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Every child deserves to thrive for and attain her or his full potential, but gender inequalities hinder this reality. Gender inequality is a scenario where opportunities are restricted from a child based on his or her gender.
Gender Issue in India
In India, it has been observed that girls are most affected with this issue. The level of facilities which are given to a male child are not given to a girl child. They are not allowed to go to school or colleges, and if they manage to complete their studies they are not allowed to work. They are not provided with the equal opportunities as boys. Not just in the area of education, girls have to face gender issues in case of food and nourishment. Boys are provided with a proper balanced nutritious diet whereas not much focus is given on the girls diet.
Globally, girls have higher survival rates at birth, but India is the only large country where more girls die than boys and are most likely to drop out of school.
While boys get greater amounts of freedom, girls have to face a lot of limitations to move freely, make decisions related to work, education, marriage and social relationships. As girls and boys grow, this gender issue also increases as we see very less number of women in the formal workplace.
One can say that there are two India’s within India when it comes to gender issues. We have observed that some Indian women have become global leaders in diverse fields; but a majority number of women are not even enjoying their basic rights.
Because of this gender discrimination, girls become more prone to the child marriages, teenage pregnancies and child domestic work. They often receive poor health and education and are sexually abused.
Gender issues in Education
Access to quality education for everyone is the key in ensuring gender equality. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, poverty and local culture play a big role in gender inequality in the field of education.
People living in poverty cannot afford education for their children and when it comes to choosing whom to send to the schools for a formal education, boys are chosen. Girls are left out of schools and could not get education, and are only expected to do chores at home.
Another issue is the lack of sanitation facilities in the schools. Lot of girls drop out of school when they start menstruating because there are not ample facilities of toilets and sanitation in the schools. In some cultures, even today educating girls is not considered as an important requirement and they did not get the formal education.
Solutions
Combining women’s empowerment and formal schooling can provide girls a quality life and they also develop the intellect to decide about their well being. And they get access to opportunities in the future.
Working girls can also help in reducing poverty and economic pressure on lower-income households, as she can also contribute towards the house expenses.
Active participation of women in the workforce also contributes to the growth of the economy of a country. Thus, it is clear that providing the same opportunities, especially education to girls can have a meaningful impact in their growth and the growth of their nation.
Empowering girls with these skills requires focused investment and collaboration by providing them the services and safety they need to reduce the risks, so that they are able to fully develop and contribute to India’s growth.
UNICEF India’s 2018-2022 Country Programme is developed after identifying the issues that children in India are facing, one amongst them is gender based issues. The main aim of this programme is to attain gender equality and this can be achieved by:
- Improving the health of children and especially the girl child and reducing female mortality
- Improving nutrition of children by providing them balanced diets irrespective of their gender
- To encourage both girls and boys who were dropped out of school to go back or complete their education through alternate mediums.
- Ending child and early marriage
- Improving sanitation facilities so that girls’ can get access to menstrual hygiene management; such as well-equipped separate toilets in schools
National Policy on Education
The National Policy on Education was launched by the Indian government to focus on equality between men and women. The policy highlights improving the social, nutritional, and health status of the girls, encouraging early childhood care and education as the most important component of the universal elementary education mission. The policy aims to revise textbooks to remove gender bias and attain gender equality.
Conclusion
It is true that India cannot fully develop until and unless both girls and boys are treated equally and supported to reach their full potential. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is working hard on reducing these gender issues. The efforts are supported by UNICEF India at the national and state level. They work closely with other agencies to support gender equality.
