Lahore College for Women University

Assignment Gender Studies (Minor)

Topic Contemporary Gender Issues
Submitted to Maam Maryam
Submitted by Rabia Imtiaz
Roll No 161651063
Major English Literature
Date 13 Nov , 2017
 Contemporary Gender Issues
Introduction
The term gender issue refers to any issue and concern determined by
gender based differences between men and women. Gender issues include all
aspects and concerns related to women and men lives and situation in society, to
the way they inter relate , their differences in access to and use of resources , their
activities and how they react to changes, interventions and policies. The gender
perspective looks at the impact of gender on people's opportunities, social roles
and interactions. Gender is an integral component of every aspect of the economic,
social, daily and private lives of individuals and societies, and of the different roles
ascribed by society to men and women.

The elements below could be taken as starting points to explore how and why
gender differences, issues and inequalities are relevant in a specific situation.

Discriminatory Attitudes

If a boy cries,he is asked if he is a sissy. If a girl plays Cricket she is labeled a

tomboy.Dr. Sushma Mehrotra psychologist,recounts her experience , she says, "I
know parents who were very upset because their five-year-old son brought a doll
home.Child was just playing with a toy that happened to be a doll. They think that
the boy had a gender problem. The parents actually came for counseling, worried
that the boy was showing such feminine interests." In this way parents puts
the idea into the minds of their children that behavior can be gender-
appropriate.

Ideas about appropriate behaviour, independence, and aptitudes are often

grounded in gender stereotypes and vary for women and men. Ideas and practices
tend to reflect and reinforce each other.

Girls will be encounter gender bias at almost every stage in their lives.
Rimsha Ali father expects from her to be home by eight in the evening , while
no such restrictions are placed on her brother. Mr. Ali says "It's not that I don't
trust Rimsha or that I think she will do anything wrong if I let her out of the
house after eight, but the fact is that people will talk if a girl is in the habit of going
out for late nights. I don't want anyone to say such things about my daughter. With
my son it's different because boys will be boys.

"Dr. Mehrotra talked about the plight of educated women who are so
frustrated because despite their qualifications, they are ultimately expected to
fall into the traditional mould of wife, mother and homemaker. Take the case of
any girl . Her parents sent her to the best schools and she has done her MBA
from a prestigious business school, but she is under intense pressure from
them to get married. She said "It doesn't seem to matter to my parents that I'm
doing so well in my job and that I have certain career aspirations. Marriage just
does not figure in my plan right now. And I just know that they will see no harm
in my being expected to give up my career if my prospective husband makes that
a condition."

Awareness about gender bias has slowly spread over time. But it will take a long
time for this awareness to seep into the grassroots and translate into social
change. The world has moved forward. Today, we have women astronauts,
women prime ministers, even women wrestlers, but there are still millions of
women who face these double standards at every juncture of their lives..Some
people believe that women and men can never be equal , just different. Yes, but
different does not necessarily mean inferior or lesser in any way. Women must be
provided equal opportunity and this is not a task to be left to the government or any
organization or authority.

Social change begins at home. Parents have to learn to adopt an androgynous

attitude towards bringing up their children.

Lack of Mobility
Mobility is an issue that is gendered both ways : on the one
hand, mobility determines womens and mens access to participation in society; on
the other hand, womens and mens mobility is determined by gender roles and
inequalities.

If peoples access to mobility is hampered, they will experience difficulties in

accessing education, training and the labour market. Mobility enables
economic participation. Without a reliable means of transport, they cannot go to the
library, participate in leisure activities or meet their friends and family. Mobility
encourages social and cultural participation. And lacking mobility, they cannot go to
meetings or demonstrations, vote or lead an effective election campaign, so
mobility allows political participation.

All three types of participation (Economic, Social, Political) are deeply divided
along gender lines, not least because of gender inequalities in mobility. Women
have less access to private cars and driving license than men, for reasons of
economic inequality and gender stereotypes. In the EU today, 55 % of car users
are male, 66 % of non-car users are female . Women therefore use more often
public transport such as buses, which are not available at all hours and do not
reach all destinations.

The same gender inequalities limit their full use of buses, trams and the
underground: their fear of crime is much higher than mens and makes women
limit their presence on public transport to certain hours and certain routes that are
perceived as safe. Due to the unequal distribution of household and care work,
they are more often transporting grocery bags, prams and children. For the
same reason, their itineraries are less linear and more often interrupted than
mens, making womens mobility more complex and time consuming. Women are
forbidden to drive in Saudi Arabia, despite numerous protests, and must rely on
their fathers or husbands to get from place to place. In countries like Egypt and
Bahrain, husbands have the right to stop their wives from leaving the country while
other countries require written permission from a husband to travel.

Underrepresentation of women affects economic development

Economic development, as one component of sustainable development, is
unthinkable without the involvement of women. Ethiopia is one of the fastest
economically growing countries in the world (FDRE, 2011). However, like many
developing countries, the women labour force has not been properly utilized.
Despite certain improvements following efforts from the government, the economi c
opportunities for and participation of Ethiopian women are still low. This is due to
male oriented development projects and the exclusion of women from the formal
employment sector), confining women to unpaid, tiresome household work.
Moreover, women still suffer from lack of adequate access to training, extension
and credit services, financial support and modern technology. Furthermore,
inadequate access to education has excluded them from jobs requiring different
skills and qualifications. All of this leads women to remain passive observers in the
economic sector of the country. Struggling to bring about economic growth with the
recognition of men's efforts only is like clapping with one hand. For the effective
and sustainable economic growth of any country, the equal participation of both
sexes is crucial. It is a well - established fact that the achievement of economic
growth is contingent upon the full use of the skills and qualification of women
(OECD, 2008).

The Continuing Gender Wage Gap

Women are the primary or co-breadwinner in six out of ten American families,
which makes the economic imperative of addressing the wage gap between men
and women vital. We frequently hear that women earn on average seventy-seven
cents for every dollar earned by men, and that is true when one considers the
full-time wages of all working women vs. the full-time wages of all working men. But
it is more complicated than that. Some point to the fact that women are
disproportionately concentrated in the lowest-paying fields and are not well
represented in higher-paying fields. On the other hand, in an article published on
April 23, 2014, on Shriver Report. org, Claire Cain Miller, a New York Times
reporter , discusses the findings of Dr. Claudia Goldin, a Harvard University labor
economist and leading scholar on women and the economy, that a majority of the
pay gap between men and women actually comes from differences within
occupations, not between them. This gap widens in the highest-paying
occupations like business, law, and medicine. Dr. Goldin points out that employers
most value long hours and work at particular hours. She argues that if employers
instead instituted workplace flexibility in terms of hours and locations, the gender
gap in pay would be considerably reduced and might vanish altogether. Whatever
the reasons, the gender pay gap continues and is an issue that must be dealt with.

Inequality in Political System

Women exclusion in the formal arena of politics is a historic and global phenomena
. Despite several international conventions and commitments to gender equality the
gender gap with only 19 percent women in the world parliaments is stark and
abysmal. Good governance undoubtedly corroborates the achievement of
economic and social development and environmental protection. As a result, there
is a need for a well-established, quality political or governance system. To this end,
active involvement of women in decision making positions will help foster the
overall quality of governance in terms of boosting accountability and transparency,
reducing corruption, and protecting the interest of marginalized sections of society
(OECD, 2008); without women, achieving sustainable development is impossible.
Women are under-represented in political processes throughout the world. It is
important to look at and understand gender differences in power within formal
decision-making structures (such as governments, community councils, and policy-
making institutions). Given the underrepresentation of women and the low visibility
of womens perspectives, the fact that women often have different priorities, needs
and interests than men is often not apparent. In Pakistan women representation in
National Legislature have never moved beyond 10 percent until 2001 when the
gender quota was restored by military regime at the local , provincial and national
level. National, regional or sub-regional priorities, or even the specific needs and
priorities of a community, are often defined without meaningful input from women.
Vatican City is the only other country that allows men, but not women, to vote.

Crimes against women

There are many forms of violence against women: salary inequalities;
sexual harassment; the use of the body as an object; cases of sexual aggression,
moral harassment, the national international traffic of women and girls. Recent
information, coming from research and from care delivered in specialized services,
such as Specialized Police Super intendences, Centres of Reference and Shelters
for Battered Women, show the magnitude of the problem. In a piece of research
carried out by the Perseu Abramo Foundation, 43% of women admit, when a direct
question is asked, having suffered some form of violence, but spontaneous, by only
19% admit having been submitted to some form of violence. Women across the
world are subjected to physical, sexual, psychological and economic violence,
regardless of their income, age or education. Such violence can lead to long-term
physical, mental and emotional health problems. Around one third of women
worldwide have experienced physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partne r
or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives. Intimate partner
violence is the most common form of violence, peaking during womens
reproductive years in both developed and undeveloping countries. Prevalence
declines with age but still persists among older women. In the most extreme cases,
violence against women can lead to death; around two thirds of victims of intimate
partner or family related homicides are women. In the majority of countries, less
than 40 per cent of the women who experienced violence sought help of any sort.
Among those who did, most looked to family and friends as opposed to the police
and health centers. Sex-selective abortion is a well-known problem in China and
India, where a cultural preference for sons, coupled with political and economic
influences, has severely skewed sex ratios at birth (SRBs). Instances of sex
discrimination perpetrated via abortion and infanticide are well documented and
have resulted in millions of missing girls in some societies. In China, for example,
men outnumber women to the tune of 33 million.]More than 20 years ago, Amartya
Sen (1990) documented that 100 million girls and women were missing from
the global population as a consequence of neglect, infanticide, and inequalities in
care. The figure is now estimated to be in excess of 160 million, with sex-selective
abortion playing a major role (Hvistendahl 2011). Such practices constitute a real
war on women and have been widely condemned Those who claim to be
concerned with womens rights can no longer ignore the need to ban sex-selective
abortion in order to protect girls from gendercide. According to the World Health
Organization (WHO, 2002) 33, a study carried out in South Africa, Australia,
Canada, the United States and Israel confirms that among female victims of
murder, between 40 and 70% were killed by their husbands and boyfriends,
typically in the context of a relationship involving constant abuse. Domestic
Violence is a very common form of violence silently suffered by many women in
Pakistan.It is a form of physical ,sexual or psychological abuse of power
perpetrated mainly by men against women in a relationship or after separation .The
problem with this form of violence is that such cases are seldom reported , often
treated as household matters . Men consider it their right to threaten or be
physically violent to their wives as corrective behavior when are seen as being
disobedient . According to estimates 30 percent of married women aged 15 -49
report having experienced physical or emotional violence from their spouse. As per
the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 597 women and girls were gang raped,
828 raped and 36 stripped in public in Pakistan in the year 2014. The Aurat
Foundation estimated a total of 7,852 cases of violence against women were
reported across Pakistan in 2013.

Social Status Of Women

People in many countries and cultures believe tasks such as raising children and
housework are women's work, while venturing out to earn an income is the
province of men. In such societies, work done by men takes the visible form of
income. In contrast, raising children and performing housework produce no income,
and women are seen as living off the earnings of men and therefore of lower social
status. In fact, raising children and taking care of housework are strenuous t asks,
in no way inferior to work done by men. Nevertheless, women earn only one -third
the income earned by men. When women have restricted opportunities to express
their views and needs, they are often are forced to live with major inconveniences,
without recourse to social infrastructures.

Fewer Educational options to Women

 The right to an education, a key to social and economical independence, is a
fundamental human right. Education opens the doors to a vast range of information
and social services. However, there are many women with less opportunities for
education in the whole world. Two-thirds of the approximately 880 million
illiterate adults in the world are women. And two-thirds of the approximately 113
million children who are unable to go to school are girls. Why do women have less
access to educational opportunities? Many people around the world living in
poverty tend to lack the financial resources needed to educate all the children in a
household. The result is to encourage education for boys, who have the potential to
earn higher incomes, while girls, who are not expected to earn an income, are
made to work at home from childhood, doing housework or farm work. Imagine
being unable to read; imagine venturing out into society lacking even the most
basic education. Imagine the uncertainties and near-insurmountable difficulties. In
poor countries, some women are unable to administer medicine to their children
because they can't read the instructions. Today, Pakistan is far from meeting its
international education obligations. One in ten of the worlds primary age children
who are not in schools live in Pakistan, placing Pakistan second in the global
ranking of out-of-school children. According to UNESCO, meanwhile 30 percent
of Pakistanis live in extreme educational poverty having received less than
two years of education.

In Pakistan, there are about 19.5 million children of primary age group, out of
which 6.8 million are out of school and 60 percent of these are females. At least,
seven million children are not in primary schools. Thats around as many people as
live in the city of Lahore. Three million will never see the inside of a classroom at
all.

In Pakistan, girls face some of the highest barriers in education. It has been
estimated that nearly 62 percent of out of school girls are unlikely ever to enrol
in schools as compared to 27 percent of boys in the country. 43 percent of women
faced religious discrimination at workplace, educational institutions and
neighbourhood. Pakistan is committed to spending at least 4 percent of GDP on
education.

Major cause of women illiteracy is the increase in population, which is playing a

negative role in this deprivation of female education. A family having more number
of children and less income will prefer to educate the boys of the family, while the
girls will be given embroidery or sewing skills.

Traditionally, women are considered as an asset of males of the family. So t hese

males are responsible for taking decisions of their lives. In most cases, males do
not allow their sisters or daughters to go to schools or universities. Additionally,
some families do not like their daughters to study in co-education institutes thus
depriving them of higher education. Parents do not want girls education.

Co-education is not acceptable in an Islamic country. The courses for women

should include subjects relating to their needs in life: beliefs, rituals, domestic
duties and rights, raising children, solution of domestic problems, rules of Purdah,
nursing, home economics, budget, sewing, embroidery, industrial skills such as
carpet, poultry, preservation of food and so on.

Every government talks about the importance of female education but none of them
has given attention to it. In Multan, the plan of a separate women university and
women medical college was announced yet these plans have not seen the light of
the day.

Poor Health Facilities

The number of women in Pakistan who die while giving birth is difficult to
determine. The maternal mortality in Pakistan is estimated to be somewhere in the
range of 190 to 1,700 deaths per 100,000 live births, while a 1990 estimate gives
the national maternal mortality rate as 340. The continuing tragedy of maternal
deaths in Pakistan is brought home in the analysis by Prof. S. Jafarey and Kotejo's
study of the women who were "brought dead" to one of the premier health
institutions in the country. The major reasons cited by the study were delay in
seeking care due to socio-cultural factors and inadequate medical services at the
first-care level. These women did not come from some hard to reach corner of
Balochistan, but these women lost their lives right in Karachi, literally within a
stone's throw from some of the most sophisticated tertiary care hospitals in the
country.

The problem of maternal mortality in Pakistan is a reflection of the generally poor

health status of women's health. An overwhelming majority of women suffer from
anaemia and malnutrition, both of which are worsened during pregnancy. Many
women never realize their full growth potential, putting them at high risk of
obstetrics difficulties. Higher fertility rates, child birth at early ages and high parity
and negligent care of high risk pregnancies multiply their risks of sickness and
death. Death is the final outcome, but not in all cases. One quarter of all adult
women in developing countries are affected by injuries and disabilities during
pregnancy and childbirth. "Many of these injuries go unspoken and untreated, but
they are painful, humiliating and permanent, According to the same report which
thus identifies another major public health problem being faced by countries such
as Pakistan."This issue, fast in its conspiracy of silence is the most neglected
tragedy of our times." Absenteeism, lack of professional staff and medicines and
dysfunctional equipment in public health facilities undermine the publics right to
health.

In this age of scientific and medical advancement, most of the causes of maternal
mortality and morbidity are avoidable. A life time risk of dying due to pregnancy
related causes for a Pakistani woman is I in 80 compared to I in 61 in developing
countries as a whole and 1 in 4,085 in industrialized countries. High maternal
mortality in Pakistan is indicative of neglect of womens health, however, in the
absence of accurate maternal health data, the magnitude of problem in rural areas
of the country is difficult to gauge.
Sindh is the second most populous province of Pakistan. The majority of the people
are settled in rural areas . High total fertility rate (4.4) and unacceptably high
maternal mortality paints a dismal picture of womens health in the provin ce.
Population based maternal health surveys of urban squatter settlements of Karachi
report a maternal mortality ratio between 276-310 per 100,000 live births. This
survey identified hemorrhage to be the leading cause of maternal mortality.
Pregnant women suffering from any illness are more prone to adverse
consequences of childbirth. Forty percent women suffer from anemia, which when
coupled with hemorrhagic complications of pregnancy and childbirth increases risk
of fatal outcome for the mother. Any delays in seeking care for obstetric
complications can endanger maternal life.

The Lack of Affordable and Competent Child Care.

An April 2013 article in the New Republic titled The Hell of Child Care tells the
story. Jonathan Cohn, the writer, found that American day care performs
abysmally.He pointed out that the overall quality of day care is uneven, barely
monitored,and at the lower end Dickensian. Cohn found that the reason for this is
that we havent yet come to terms with the shift of women from the home to the
workplace.The lack of quality, affordable day care is arguably the most
significant barrier to full equality for women in the workplace,wrote Cohn.A
report in the fall of 2013 by Child Care Aware America found that the annual cost of
day care for an infant exceeds the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at public
colleges in thirty-one states. To ease some additional burden on working mothers,
offer childcare on site, corporate discounted daycare, or open a flexible spending
account to help supplement parents expenses. It shows respect for their effort and
helps them achieve a better work-life balance.

Freedom of marriage
According to the U.N., 40 percent of young women in South Asia and sub-Saharan
Africa are married by age 18. Child marriage not only increases the chance of
complications of giving birth that often prove fatal, but also contravenes the
fundamental human right of choice of partnership. In Pakistan, women are
expected to accept arranged marriages and refusal can lead to honor killings
that typically go uncontested by the government.

Discriminatory Divorce rights

In most of the Middle East, countries are governed by religious ideals and gender
inequality is pervasive. As men are typically viewed as superior, they can divorce
their wives relatively easily and even through mere oral renunciation. Women, on
the other hand, face many more challenges. In Lebanon, abused women do not
even have the right to file for divorce unless an eyewitness is willing to testify.
According to report 24 percent of girls married under the age of 18 worldwide last
year were from rural Pakistan, whereas 18 per cent were from the countrys urban
areas. The issue of child marriage raises several health concerns for young girls,
some of which include pregnancy complications, health risks for babies born to
young mothers and the risk of death. The report said that girls pregnant under the
age of 15 have a five times greater chance of dying compared with girls pregnant in
their 20s. Early marriage can also thwart personal development and growth as a
child constantly undergoes physical, mental and emotional changes before
reaching adulthood. In Pakistan, young girls are sometimes married off to older
men, which poses the risk that the girls might become conditioned to acting
submissive towards their older male counterparts. This can also stunt their
personality development.

Custody Rights
In some countries, the courts automatically grant custody rights to the father, and
women are left without any means of financial support. For example, in Bahrain,
family laws are not systematized, enabling judges to deny mothers custody of their
children. After a battered woman leaves a relationship, batterers may use child
custody disputes, visitation and joint custody arrangements as opportunities to
threaten, intimidate, coerce and harm their former partners.

Restricted Land Ownership

In some countries, customary or religious law effectively prohibits the ownership of
land by females, even if their constitution claims equal rights. In many countries
like North Sudan, Tanzania, and Lesotho, land ownership and control tends to go
to the male head of the household. In Zambia, women and men are allowed to
acquire a registered land title, but customary land tenure is also recognized making
it unlikely for a woman to be allocated land without the approval of her husband .
Domestic violence can have devastating effects on children. Batterers often use
children to manipulate their partners. While the relationship continues, batterers
may threaten to take custody of, kidnap or harm the children if the victim reports
the abuse.

Women and Poverty

More than 1 billion people in the world today, the great majority of whom are
women, live in unacceptable conditions of poverty, mostly in the developing
countries. Poverty has various causes, including structural ones. Poverty is a
complex, multidimensional problem, with origins in both the national and
international domains. The globalization of the world's economy and the deepening
interdependence among nations present challenges and opportunities for sustained
economic growth and development, as well as risks and uncertainties for the future
of the world economy. Poverty has various manifestations, including lack of
income and productive resources sufficient to ensure a sustainable livelihood;
hunger and malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education and other
basic services; increasing morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and
inadequate housing; unsafe environments; and social discrimination and exclusion.
It is also characterized by lack of participation in decision-making and in civil, social
and cultural life. It occurs in all countries - as mass poverty in many developing
countries and as pockets of poverty amidst wealth in developed countries. Poverty
may be caused by an economic recession that results in loss of live lihood or by
disaster or conflict. There is also the poverty of low-wage workers and the utter
destitution of people who fall outside family support systems, social institutions and
safety nets. In the past decade the number of women living in poverty has
increased disproportionately to the number of men, particularly in the developing
countries. The feminization of poverty has also recently become a significant
problem in the countries with economies in transition as a short-term consequence
of the process of political, economic and social transformation. In addition to
economic factors, the rigidity of socially ascribed gender roles and women's limited
access to power, education, training and productive resources as well as other
emerging factors that may lead to insecurity for families are also responsible. The
failure to adequately mainstream a gender perspective in all economic analysis and
planning and to address the structural causes of poverty is also a contributing
factors Women contribute to the economy and to combating poverty through both
remunerated and unremunerated work at home, in the community and in the
workplace. The empowerment of women is a critical factor in the eradication of
poverty. Women's poverty is directly related to the absence of economic
opportunities and autonomy, lack of access to economic resources, including
credit, land ownership and inheritance, lack of access to education and support
services and their minimal participation in the decision-making process. Poverty
can also force women into situations in which they are vulnerable to sexual
exploitation.

The Treatment of Women in Prison.

In federal correctional facilities, 70 percent of the guards are male and correctional officials
have subjected female inmates to rape, other sexual assaults, sexual extortion, and groping
during body searches.In addition, women in prison have been denied essential medical
resources and treatment, especially during times of pregnancy and in connection with chronic
or degenerative diseases.

Gender Discrimination at work place

In the workplace, women are frequently subjected to subtle discrimination by both
sexes. Qualified women may be passed over for promotions because they become
pregnant (pregnancy discrimination) or because they might become pregnant
(gender discrimination.) Jobs may be offered to a less qualified male applicant just
because he is male.Women are also more likely to be judged by their looks and
how they dress than are their male counterparts. On a note of contradiction,
women are not only discriminated against for being "pretty" or "provocative" they
are also discriminated against for being not pretty enough, too old, or, in some
positions (especially sales and public relations) for not being sexy enough.
Womens participation (15 years and above) in labour force has remained painfully
slow21.8 per cent in 2008. It is the lowest in South Asia and one of the lowest
among Muslim countries, especially when compared to the global rate of female
labour force participation rate that stood at 51.7 per cent in 2008.The overwhelming
majority of women who joined the labour force during recent years have ended up
in non-decent and vulnerable work categories.

Ways to reduce Gender Issues

Talk to women and girls

A fundamental reason we have not yet achieved gender equality in every realm is
that women and girls voices are too often excluded from global and national
decision-making. When programmes and policies are designed without womens
needs central to their foundation, were setting ourselves up to fail.

Let girls use mobile phones

The majority of girls in India dont have access to using basic technology such as
phones and computers because of infrastructure related challenges and economic
reasons. Increasingly we see bans on girls using mobile phones.. Can girls and
women access equal resources, opportunities and rights without access to
technology.

Stop child marriage and sexual harassment

In Bangladesh more than 50% of girls are married before the age of 18, and about
30% of girls 15 to 19 already have one child. If we want girls to be able to complete
education we have to end child marriage. We also have to seriously address sexual
harassment of girls. Insecurity is one of the reasons parents give for marrying their
daughters.

Make education gender sensitive

There has been much progress in increasing access to education, but progress has
been slow in improving the gender sensitivity of the education system, including
ensuring textbooks promote positive stereotypes. This is critically important for girls
to come out of schools as citizens who can shape a more equal society
Raise aspirations of girls and their parents

One of the key strategies must be to change how girls, families and society imagine
what girls can be and can do. We need to give girls images and role models that
expand their dreamsWe also need parents to see that there really are opportunities
for their daughters, that their only security is not just to be good wives and
mothers.

Empower mothers

We have learned that through empowering women on the community level you will
also enhance girls education. When mothers are educated and empowered to
make choices in their lives, they enable their daughters to go to school.

Get women into power

A proven way to overcome many systemic barriers to a womans success has been
increased participation by women in local, regional and national legislation as
empowered change agents. In just 10 years, the number of women holding seats in
houses of national parliament in south Asia rose from 7% to 18%. But a global goal
of equal representation is still a long way off, with only one woman for every four
men in parliamentary houses.