Gender Inequality

Gender inequality is when individuals of different genders are not treated equally such as not giving equal rights,  responsibilities and opportunities in a society.

Gender inequalities are experienced by all genders but we often talk about the gender discrimination experienced by girls and women and less spoken about men.

Moreover , gender discrimination is not just confined to one society but is evident in almost all parts of the world.

Before digging deep into causes and effects and ways to minimize or preventing gender inequalities it is better to  understand the difference between the two terms sex and gender.

Sex and Gender

Gender and sex are not the same .However , people have misinterpreted these two terms and have been using these two concepts interchangeably.

• Sex is a determined by the physical characteristics that an individual exhibit at birth.

• Gender is a socially constructed role which encompasses one’s identity, behavior, expressions and societal role.

Sex is assigned at birth and it is what you find in your birth certificate. Gender identity is one’s inner feelings of whether he/she is a male or a female or neither. It is not essentially a must for an individual to have  the  gender  as same as the sex assigned at birth. In other words, the gender identity of an individual can be as same as his/her sex or not (transgender). 

Causes and Effects of Gender Inequalities

Gender inequalities is when genders are not treated equally. So what might be the causes for gender discriminations? Here are some of the main causes for gender inequalities.

• Sexism
• Lack of employment equality 
• Job segregation
• Lack of legal protection
• Racism

In Sri Lanka, gender discrimination is quite often observed. When it comes to transgender discrimination is highest in Sri Lankan societies as such gender transformations are not accepted by most people in our societies. Such transgender individuals spend difficult lives amidst many unbearable comments from the society.

Most individuals mainly girls and women face gender inequalities. Gender discrimination is mainly because of the gender prejudices and beliefs held by most individuals that males are more equipped than females. It is mostly based on this belief that division of jobs and labour happen among individuals thus causing women entitled to less recognized jobs and positions in jobs. In patriotic societies, a male dominant society, women are given less chance to engage in activities that she wishes and capable of rather women are forced to be housewives or caretakers of their children. This concept where one gender is thought to be superior than another is called sexism and considered as the root cause of gender inequality.

One starts experiencing gender discriminations usually from childhood .For instance, when we say boys like blue and girls like pink and then discriminating a boy who likes pink or girl who likes blue. In countries like India and Bangladesh girls from poor families experience gender discrimination in education, child marriage and pregnancy, sexual violence, harassments and unrecognized domestic work.

Gender norms impose codes of masculinity and femininity and notions of what the appropriate behavior and code of conduct for man and women is. Gender norms create gender stereotypes and it play a central role in shaping women’s and men’s professional achievements . For example, believing that women are weak, shy, less equipped and emotional than men hinders the chances of women to get into higher positions in their carrier and also cause wage gaps. However, now women have started to dominate higher positions of employment and to earn a fair income for their work thus dismantling beliefs based on comparison of the capabilities of men and women. A Stanford University study says that  gender stereotypes are promoted by parents and teachers.

 Gender Stereotyping (Blue blocks for males and pink blocks for females)

An individual who is affected by gender inequalities is more likely to lose mental and physical well-being and it has even become the reason for some suicide cases.

A Gender Just Society

Are you living in a gender just society? In my opinion, still there is no such gender just society in this world. It is because it is rather difficult to demolish the gender prejudices, social norms, cultural and racial beliefs held against genders. Therefore, it is difficult to create a gender just society. However, we require a gender just society for all gender identities to live peacefully without any conflicts. The most convenient way to think of creating a gender just society is to think of ways to minimize gender inequalities. 

Following are 3 principles stated in the book 'The Future of Gender' which can be implemented to minimize gender inequalities in a society .

• To make the capabilities of men and women the same and making the only inequality between men and women as sex differences that are not gender differences and which cannot be rectified by human interventions.
• To structure the  constraints on the choice of capabilities not considering morally irrelevant characteristics such as gender .
• To make the payoffs gender unbiased .

Simply a gender just society is a gender balanced working society where individuals are free to choose their career to suit their capabilities and have no wage gaps based on gender.

In conclusion, implementing the three principles for a gender just society would be much difficult but if we believe justice is an important social good we will have to strive for a future with less gender injustice.