India is always known to be a nation with a patriarchal society as its core. For centuries, women have been oppressed in the name of traditions. They were always stopped from taking bigger roles in the way a society functions. But today, the scenario is changing – gradually and for good. They have become leaders and opinion makers, who are given the respect they have always deserved but were denied for ages.
The nation is progressing and it has been accepted that if women are empowered, it will always lead to glorious results. With such societal changes, come opinions, and with opinions, arise questions. While ladies out there are taking up roles, which were earlier restricted to men, there has been a new debate in picture for a long time now. Do we need reservations for women at work in India?
There has been a huge divide between the thoughts on this matter. Instead of sticking to one opinion and closing our mind to the rest, let’s have a brief look at the benefits as well as drawbacks of work-based reservations for women.
Pros
Work reservations for women help in bridging the gender pay gap, which is commonly prevalent in workplaces all across the country. This happens despite the presence of defined laws for equal pay. With the help of a reserved spot for the females at work, it can be easier to remove the unfair practice of salary discrimination.
If work roles are defined under a proper reservation system, it’ll be easier for women to fight against the common perceived notions of the society. They can be even more confident than ever in taking up responsibilities they can easily handle but are now allowed to.
Not only this, but such reservations can also help us change the regressive mind-set of a society that considers marriage to be the prime objective of a woman’s life.
Cons
While there are many advantages of creating professional reservations for women, it has its own drawbacks too. When an affirmative action as such is taken in an organisation, it can have several repercussions. If a higher position or promotion is in picture, then it might lead to a negative change in the attitude towards the woman involved.
Another disadvantage of reservation is that some women can find it offensive to be given a privilege, thinking that it was provided after considering them weaker. It makes them bad feeling that people might assume their success to be a result of an advantage they had over the opposite sex.
Conclusion
The topic is quite sensitive and it’s really difficult to take sides, as doing so might make you stand against someone without any ulterior motive. In a country with drastic social and economic diversities, it is definitely a challenge to find a common solution. However, implementing reservations or not completely depends on the way things are tried and tested. The permutations and combinations will only help us achieve the best results without creating any sort of discrimination towards any group.
