Gender bias displayed in
Parliament itself
Janata Dal
(United) chief Sharad Yadav made a comment in Parliament on dark-skinned South
Indian women, saying that they are ‘as beautiful as their bodies’ and adding
that they ‘know dance’. The question
that arises is why during a debate on the Insurance Bill the member would find
it necessary to drag in a comment about women at all? There was also a time when Sharad Yadav responded to Human Resource
Development Minister Smriti Irani’s criticism with the highly offensive
comment, “I know what you are.” Fresh are the memories of Mr. Mulayam Singh's
comment "Handing death sentence for rape is not fair, boys make mistakes.
When their friendship ends, the girl complains she has been raped."
Most of the
politicians who make these kinds of comments are from most backward states of India.
In those states, governments are just for decoration. It is their illiteracy
that makes them pass these comments and over a period they forget respecting
fellow people. It’s not just the work
place or the parliament that has been used to denigrate women. The course
begins right at the home. Women are treated as objects rather than a human
being with an independent view. Independent women are still a taboo in Indian
society. Tolerance and compromise are synonyms to women and the parochial
society wants them to be like this forever so that their male chauvinist
attitude is not hampered.
How is that when
an 11th standard student posts opinions on a minister known to have ties with
criminals is sent to jail without being given a chance to justify his stance
while so called leaders of our country go about make racial and gender based
insults are given sufficient time to rethink n change statements? This is hypocrisy
at its height. This is equivalent to saying that it’s okay for ministers to say
anything but God forbid if a citizen utters a word of truth, you shall be
punished. It’s letting ministers get
away with stuff like this that keeps our country socially backward. Do they not
realize that their words are heard by a large audience?
Women continue to
get a raw deal in parliament, police stations and court rooms, in workplaces
and homes. Besides laws that address women’s safety, what is urgently needed is
a code of conduct or set of rules that will apply to public officials and
politicians, which can ensure that gender-biased comments and jokes are weeded
out of the public discourse.
Quite a number of
men, including those in responsible positions, do not realise that empowered
women are assets to the family, the society and the nation The empowerment of
women is not about their liberty and development alone it is about their
ability to convert themselves into productive human resource, so that
investment on their education and training and creation of job and
business opportunities to them would
benefit their families and the nation. What is the use of keeping nearly half
the population ignorant, illiterate, unemployed and unproductive. It is high
time we supported them and encouraged them in their efforts to contribute to
family welfare and national income.
To end gender bias
we need to have stringent measures
against wide spread gender selection tests and female infanticide. Then to empower girl child there needs to
be free education for them till college level. People who take dowry should be
penalised. Government needs to do away caste and religion based quotas. A quota
for women in jobs and colleges will lift them from the abysmal conditions.
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