Gender trouble
Asna AliSaturday, September 27, 2014
From Print Edition
Asna AliSaturday, September 27, 2014
From Print Edition
Strict gender roles in society take away from everyone the right to live independently
Female privilege. That is the flip side of the coin when it comes to discussions regarding gender roles and the pressures they place on us. Gender discrimination is usually talked about in terms of the ways in which it affects women – and rightly so.
However, it is acknowledged and well understood that wherever strict gender roles are enforced, the resulting inequality has negative effects across the board even though they may be comparatively more numerous for women.
The idea of female privilege is usually trotted out as a rebuttal when instances of sexism are mentioned. For example, if discrimination against women in the work place is being criticised, the counter point may be raised that women – simply because they are women – are allowed to stay home and be taken care of with the money earned by their husbands or fathers.
There are other such instances. In western countries, rights to terminate pregnancies or to receive child support are brought up as examples. In our country, the right to inherit property or to be posted to jobs that are closer to home are pointed out as cases of female privilege.
If all else fails, the old standby is to ridicule the ease with which women can get whatever they want using their ‘feminine wiles’. In one fell swoop this accusation takes away whatever a woman may have achieved due to her education, hard work and intelligence and replaces it with the notion that wherever she is in life, it is due to the preferential treatment she has been given due to her gender. It also manages to ease the discomfort of the men around her because by discounting her merits and blaming her for their failings, they manage to absolve themselves of any shortcomings.
It is a spectacular display of blame shifting. Those who indulge in it conveniently manage to forget that if they accuse a woman of getting ahead using her looks etc, the people who make that possible for her are men. In this scenario, whether true or not, it is the men who are discriminating based on gender though this time not in favour of their own.
When female privilege is talked about, a lot of facts are ignored. Yes, women are allowed to stay at home and live on the wages of their male family members but this also puts them in a weakened position which reduces their right to make decisions about their own lives.
Women are also ‘allowed’ to stay at home or to posted to jobs close to their homes because of the unsafe environment they encounter outside of it. If there were no fears regarding the safety of a woman living on her own without the protection of her home and family, there would be no need for such rules.
Yes, there are women who use their looks rather than their skills to get ahead in the work place but that should not be allowed to turn into a general commentary regarding all professional women.
Societies that force individuals to conform to strict gender roles take away from everyone the right to live independently. From men who constantly live with the pressure of having to be the breadwinner, the women who must choose between having successful careers or happy families as well as the people whose gender identity does not fit cookie cutter descriptions.
It is a world of black and white that has no sympathy with actual lives in which there is only grey. It would be more helpful for us all if we stopped blaming, stopped believing in stereotypes and looked across the gender gap with a little more sympathy.
The writer is a businessstudies graduate fromsouthern Punjab.
Email: asna.ali90@ gmail.com
Female privilege. That is the flip side of the coin when it comes to discussions regarding gender roles and the pressures they place on us. Gender discrimination is usually talked about in terms of the ways in which it affects women – and rightly so.
However, it is acknowledged and well understood that wherever strict gender roles are enforced, the resulting inequality has negative effects across the board even though they may be comparatively more numerous for women.
The idea of female privilege is usually trotted out as a rebuttal when instances of sexism are mentioned. For example, if discrimination against women in the work place is being criticised, the counter point may be raised that women – simply because they are women – are allowed to stay home and be taken care of with the money earned by their husbands or fathers.
There are other such instances. In western countries, rights to terminate pregnancies or to receive child support are brought up as examples. In our country, the right to inherit property or to be posted to jobs that are closer to home are pointed out as cases of female privilege.
If all else fails, the old standby is to ridicule the ease with which women can get whatever they want using their ‘feminine wiles’. In one fell swoop this accusation takes away whatever a woman may have achieved due to her education, hard work and intelligence and replaces it with the notion that wherever she is in life, it is due to the preferential treatment she has been given due to her gender. It also manages to ease the discomfort of the men around her because by discounting her merits and blaming her for their failings, they manage to absolve themselves of any shortcomings.
It is a spectacular display of blame shifting. Those who indulge in it conveniently manage to forget that if they accuse a woman of getting ahead using her looks etc, the people who make that possible for her are men. In this scenario, whether true or not, it is the men who are discriminating based on gender though this time not in favour of their own.
When female privilege is talked about, a lot of facts are ignored. Yes, women are allowed to stay at home and live on the wages of their male family members but this also puts them in a weakened position which reduces their right to make decisions about their own lives.
Women are also ‘allowed’ to stay at home or to posted to jobs close to their homes because of the unsafe environment they encounter outside of it. If there were no fears regarding the safety of a woman living on her own without the protection of her home and family, there would be no need for such rules.
Yes, there are women who use their looks rather than their skills to get ahead in the work place but that should not be allowed to turn into a general commentary regarding all professional women.
Societies that force individuals to conform to strict gender roles take away from everyone the right to live independently. From men who constantly live with the pressure of having to be the breadwinner, the women who must choose between having successful careers or happy families as well as the people whose gender identity does not fit cookie cutter descriptions.
It is a world of black and white that has no sympathy with actual lives in which there is only grey. It would be more helpful for us all if we stopped blaming, stopped believing in stereotypes and looked across the gender gap with a little more sympathy.
The writer is a businessstudies graduate fromsouthern Punjab.
Email: asna.ali90@ gmail.com
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