The mathematical sign equals to (=) may solve many numerical problems but it fails to solve the basic problem of human rights and gender equality which still has a long way to go.
In India especially we see that the gender bias starts right at conception and continues on beyond marriage and motherhood. This bias is primarily stigmatized by society that has been conditioned into thinking that women are inferior in all aspects to men and thus are undeserving of equal rights.
Right to education, right to vote, right to equal pay are still unheard of in many parts of the country. And if we want India to be free of such prejudice, education is the key. Children need to be desensitized from gender bias and accept the fundamental fact that everyone deserves equal opportunity in life.
The seeds of such awareness need to be sown at home first and then schools. Apart from school, children spend most of their time with their families. Family members become the primary role models whom children emulate. However up to adulthood most children spend more time at an educational facility rather than home. Therefore, it is imperative to create gender sensitization awareness not only at home but also in school. Some of the ways in which we can facilitate this are
Mutual Respect- Both mother and father must respect each other at all levels, be it parenting, running the household or working outside. Father’s must not undermine the role of stay at home moms in running the household and mother’s must not undermine the role fathers play in raising their children despite being at work most day. Also now with nuclear families and both parents working, it is important for both husband and wife to share the household duties and set an example that no job is too small or too big and no job comes with a gender tag. Fathers can cook and mothers can pay the bills and vice versa.
No Work is Gender Specific- The only work that is gender specific is procreation, rest everything depends on aptitude and ability. Growing up in a family where all women of the house were equal contributors towards earning a livelihood and men extended their share of help in the kitchen, I have experienced this simple truth first hand; no work is gender specific. My father was very fond of cooking and my mother was very savvy with finances. My uncles were engineers and as clichéd as it may sound my aunts, doctors. Yet the striking point here is that there was equal opportunity for education for all. This however is still obsolete in some parts of the country. Social awareness is much needed in this regard. And what better way than inculcating this sensitization in schools.
My daughter’s social studies text books still shows pictures of policeman, pilot and postman as male and nurse, teacher as female. About time we revised these stereotypes in our books and create a shift in the mindset of children. Anyone can be anything, a female pilot, a male nurse and even a female postwoman (this word comes up as a spelling error, ironic isn’t it).
Education has the power to transform the outlook of children from gender bias to gender equality. Provided they are given the opportunity for education. We need to work at grassroots level and encourage low income families to consider their girl child an equal benefactor.
The third gender- Transgender or Hijras as they are called here in India have been living a life of beggars for generations. They are considered taboo and are forced to live a life of shame. The gay and lesbian community follows the same protocol. The only difference being that you can’t hide your identity as a transgender but you can as a gay/lesbian. As society is seeing a new wave of the emergence of the third gender, we need to move ahead with times as well. If men and women deserve equal opportunity and equal rights, so do them.
Educating older children about third gender and their biological need to be so would perhaps spark a ray of light in their dark tunnel like lives. They are as human as the other two genders and deserve their rightful place in life, be it socially or in the work place.
Gender sensitization is imperative to the growth of our country where men, women and others are equal contributors and equal recipients of the right to chose, vote, oppose, and just live with dignity. It’s about time we change our dogmatic train of thought to a little more pragmatic! Only then will Robert Recorde’s equal to (=) sign bring justice to the He=She equation
