Gender Equality in Workplace and Education

By Aditri Sahni

A Buddhist philosopher once said, “The environment is a reflection of you”, this seems very befitting as today we stand as feminists or supremacists. We often understand feminism to be related to women only, but instead, it is a radical movement that wishes to bring equality to society.

Genders aren’t limited to Male or Females, but our environment, the society we live in, seems to have denied this notion and sticks to what has previously been poured into their hands. The environment we grew up in has made its stand on equality amply clear- downsizing girls in school, becoming anti-LGBT as soon as June gets over, preferring to promote men over women; we observe our social structure to be built around the power that ‘men’ hold.

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, 5% of all employed women lost their jobs, compared with 3.9% of employed men. The Global Gender Gap, an index used to measure gender equality, stands at 67.7% for 2021. Estimates projected that between 11 million and 20 million girls would not return to school after Covid. Nearly 59% of non-LGBTQ employees believe it is “unprofessional” to discuss sexual orientation or gender identity in the workplace. Now, these statistics wouldn’t mean anything without the story behind them. The story isn’t pretty, it ends with people resorting to prostitution, substance abuse, forced marriage, and worst of all, suicide.

‘Identify together, change can be the answer’; the problem lies within. Where one may not discriminate on the basis of gender, we may not voice our opinions due to the fear of being cast out. We’ve been taught to stay away from political issues and social concerns to avoid coming in harm’s way, but what our elders left out, was the importance of taking a stand. The Britishers didn’t leave India because they got bored, they left because people didn’t stay quiet, as is the case with the Japanese rulers and all the others! When one takes cover, the others do too; but when one stands, a revolution begins.

Former President of Harvard University, Drew Gilpin once said “I’m not the ‘woman’ President of Harvard, I’m the President of Harvard.” Our comfort zone won’t set us free, realization will. Mental health, suicide prevention, health awareness- these radical campaigns would never have been possible if the need of speaking up wasn’t realized. Gender Inequality exists, it is just as prevalent as the common cold. But like any communicative disease, gender inequality too can be eliminated.

Has the world commonly mistaken a woman for being inept for a job? Have genders that don’t fall under the M and F category been discriminated against? Has inequality become a routine of ours, that we don’t recognize when a man is overpowered?

The answer to these questions begins with a ‘y’ and ends with an ‘s’; but not anymore.