What Is Gender?

1. Gender describes the role ,rights and

responsibilities that society consider s
appropriate for men and women .
2. It refers to social ,economic and cultural
attributes and opportunities associates
with being a male or female.
3. Gender roles ,responsibilities inequalities
and differences are not the same in various
societies
Gender Inequality
Gender inequality acknowledges that men and
women are not equal and that gender affects an
individual's lived experience.
These differences arise from distinctions in
biology, psychology, and cultural norms.
Some of these distinctions are empirically
grounded while others appear to be socially
constructed.
Studies show the different lived experience of
genders across many domains including
education, life expectancy, personality, interests,
family life, careers, and political affiliations.
Gender inequality is experienced differently
across cultures.
Occupational inequality
Occupational inequality is the unequal
treatment of people based on gender,
sexuality, height, weight, accent, or race in the
workplace. When researchers study trends in
occupational inequality they usually focus on
distribution or allocation pattern of groups
across occupations,
Gender Pay Gap( GPG)
The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the
average difference between the
remuneration for men and women who are
working. Women are generally paid less than
men.
Where does gender inequality exists?
Infant Life Expectancy:
In India and China, the two most populous nations in the world, there is significant data
that shows a survival disadvantage for girls under five years of age. In China, girls have a seven
percent higher infant mortality rate than boys, and in India, a study conducted in the first
decade of the 2000s found that the risk of death between the ages of one and five was 75
percent higher for girls than for boys.
Education:
Less than 40 percent of countries offer girls and boys equal access to education and only 39
percent of countries have equal proportions of the sexes enrolled in secondary education. By
achieving universal primary and secondary education attainability in the adult population, it
could be possible to lift more than 420 million people out of poverty. This would have its
greatest effect on women and girls who are the most likely to never have stepped foot inside a
school.
School:
One in four girls states that they never feel
comfortable using school latrines. Girls are at
greater risk of sexual violence, harassment and
exploitation in school. School-related gender-
based violence is another major obstacle to
universal schooling and the right to education for
girls.
Illiteracy: There are approximately 774 million
illiterate adults in the world and two-thirds of
them are women. There are approximately 123
million illiterate youths and 61 percent of them
are girls. These facts not only affect women but
their children as well. A child born to a mother
with the ability to read is 50 percent more likely
to survive past age five.
Economic Independence:
Increases in female labor force participation result
in faster economic growth, but women continue to
participate in labor markets on an unequal basis with
men.

Women also carry a disproportionate amount of

responsibility for unpaid care work. Women devote
one to three hours more a day to housework than
men, two to 10 times the amount of time a day to care
(for children, elderly and the sick) and one to four
hours less a day to income-based activities. The time
given to these unpaid tasks directly and negatively
impacts women’s participation in the workforce and
their ability to foster economic independence
Child Marriage:
Globally, almost 750 million women and girls alive today married before their eighteenth
birthday. Those who suffer from child marriage often experience early pregnancy which is a key
factor in the premature end of education. As mothers and wives, girls become socially isolated
and are at an increased risk for domestic violence. Child marriage is one the most devastating
examples of gender inequality, as it limits women’s opportunities and their ability to reach their
full individual potential.
Human Trafficking:
Adult women and girls account for 71 percent of all human trafficking victims
detected globally. Girls alone represent nearly three out of every four children trafficked.
Women and girls are clearly the disproportionate victims of human trafficking with 75 percent
trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
 WHY GENDER INEQUALITY IN WORK AND WAGES EXIST
•Choosing to work part time when full time option is available

• A low skilled job ,due to inability to access higher education

• Less willing and less ability to negotiate salaries

•Inability to work in certain sectors like mining ,manufacturing etc which is

dangerous and relatively highly paid in higher posts .
•Lower wages due to child bearing

•Distribution of house work – usually the mother takes main

responsibility of childcare and house work

•Perceptions about leadership – women in middle management

percieved to lack courage ,leadership .

•Women are expected to be homemakers

•Women are still seen as a weaker gender – stereotype that women ,are
not strong and too emotional to handle stress at work place
•Women speak out for themselves very less – they are scared of getting
fired

•Many employers are not confident in women for higher posts

• Low educational status – less chances for women to get higher education
due to discrimination at home, marriage at younger age ,financial
problems etc
 STRATEGIES TO GENDER JUSTICES
 Talk to women and girls

 Let girls use mobile phones

 Stop child marriage and sexual harassment

 Make education gender sensitive

 Raise aspirations of girls and their parents

 Empower mothers
 STRATEGIES TO GENDER JUSTICES

 Give proper value to ‘women’s work’

 Get women into power

 Encourage women into non-traditional vocations

 Work together

 Stop the violence

 Beware the backlash

 CONCLUSION
 Gender age gap is real

 We should examine where our economy provides unequal opportunities for

women at different stages of life

 We should understand – Decisions women make their career is not from

vaccum ,they are shaped by society

 Employers can implement many initiatives to identify and eradicate work and
wage discrimination

 Organizations and society should encourage women to come up in

Every aspect of life including work and wages
SAY NO TO GENDER INEQUALITY