False notions of gender roles should be corrected early

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Synopsis: In order to encourage gender equality-related transformation in society, it is necessary to intervene at the school level.

Introduction 

Recently a 24-year-old woman who was believed of being harassed for dowry, died tragically recently. It reveals a lot about the situation of women’s empowerment in our culture.

• 7,115 deaths were recorded in dowry-related cases in 2019. It is nearly 20 women every day, according to the records of India’s National Crime Records Bureau. 
• In 2019, the Indian Penal Code recorded over 340,000 cases of crime against women.

What are the gender norms that women have to deal with?

• Problems faced by women: Women’s education does not provide them much influence over their life choices. Women’s decision-making capacity is limited by their lack of access to economic resources. Education and riches do not guarantee a sense of self-worth.
  • Social conventions around marital customs and gender roles can only be challenged by the change from inside society.

• Age for marriage: In India, marriage by a specific age is regarded as a universal requirement. According to the 2018-19 National Sample Survey, one in two females (and one in three men) in urban India and three in four girls (and two in four men) in rural India married before the age of 25.

• Dowry: A research project found that married women workers with school-aged daughters were saving in gold for their daughters’ marriages. While yet-to-be-married women workers were saving for their own dowry.
• Domestic violence: Spousal violence was experienced by 27% of women in paid labor and 20% of women who did not work.
• Divorce rates: In India, one out of every four married women is subjected to marital abuse, while the proportion of divorced or separated women among ever-married women was less than 1% in 2018-19. Divorce is frowned upon and considered a betrayal of family honour.

How can social norms be changed?

• Firstly, promoting successful women CEOs and sportswomen as role models could change people’s perceptions. It would also be beneficial if male role models openly challenged gender stereotypes.
• Secondly, “To instil a culture of gender equality, Kerala’s school textbooks will be rewritten and inspected to screen out terms and phrases demeaning women,” tweeted Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
  • Steps should be taken to transform our schools and institutions into places where gender equality and equal rights are valued.
• Thirdly, early-stage action to modify gender views among boys and girls would be the single most important policy undertaking. This is a strategy that should be implemented in all Indian states as soon as possible.