2. What Is Gender Discrimination?
Gender discrimination means
discrimination based on a person's gender
or sex, which more often affects girls and
women. Because of gender discrimination,
girls and women do not have the same
opportunities as boys and men for education,
meaningful careers, political influence, and
economic advancement.
3. Gender Discrimination In Indian
Society
In India, discriminatory attitude towards men
and women have existed for generations and
effect the lives of both genders. Although the
constitution of India has granted men and
women equal rights, gender disparity still
remains. Gender discrimination violates
human rights. These are mostly seen in family
land sharing among sisters and brothers.
4. Few Points About Gender
Discrimination In Indian Society:-
Birth:-The cultural construct of Indian
society which reinforces gender bias
against men and women, with varying
degrees and variable contexts
against the opposite sex, has led to
the continuation of India’s strong
preference for male children.
5. Childhood to adulthood and its
education:-
Education is not wise attained by Indian women.
Although
literacy rates are increasing, female literacy rate lags
behind
the male literacy rate.
Literacy Rate Census of India 2011,
Literacy for females stands at 65.46%, compared to 82.14%
for males. An underlying factor for such low literacy rates are
parents' perceptions that education for girls are a waste of
6. Gender Pay Gap In India:-
.
Gender pay gap in India refers to the difference in earnings
between women and men in the paid employment and labor
market. For the year 2013, the gender pay gap in India was
estimated to be 24.81%. A report by the World Economic Forum
highlights that in the corporate sector in India, a woman is paid
only one-third of what a man in the same position is paid.
Further, while analyzing the level of female participation in the
economy, this report slots India as one of the bottom 10 countries
on its list. Thus, in addition to unequal pay, there is also unequal
representation, because while women constitute almost half the
Indian population (about 48% of the total), their representation in
the work force amounts to only about one-fourth of the total.
7. Causes For Gender Pay Gap:-
Equal pay for equal work. It sounds so reasonable,
it’s hard to believe that in 2016, we’re still talking
about the gender pay gap. And yet the fact remains
that there is no country in the world where women
earn the same as men.
One of the arguments used to explain – and
sometimes justify – this stubborn gap is the idea of
choice. Women simply choose to study less lucrative
subjects, enter lower-paying professions and stay
towards the bottom rungs of the career ladder. While
these choices might give them shorter working hours
8. Occupational segregation:-
The rate of female participation in the paid labor market
is generally low, and is primarily concentrated in rural
areas in the agricultural sector.
In rural north India, it has been observed that labor is
divided sharply on the basis of gender. Certain activities
in agriculture have been assigned specifically to
women, like drying and storing the grain, while other
tasks like plowing and harvesting are only performed by
men.
Women's participation is also higher in light industries
and the unorganized sector, where the wages are
usually lower. Since it is estimated that about 94% of
working women participate in the unorganized labor
sector, this further contributes to the existing pay gap.[
9. Education and training:-
The literacy rate for women in India is far lower than the
rate for men, and it has been observed that many girls
drop out of school and fail to fully complete their
education.
Investment in education and training has also been
strongly in favor of men as they are brought up with the
expectation of being bread earners, and hence this
investment is considered necessary for their success,
while women are instead viewed as "future homemakers"
for whom education may not be as essential.
In the skilled labor market, it has also been observed that
male workers are more likely to undergo longer periods of
skills training, as women are often responsible for
childcare and domestic unpaid work and hence do not put
in the same number of hours as men.[6]
10. By State:-
State
Women's
earnings as a
percentage of
men's earnings
Bihar 63%
Chhattisgarh 48%
Assam 48%
Himachal
Pradesh
45%
Rajasthan and
Kerala
44%
Uttarakhand on the
other hand is the state
with the lowest
percentage of gender
pay gap, with females
earning only 9% less
than men. Punjab and
Uttar Pradesh are also
states with a lower
gender pay gap,
following with 10% and
15%, respectively
12. How to Overcome this Problem
When countries are able to raise the female labor
participation rate, this stands to benefit the entire
economy. Apart from potential GDP growth, equal
employment opportunities for women could also
result in increased growth and profitability in the
private sector.It is also important to note that women
in India perform 9.8 times the amount of labor in the
unpaid sector either through household duties or
care work. If this work was measured and valued, it
was estimated by McKinsey that it would contribute
0.3 trillion dollars to India’s total economic output.