Women Empowerment
So, this is a long one but as I am I feminist I poured all my
heart into this. The topic which I took today is how can one
bring a change for women because sustainability is not only
about the environment but also social stability. If a women
is educated then she works hard to bring the society
forward.
heart into this. The topic which I took today is how can one
bring a change for women because sustainability is not only
about the environment but also social stability. If a women
is educated then she works hard to bring the society
forward.
The sustainable development goal, SDG 5 introduced by
the UN addresses gender inequality. The aim of this goal is
to eliminate discrimination against women in both public
and private spheres. It also aims to provide equal rights to
women in terms of economic resources and undertake
reforms for the same. Why did I choose to discuss about
this goal is because achieving this goal is very crucial for
the world not only socially but also economically. Also, I am
personally attached to this because of few incidences that
I experienced and a few that I saw. Hence, I feel it is utmost
necessary to bring changes in these domains. Before two
years, when I had to make a decision on whether to move
to Gurgaon for work or ask for Mumbai office, I faced a lot
of dilemmas. Few of this dilemma might be faced by my
male colleagues but they dint have to think of their own
safety in the first place neither they had a task of making
their parents believe that doing a job is necessary for them
also and that one job will actually make a difference in their
life. This is just one dilemma that I faced, but many women
face a lot more. There are instances where it becomes a
question of life and death and then one realizes how much
harassment a woman faces and how much the society still
needs to change. One incident that I witnessed and that
really motivated me to think about this issues is of the time
when I used to work in Gurgaon. I hired a maid for my
household chores. The female was in around 23 years of
age and was already married by her parents to some
unknown guy and that guy brought her to Gurgaon. After
working at my house for around 2 months when I gave her
the salary for 2nd month, she said keep some amount with
you and she will take them when she needs. I was very
shocked as why would someone reject the salary and only
take some amount. When I asked her, she replied that her
husband was a drunkard and he always used to take all her
salary and use that for drinking and beat her up, so she
didn’t want all money so he can take less money from her
and drink less. When I asked her more, she started saying
her stories of how forcefully her parents married her and
despite having a shop, her parents gave shop ownership
only to her brother. Listening to her stories I had tears in
my eyes. I cried and thanked God for giving me such good
family, but at the same time I decided to stand up for her
and every other woman who can’t do that for herself. I went
to confront her husband and in turn, he brought some goons
to my flat and the house owner made me evacuate the
place. Later the issue was taken to the police station and I got
out of that area all together just to be safe. This shows how
much inequality exists in society in terms of gender and
how at almost all phases of life women have to face certain
challenges and fight for their rights in society. Gender
equality is an essential human right and a vital foundation
for a sustainable world. Equal right to education, decent
work and wages, and representation in political
decision-making of women benefits humanity in the long run.
There are certain countries in world where reforms for
eliminating gender inequality has been undertaken and
that has led to tremendous development of those countries.
Iceland sets an example for the world by standing first in
World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for
ninth year in a row. 88% of women of working age are
employed, 65% students of university are females and
parliament have 41% women representation. What lessons
are to be learned from Iceland? The progress started firstly
by women rights defenders who challenged and protested
the monopoly of power which men have. The exemplary
thing about this is the women's rights defenders are not only
women but also men. The majority of power holders in the world
are men and hence major changes that are to be
undertaken for global gender equality can only be achieved
if both men and women understand the issues and work
together to tackle them and bring reforms. In 1975, women
of Iceland were paid 60% of their male counterparts.
Hence, on October 24th they walked out of office left any
formal or informal work at 2.05pm, the time at which they
could have earned their day's salary had they been paid
identical as men. The scale of the strike turned very large,
with 25,000 women participating in a country with
a population of 220,000. This strike affected the whole
country. As majority of school teachers and day care
workers were women and the schools and day cares
remained closed, hence men had to take their children
to work. Also, telephone services, newspaper printing
and typewriting services where majority of workforce was
women were disrupted. Hence, women achieved their
intended goal. After this strike Vigdis Finnbogadóttir
became the president of Iceland. She was the first
democratically elected head of state in the world. Also,
she is the longest serving elected female head of country
to date. She said “this strike completely paralyzed the
country and opened the eyes of many men”. Just the
next year after strike, Iceland set up a Gender Equality
Council which passed The Gender Equality Act. This act
prohibited the gender discrimination in workplace and
schools. Similar strike was repeated in 2005, 2010 and
2016. Some other reforms which were undertaken by this
country include giving right to paternity leave to Icelandic
fathers for 6 months similar to maternity leaves. The
concept behind this is that the responsibility of child
will be shared by both men and women. As per a study
conducted by Financial Times, when both men and women
graduate, they earn almost equal income if they are equally
educated. But during the years of work, the pay gap
increases. The primary reason for this is women take
leaves during their pregnancy and years after that for
supporting their children and because of which they
miss a few projects in those years due to which their
male counter parts got promoted faster and were paid
more. The study also states that women who are single
and non-child bearing have low pay gap while pay gap is
more in women who are mothers. Hence, the concept
behind providing paternity leave to fathers is that everyone
in the society is encouraged to understand the fact that
the responsibility of children is to be taken both by men
and women. Also, Iceland has done 3 months compulsory
paternity leave once they realized that 6 months optional
leave were not being properly utilized. This also shows
how entire social and cultural mindset of people needs
to be changed and how the government plays a major role
in this. Policy formation should be such that they should
aim to bring cultural changes in mindsets of citizens.
Apart from this, Iceland has formulated some analytical
models where they analyse each job and measure the work
done in terms of some co-efficient. These models are used
to check about hourly pay according to the work done.
Hence, this ensures that across various industries and
various types of work both men and women are paid
equally. Recently, Iceland passed a law stating that it is
illegal if women and men have different pays and the
companies or institutes which discriminate will be heavily
fined. Also, during the financial crises of Iceland in
2008-2011, there was a swing towards female leadership
setting an example and women proving themselves in
male dominated world. This is one example one country
has brought changes both economically as well as socially
and this has helped the overall development of country.
Some developed countries like USA have very high gender
inequality and these models can be implemented there.
the UN addresses gender inequality. The aim of this goal is
to eliminate discrimination against women in both public
and private spheres. It also aims to provide equal rights to
women in terms of economic resources and undertake
reforms for the same. Why did I choose to discuss about
this goal is because achieving this goal is very crucial for
the world not only socially but also economically. Also, I am
personally attached to this because of few incidences that
I experienced and a few that I saw. Hence, I feel it is utmost
necessary to bring changes in these domains. Before two
years, when I had to make a decision on whether to move
to Gurgaon for work or ask for Mumbai office, I faced a lot
of dilemmas. Few of this dilemma might be faced by my
male colleagues but they dint have to think of their own
safety in the first place neither they had a task of making
their parents believe that doing a job is necessary for them
also and that one job will actually make a difference in their
life. This is just one dilemma that I faced, but many women
face a lot more. There are instances where it becomes a
question of life and death and then one realizes how much
harassment a woman faces and how much the society still
needs to change. One incident that I witnessed and that
really motivated me to think about this issues is of the time
when I used to work in Gurgaon. I hired a maid for my
household chores. The female was in around 23 years of
age and was already married by her parents to some
unknown guy and that guy brought her to Gurgaon. After
working at my house for around 2 months when I gave her
the salary for 2nd month, she said keep some amount with
you and she will take them when she needs. I was very
shocked as why would someone reject the salary and only
take some amount. When I asked her, she replied that her
husband was a drunkard and he always used to take all her
salary and use that for drinking and beat her up, so she
didn’t want all money so he can take less money from her
and drink less. When I asked her more, she started saying
her stories of how forcefully her parents married her and
despite having a shop, her parents gave shop ownership
only to her brother. Listening to her stories I had tears in
my eyes. I cried and thanked God for giving me such good
family, but at the same time I decided to stand up for her
and every other woman who can’t do that for herself. I went
to confront her husband and in turn, he brought some goons
to my flat and the house owner made me evacuate the
place. Later the issue was taken to the police station and I got
out of that area all together just to be safe. This shows how
much inequality exists in society in terms of gender and
how at almost all phases of life women have to face certain
challenges and fight for their rights in society. Gender
equality is an essential human right and a vital foundation
for a sustainable world. Equal right to education, decent
work and wages, and representation in political
decision-making of women benefits humanity in the long run.
There are certain countries in world where reforms for
eliminating gender inequality has been undertaken and
that has led to tremendous development of those countries.
Iceland sets an example for the world by standing first in
World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index for
ninth year in a row. 88% of women of working age are
employed, 65% students of university are females and
parliament have 41% women representation. What lessons
are to be learned from Iceland? The progress started firstly
by women rights defenders who challenged and protested
the monopoly of power which men have. The exemplary
thing about this is the women's rights defenders are not only
women but also men. The majority of power holders in the world
are men and hence major changes that are to be
undertaken for global gender equality can only be achieved
if both men and women understand the issues and work
together to tackle them and bring reforms. In 1975, women
of Iceland were paid 60% of their male counterparts.
Hence, on October 24th they walked out of office left any
formal or informal work at 2.05pm, the time at which they
could have earned their day's salary had they been paid
identical as men. The scale of the strike turned very large,
with 25,000 women participating in a country with
a population of 220,000. This strike affected the whole
country. As majority of school teachers and day care
workers were women and the schools and day cares
remained closed, hence men had to take their children
to work. Also, telephone services, newspaper printing
and typewriting services where majority of workforce was
women were disrupted. Hence, women achieved their
intended goal. After this strike Vigdis Finnbogadóttir
became the president of Iceland. She was the first
democratically elected head of state in the world. Also,
she is the longest serving elected female head of country
to date. She said “this strike completely paralyzed the
country and opened the eyes of many men”. Just the
next year after strike, Iceland set up a Gender Equality
Council which passed The Gender Equality Act. This act
prohibited the gender discrimination in workplace and
schools. Similar strike was repeated in 2005, 2010 and
2016. Some other reforms which were undertaken by this
country include giving right to paternity leave to Icelandic
fathers for 6 months similar to maternity leaves. The
concept behind this is that the responsibility of child
will be shared by both men and women. As per a study
conducted by Financial Times, when both men and women
graduate, they earn almost equal income if they are equally
educated. But during the years of work, the pay gap
increases. The primary reason for this is women take
leaves during their pregnancy and years after that for
supporting their children and because of which they
miss a few projects in those years due to which their
male counter parts got promoted faster and were paid
more. The study also states that women who are single
and non-child bearing have low pay gap while pay gap is
more in women who are mothers. Hence, the concept
behind providing paternity leave to fathers is that everyone
in the society is encouraged to understand the fact that
the responsibility of children is to be taken both by men
and women. Also, Iceland has done 3 months compulsory
paternity leave once they realized that 6 months optional
leave were not being properly utilized. This also shows
how entire social and cultural mindset of people needs
to be changed and how the government plays a major role
in this. Policy formation should be such that they should
aim to bring cultural changes in mindsets of citizens.
Apart from this, Iceland has formulated some analytical
models where they analyse each job and measure the work
done in terms of some co-efficient. These models are used
to check about hourly pay according to the work done.
Hence, this ensures that across various industries and
various types of work both men and women are paid
equally. Recently, Iceland passed a law stating that it is
illegal if women and men have different pays and the
companies or institutes which discriminate will be heavily
fined. Also, during the financial crises of Iceland in
2008-2011, there was a swing towards female leadership
setting an example and women proving themselves in
male dominated world. This is one example one country
has brought changes both economically as well as socially
and this has helped the overall development of country.
Some developed countries like USA have very high gender
inequality and these models can be implemented there.
In developing countries like India, before ensuring that
women are equally paid there are other major concerns
like their safety, female foeticide, child marraiges,
education for girls. Government of India has taken out
certain policies like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao which aims
as equal education opportunities for girls in India. In this
scheme, government has taken various initiatives to spread
awareness about importance of girl child and her education
in various cities and villages of India. In metro cities like
Gurgaon where crime rate is high a special female police
force was enforced and a 24*7 female helpline number
was also started to cater emergency situations. Apart
from these, other initiatives like Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna,
Jnani Suraksha Yojna have been undertaken to encourage
women to study and get decent jobs.
women are equally paid there are other major concerns
like their safety, female foeticide, child marraiges,
education for girls. Government of India has taken out
certain policies like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao which aims
as equal education opportunities for girls in India. In this
scheme, government has taken various initiatives to spread
awareness about importance of girl child and her education
in various cities and villages of India. In metro cities like
Gurgaon where crime rate is high a special female police
force was enforced and a 24*7 female helpline number
was also started to cater emergency situations. Apart
from these, other initiatives like Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna,
Jnani Suraksha Yojna have been undertaken to encourage
women to study and get decent jobs.
The major challenge why men are still in power and it will
take to build gender equal countries is the mindset of
people of these countries. Sheryl Sanders, the COO of
facebook mentioned two things in her Ted Talk, one that
men do not rise for feminism because they think that
they will lose their power and the policies formed for
females are formed by men, hence when men do not
understand the key issues how are they going to address it.
The second issue which she stated is that women since
ages have a mindset that they are doing good by sacrificing
and they have doubt on their abilities. In a survey it showed
that when employees were given a task, they dint know by
their boss 70% of men were confident on completing it
while only 10% women showed that confidence, hence
females have self-doubt which is hampers them to come
to position of power. When these two barriers are abolished
then only other external factors like government policies
will work and countries can be transformed. When entire
world works to change culturally then only these barriers
can be removed.
take to build gender equal countries is the mindset of
people of these countries. Sheryl Sanders, the COO of
facebook mentioned two things in her Ted Talk, one that
men do not rise for feminism because they think that
they will lose their power and the policies formed for
females are formed by men, hence when men do not
understand the key issues how are they going to address it.
The second issue which she stated is that women since
ages have a mindset that they are doing good by sacrificing
and they have doubt on their abilities. In a survey it showed
that when employees were given a task, they dint know by
their boss 70% of men were confident on completing it
while only 10% women showed that confidence, hence
females have self-doubt which is hampers them to come
to position of power. When these two barriers are abolished
then only other external factors like government policies
will work and countries can be transformed. When entire
world works to change culturally then only these barriers
can be removed.
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