By Andaleeb Akhtar
If all human beings are born free, why, in some parts of the world women face discrimination?
Despite living in the 21st century, when human beings have reached the zenith of development in almost all fields of life, there are still areas where unequal and biased treatment between the two sexes exists. We are now in the space age; human beings are exploring space and the technological wonders are entering in the hyperloop speed, unfortunately, we have failed to come out of the stone age, where gender discrimination exists in all forms.
Both men and women are the equal creatures as Allah bestowed equal mental and spiritual capabilities upon them. Both play crucial role in the maintenance of peace and harmony in society. Only woman is capable of conceiving a child and most of her time, in our societies, is spent inside the house while taking care of her children and doing other house work.
She hardly gets free time to go out and earn money. The task of earning livelihood in our society is fulfilled by a man and is thus considered as a bread winner. When the two genders perform their jobs with responsibility and loyalty, and respect each other, the wheel of life keeps turning without any chaos.
Unfortunately, the role of woman as a mother and a wife is devalued in man dominated societies, because they think she is unable to earn money but forget that she spends her whole life by carrying household chores as an unpaid labourer.
The battle against gender disparity is not yet won. In our society, women are still considered inferior to men. They have less opportunities for education, financial independence, economic stability, health and safety. They are not allowed to play their role in political activities and in some areas they are barred from casting their votes.
Even they are paid less than men while doing the same job. They face harassment at work places and in educational institutes. Even today there are many areas where people do not send their daughters to schools as it is considered against the norm of society. A large number of girls leaves their studies at early age due to limited resources, early marriages and cultural barriers.
Women are half part of our society and keeping them deprived of education means half of the brain in our society has been locked in the darkness of illiteracy. Today, only those nations have touched the developmental heights where men and women work side by side.
Women are kept deprived of their right of inheritance. The transfer of the estate of deceased person to male successors is a legal and normal accepted, however when it comes to female successors, they do not get what is their right. In short, inequality and prejudice against women is common in rigid communities.
Gender equality is indispensable for the development and peace of a society. It can only be attained if society recognises women’s capabilities and the positive role they can play in development. It is high time to understand the need to eliminate the self-made prejudice against women, and to empower them for better, just and prosperous society.
