Gender Discrimination Definition
Gender Discrimination is the type of discrimination which is based on the gender of the person. Usually women are treated differently and unequal than men in their education, career, economic advancement and political influences. It is a common type of discrimination that is happening throughout the world, even in the developed countries.
The question of concern is why does this discrimination happen? The root cause seems to be the culture. It is through culture that we come to know who men and women are and what kind of relationship do the two have with each other. According to culture, the work of a woman is home and the work of a man is community. Women are not just considered to be physically weak, but are considered to be weak in everything when compared with men and that’s how the society treats them.
Gender Discrimination Types
The sexual discrimination exists in many different types all over the world. Most common types that we experience on daily basis have been discussed below:
- Discrimination in Education: Women are treated unequally when it is matter of admissions, recruitments, financial aid, grading, housing, classroom assignment, counseling, guidance, academic programs, vocational education, and discipline.
- Discrimination in Employment: This is a major problem women have to face in workplace. They are deprived of the basic rights at the workplace and often harassed by the co-workers. Just because they are females, they are not assigned jobs which they are capable of doing. Even bosses sometimes treat women unfairly. In many workplaces, women are a minority. Therefore, females are always under the pressure from the work environment. Sometimes, even customers target the female employees.
- Wage Discrimination: There have been many situations in which men and women perform the same type of work and they probably have the same education too, but still employers don’t give equal pay for women. This difference is merely because of gender inequality.
- Maternity and Pregnancy Discrimination at Work: In case a woman is pregnant, some employers do not even like to interview them. Many females at their workplace hide their pregnancy just because of the fear of getting fired. Sometimes, they are even demoted.
Gender Discrimination Examples
Gender Discrimination also called sexism and it exists in the severe forms. There are plenty of examples which we witness even on a daily basis. Some of them have been discussed below:
- In Saudi Arabia, females were not allowed to cast votes, however, now the rules have changed. Females are not allowed to drive, and the vehicles are only driven by men, if they need to out anywhere.
- Although women are allowed to participate in the military, but they are not yet allowed to serve in the frontline comeback in countries like UK, Slovakia and Turkey.
- Women are prone to violence and the most obvious form is rape. Unfortunately, in many countries, it is considered to be a disgrace and the one who is the victim often commits suicide or the family members kill her.
- In many third world countries, women are hardly allowed to leave their homes and get even the basic education.
- The common form of gender discrimination is the wage gap between men and women and it exists in even the developed countries. They only make 77% of what men are earning and this earning comes from the same job or amount of work.
Gender discrimination laws have been developed and if females are harassed or treated unlawfully, they have the law to protect their rights. This has given women some share to speak up about the oppression but the law still is not serving its purpose in the best way.
