approximately, none."

(6) Ownership inequality: In many societies the ownership of property can also be very unequal. Even basic assets such as homes and land may be very asymmetrically shared. The absence of claims to property can not only reduce the voice of women, but also make it harder for women to enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even some social activities.2 This type of inequality has existed in most parts of the world, though there are also local variations. For example, even though traditional property rights have favoured men in the bulk of India, in what is now the State of Kerala, there has been, for a long time, matrilineal inheritance for an influential part of the community, namely the Nairs.

K. GAJENDRAN

At a family welfare centre in Tamil Nadu.

(7) Household inequality: There are, often enough, basic inequalities in gender relations within the family or the household, which can take many different forms. Even in cases in which there are no overt signs of anti-female bias in, say, survival or son-preference or education, or even in promotion to higher executive positions, the family arrangements can be quite unequal in terms of sharing the burden of housework and child care. It is, for example, quite common in many societies to take it for granted that while men will naturally work outside the home, women could do it if and only if they could combine it with various inescapable and unequally shared household duties. This is sometimes called "division of labour," though women could be forgiven for seeing it as "accumulation of labour." The reach of this inequality includes not only unequal relations within the family, but also derivative inequalities in employment and recognition in the outside world. Also, the established fixity of this type of "division" or "accumulation" of labour can also have far-reaching effects on the knowledge and understanding of different types of work in professional circles. When I first started working on gender inequality, in the 1970s, I remember being struck by the fact that the Handbook of Human Nutrition Requirement of the World Health Organisation (WHO), in presenting "calorie requirements" for different categories of people, chose to classify household work as "sedentary activity," requiring very little deployment of energy.3 I was, however, not able to determine precisely how this remarkable bit of information had been collected by the patrician leaders of society.