GENDER DISCRIMINATION

Gender is a composite of socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities and/or attributes that a given society may consider appropriate for people of an assigned sex. Gender identity, like gender, refers to an individual’s personal sense of being female, male, both, or anywhere along the gender spectrum. Gender identity may or may not correspond to the sex assumed or assigned at birth. Meanwhile, gender expression refers to how a person presents their gender. This can include their clothing, mannerisms, pronouns, and names.

Gender discrimination is when there are unfair rights between male and female. It differs because of their gender roles which ultimately leads to unequal treatment in life. Gender discrimination has been around for many centuries. However, as we are evolving, it is time to do away with such notions of gender roles.

Gender discrimination is the practice of treating any gender of the society unfairly. When any person of one particular gender is not given his or her rights, gender discrimination begins. Females of our society are the worst sufferers of this discrimination. It starts from the very birth of a female child, and ends with her death. Our society is dominated by male people.

They think that male child will earn money for the family and female child will do only domestic chores. So, male children always get prominence. they get the highest of the opportunities  available in the families. But, female children are assigned  to household works and are married off as soon as possible. So, they don’t get opportunity to flourish their latent  talent . Some of these girls may be at school but after marriage, they only give birth to children and rear them up. This disparity  causes a great harm to their mentality. they think themselves inferior  to male people. But, for social development both male and female persons should contribute equally because the female people are the half of our whole population. It is not possible for male people to change the socio-economy without the help of female people. This problem can be solved by raising awareness in general.

Gender discrimination means having discriminatory attitude towards male and female. In our society females are deprived of and neglected in every sphere of life. They are often victims of exploitation, torture and murder. This happens because of the gender discrimination or disparity for which mostly the females are responsible. It is one of the main barriers to the socio-economic development of the country.

Poverty, illiteracy, ignorance and superstition can be attributed to gender discrimination. This discrimination is observed in different spheres of women life. Actually, it takes its shape from the very beginning of a girl’s life i.e. the birth of a girl is not welcomed cordially. Besides, parents show their indifference to educate them. The money that is spent for their education is treated as wastage. On the other hand, a male child is taken proper care, food and nutrition. They are supposed to support the family economically and female children are given in marriage early. Moreover, girls are not usually allowed to go out of home without the parents’ permission and male escort. They grow up in a kind of confinement within four walls. They are assigned to household works. They do not get the opportunity to flourish their latent talent.

But we must realize that both male and female members of the society are equally important for the development of a country. By undermining their potentialities we are actually lagging behind. We all have to come forward to raise consciousness among the people about the role of women in the development activity. For example, there is a common scenario in our country that they don’t give any opportunity to the women for higher education or to build their own career. When a married-women is not given any opportunity, permission to build her own career or to build her own identity even if the bride is as qualified as the groom. Moreover, pragmatic steps should be taken to upgrade their economic condition. With this end in view we all have to come forward to remove every kind of social bars that stand in the way of the advancement of the women folks of our society. For instance, especially in our country, at the very early stage of childhood, they have watched a cartoon named “Meena Cartoon” where gender discrimination has been highlighted effectively as the family members gives more priority to the boy(raju) in terms of food, education, health and so on. On the other hand, they restrain their daughter from education and healthy foods and engage her into household words. Because one day that girl will marry any man and would be dependent on him, where she would not have any opportunity to build her own identity and so they think that educating a women or empowering a women with knowledge is a waste of money.

Gender discrimination is a great curse to a society. It still prevails in our society. Gender discrimination means the preference for one sex, depriving the other. In our country, we prefer male sex, depriving the female. The socio-economic set- up is responsible for gender discrimination. People discriminate between boys and girls as they think that boys are suited to add to the family income but girls are not. They also think that their sons will help them in their old age but their daughters will leave for other families as in-laws. Due to gender discrimination, daughters are not sent to schools and soon they are married off before their maturity. On the other hand sons are sent to school. Dowry is claimed from the parents of the daughter. After marriage the girl is tortured or divorced for nonfulfillment of dowry. These are the major fields of gender discrimination in our country. The social effects of such discrimination are acute. For it, many girls suffer from inferiority complex which hampers the flourish of their personality. It affects their children and next generations. It is a great loss. Some effective steps can be taken to remove gender discrimination from our social system. Among these, ensuring female education, creating mass awareness, avoiding social dogmas are very important. An equal earning opportunity should be ensured for women.

Gender discrimination refers to the difference between male and female in respect of enjoying human rights. In Bangladesh, this evil practice is found in almost all sectors of life. Some parents possess a negative attitude towards girl children. They usually expect boy children. So, when a girl is born, she is not welcomed by her parents. Thus, this discriminatory treatment begins from the seen that sisters are given less food as compared to their brothers. Even they are given less costly dress. Many parents do not send their female children to school because they think that it is a waste of money to spend for girls. Besides, many parents marry their daughters off quite earlier. 

Moreover, girls are not usually allowed to go out of home without the parents’ permission and male escort. Thus, they grow up in a kind of confinement within four walls. Finally, we can say that females are facing discrimination everywhere in life and we should create awareness among people to free our society from this course.