Hiliary Clinton has rightly said,”Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world.”
Today we see more and more women coming out of the four walls of their home and participating in public activities. They are doing the jobs which were earlier believed to be reserved for men. Now women are engineers,doctors, advocates, astronauts etc.
Recently they have been granted permanent commission in the Indian Army enabling them to be deployed at the borders and fight equally as their male counterparts.
In Spite of this there is still a long way to go ,women still face discrimination at workplace, they are sexually harassed and time and again forced to prove their worth and prove that they have got this job on their merit and not because they are women.
Forms of gender-based discrimination at workplace:
Direct forms- These direct forms of discrimination are the visible ones. They involve unequal pay where female employees are paid less than the male employees. Then there is the case of restrooms, women especially in the unorganised sector face sanitation problems making them work for long hours without relieving themselves. Women are stereotypically offered positions like HR, receptionists and very rarely they are given the position of a team lead. Most common of this the termination of the women when they speak up against or complain about the sexual harassment.
Indirect forms- These may not be visible but they takes place more than the direct forms of discrimination. We hear a lot of cases where sexist questions are asked from women in the interview. They are often questioned about how they would manage their personal and professional lives, if they are married and have children then they may not even be offered the job. These same questions are however asked from men in the interview. Women also become the victims of sexist jokes,comments on their dressing , obscene statements that show how their dressing affects their productivity.
Some reasons identified behind this discrimination is the patriarchal attitude of people that the only work a women can do is the taking care of her family.Also there is this attitude of seeing women as an object of male satisfaction rather than an equal participant in the economy.
Hence the need of the hour is to change the patriarchal mindset of people. The successful women leaders like Mrs.Indira Gandhi the 1st woman PM of India, Indira Nooyi CEO of Pepsico , Jacinda Arden PM of New Zealand among others have proved the spokespersons of patriarchy wrong.
Swami Vivekanand has rightly said,”it is impossible to think of the welfare of a nation , without improving the condition of its women.It is impossible for a bird to fly with one wing.”
Eduindex News 