Gender Inequality

11. ‘Women will never enjoy the same rights as men. ‘ Do you agree? We live in a world full of changes. In the past, women have been disgraced and were treated as lower class. A woman had no authority, no say and no rights to make a decision. Their duty at home was just cooking meal, cleaning the house, taking care of children and many things like these. However in today’s world, the status of women is at a high level not only in the family aspect but also in the business area when compared to the past.

I believe that women have progressed in their status quo but to a larger extent, but it is true that women will never enjoy the same rights as men as in many societies, women have yet to achieve gender equality as men are still generally dominant. Some basic right women should receive, such as the right to life and liberty, freedom of expression, and equality before the law; and economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to participate in culture, the right to food, the right to work, and the right to education have been achieved but not all, especially not when compared to men.

In some workplace, wage discrimination still exists as women are not allowed the same pay as men who are of similar ranks to them. The root of this problem is to society, a woman should be at home, taking care of children and not out there in the working world. The income difference maybe expected to serve as a deterrence to women, encouraging them to remain as housewife. However, this mindset is starting to change. Vice versa, men are starting to accept the fact that they too, do play a role in bringing up and caring more for their children and this gives rise to a new role named ‘househusbands’.

Statistics have also proven so. Worldwide, women work two thirds of the world’s working hours and produce half of the world’s food yet women only earn 10 percent of the world’s income and own less than 1 percent of the world’s property. Moreover, in Forbes 2009 top richest people in the world, the only female that came close to the top ten was Alice Walton whose wealth was not even earned by herself but an inheritance from her family. It is clearly illustrated that although women have been given economic rights, the playing field in the workplace is still not level.

People still think that a woman’s role is ultimately as the housewife and not the one with a successful career or the one who is able to help the company advance. Therefore, women have enjoyed more rights than before but women will never enjoy the same rights as men as society has been structured such that women are tasked as caregivers of the family. In many countries, the issue on gender inequality still exists. Many women were not given their even dignity.

While 2012 ended with the death of the 23-year-old paramedic student, who died fighting wounds sustained fighting off her rapists in a moving bus in the Indian capital of Delhi, it has invoked the issue of gender inequality in India. The outcry over the Delhi gang-rape has sparked a furious debate on the horrors that confront women in India. While the debate has put a spotlight on the inadequacies in India’s rape laws and policing, and exposed misogynist Indian “leaders”, the deep-rooted sexual inequality in the country that lies at the root of the misogyny and sexual violence has not received the attention it deserves.