Gender Bias: A Problem Yet To Be Answered

Gender Bias is one of the major social evils which has plagued the Indian society and still continues to do so. We may have progressed technologically or even in other social aspects but gender Bias still prevails. The naysayers may discount this theory, but the fact that Indian society is gender biased speaks for itself.

If we look at the figures, Census 2011 showed that the child sex ratio (0-6) stands at 914 females against 1000 which is a decline when we compare it with the Census 2001 report, which stated 927 females for 1000. Activists have estimated that almost a staggering eight million female fetuses have been aborted in the past decade. This gender Bias is also reflected in the fact that the literacy for female stands at around 65% whereas for men it is 83%.One reason for such low literacy of the female is because of the fact that the families consider that educating a girl child is a waste as ultimately she has to marry and live with her husband.

This bias has been deep rooted in the Indian mentality. Earlier, people wanted to have sons as they thought that sons would serve as a source of income for them whereas girls were considered as burden because they had to be married and significant amount of money had to be spent on the marriage preparations and for dowry. With time, people started accepting girls in the family but the love for a boy child was never lost. A boy is considered to be the heir of the family and therefore every family wants to have one to continue the generation. This problem I so prevalent that still highly educated people such as doctors, engineers etc resort to fetal sex determination which has been prohibited by the government. The very popular “Satyamev Jayate” aired an episode of the same which was an eye-opener for a lot of people.

Bias against women can even be seen at workplaces where Indian women are paid  less than what is paid to male counterpart for the same occupation and qualification. Women still have almost no say in inheritance of the “parental property”.

A new dimension in “Bias”

Whenever it comes to Bias, the perception is that it would be against women but have we ever considered bias against men? Yes, it’s true. Bias against men also exists. One complaint against husband and his family for a dowry related case and under IPC 498A, the law demand that the husband’s family be considered guilty by default! It’s against the universally practiced doctrine of “innocent until proven guilty”. Similarly, in most of the child custody cases, the child is given to the wife. The same follows for divorce cases.

The problem which results due to this bias not only impedes growth but also creates a divide between the two sexes. Not only this, the harmful effect of this practice on the social fabric could be seen in some places in north India where a single woman is being married to multiple males of the same family.

We need to understand that women and men are the foundation pillars on which the society exists and even a minutiae change can destabilize the whole structure. As progressive citizens of a progressive nation, we should ensure that we don’t repeat the mistakes of our forefathers and help in building a society where everyone is given a fair chance and opportunity irrespective of the sex.