This article is written by Arya Mishra, an intern at iPleaders. The author herein discusses the concept of gender polarity, injustice and religious fanaticism.

A new morning will only be seen when men and women walk on the one single path with equality and respectfully. 

We live in a diversified nation and our nation consists of two types of gender that are male and female. Both the genders are given equal rights and opportunities to have and earn a living. Then who is the society who discriminate these two genders? 

Gender Polarization is an idea of human science by American Psychologist Sandra Bem which expresses that social orders will, in general, characterize feminity and manliness as perfect inverse sexes, with the end goal that as total inverse sexes, to such an extent that male-satisfactory conduct and dispositions are not seen suitable for ladies and the other way around.

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Gender polarisation is a new thought process of sex-gender distinction which states sex alludes to organic contrasts among male and female whereas, gender refers to an identification in the society where one resides. Gender made some rules that decide the behaviour, attitude and knowledge, that society framed both for male and female. Basically, the attire and the body structure defines a person but society framed some different rules.

As per Scott Coltrane and Michele Adams, “Gender Polarization begins early in childhood when girls are encouraged to prefer pink over blue, and boys are encouraged to prefer toy trucks over dolls.” There are many other ways of distinction which are taught at a very early age.

Gender/ Sex discrimination is treating someone unfavourably just because of the opposite gender/sex.

“Girls will be girls”, no matter how much have achieved in life, no matter how much they earn but a line of distinction will always run in between a boy and a girl.

Through different analysis done on gender polarity, a conclusion came is that due to gender polarization lifestyle of females have been changed at a greater pace. 

Gender polarity comes with different synonyms like gender biases which means creating a separation between the thoughts of a female and male. Discriminating the two genders on several grounds, trying to make females get lowered in all respects. Whether it is taking any firm decisions in the field of their jobs or at home. 

Gender biases affect day to day activities of a woman and give more power to a man. Living and surviving in a male-dominated society it is important for females to take stand for themselves and also for women who will be coming in the next generation. Basically, there are two types’ people living in this society one who promote gender equality and others who believe in the concept of ladies staying behind the doors cooking food and doing all sort of activities that are to be done at home, not outside homes. 

Gender polarity can also be seen in many other spheres of our day to day activities take the case of job appointments, if a male and a female candidate are sitting for the same position then the preference will be given to a man over a woman. Most probably the capability and calibre can never be a factor for any job but gender is always a factor for a job.

Also in the case of making choices or making decisions, the opinion of women is kept as a secondary choice or option. These were a very minute-minute thing where discrimination takes place, but there are times where discrimination is done at a bigger pace or at a greater level which may result in mental trauma faced by women.

Women’s activists battle for social and political rights identifying with ladies’ issues, for example, regenerative rights, abusive behaviour at home and rape. Numerous individuals accept that women’s liberation is about ladies attempting to command men, when in fact it’s about the correspondence of the genders. 

Ladies have endured with social and political mistreatments for a considerable length of time and despite the fact that we have come far, there are still such a large number of shameful acts, which still need tending to.

Feminism has its own long history but there are no positive effects displayed. It was one of the most important social movement of the past two centuries and one of the most effective social movement which has changed the living on a global scale. It is customary to divide the history of feminism into three waves (First, Second and Third-wave) which signalled the drastic struggle of women in a different era to gain equality for all their rights. 

At today’s date, the word meaning of the word feminism differ from person to person but if the core of this word is examined that is the period of the 18th century, it was a social movement for emancipation (to have what they deserve) of women. Before the evolvement of feminism, the term used was ‘‘women’s rights’’. 

First Wave Period

It was a period of great struggle for women. This can be divided into three categories:- i) struggle to have a registered property for themselves, ii) women were not even safe after their marriage that is they can be raped by their husbands and cannot complain about it, and iii) women were discriminated at their workplace, that is they were not only paid less but also treated badly. The period of the first wave was of great struggle and it took long years to clear it. 

Second Wave Period

 Once the suffrage was granted this movement started to decline. The second wave took the view that equality between the sexes would only come about if there was any positive and a big change on the part of cultural thoughts on the part of both men and women. There was a positive change seen when the end of the second wave came near, women came to the solution that all the battles can only be won if they are fought. 

Third Wave Period

There was a problem with feminism. Feminist scholars of colour, particularly those from the Third World, argued very forcefully that feminism neglected race and class. These issues are central to the Third Wave, which many cite as beginning with the outraged.)

The reason for the beginning of this feminism movement was the socio-political differences faced by women in the world. Numerous individuals accept that women’s liberation is about ladies attempting to rule men when in reality it’s about the fairness of the genders. 

Ladies have endured with social and political abuses for a considerable length of time and despite the fact that we have come an exceptionally long way, there are still such a significant number of treacheries, which still need tending to. Ladies’ dissident advancement began on July nineteenth and twentieth, 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York. It wound up known as the Seneca Falls Convention.

Women are one of those creations of God, who is more powerful in terms of knowledge, hard work and success, but just because of the society created some walls to which women cannot cross. Women need their own identity and position when they stand in front of a group of intellectual men. 

All around the world, there are different activities for which women are barred. Some of those activities are:- 

1. Clothing– In 2001, a militant group Lashkar-e-Jabar demanded that Muslim women in Kashmir wear burqas, head to toe garments that cover their clothes, or risk being attacked. There are many other countries where clothing is a big factor for women to survive. 
2. Driving– In Saudi Arabia, women are prohibited from driving. It was a thinking/a myth that women should not be allowed to move out in public without any male guardian, also they were not allowed to have a free movement without written permission. 
3. Victim of violence– Women’s unequal legal rights increase their vulnerability to violence. In many countries in the region, no specific laws or provisions exist to penalize domestic violence, even though domestic violence is a widespread problem. 
4. Sexual subjugation– Many countries criminalize adult, consensual sex outside of marriage. In Morocco, women are much more likely to be charged with having violated penal code prohibitions on sexual relations outside of marriage than men. Women are usually dominated and controlled, or tried to be dominated and controlled by men and strengthening society. 
5. Female Infanticide– The number of girls born and surviving in India is significantly less compared with the number of boys, due to the disproportionate numbers of female foetuses being aborted and baby girls deliberately neglected and left to die. The normal ratio of births should be 950 girls for every 1000 boys. However, in some regions, the number is as low as 300 and many more. In India, many cases are recorded of a newborn female child either thrown out to die or are killed before birth. 
6. Right to Education– In many areas of Afghanistan, girls are often taken out of school when they hit puberty. This country is not safe for women, they are hit by their dominating husbands several times a day and are asked to keep their mouth shut or they can even lose their lives. Women are the real sufferers in that country fighting daily for their lives and existence. 
7.  Right to travel – In Iraq, Libya, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Yemen, married women must have their husband’s written permission to travel abroad, and they may be prevented from doing so for any reason.

Women, who speak for themselves, ironically suffer the most. Usually, they are either sexually abused a lot or are thrown somewhere to die. It is evaluated that more than 700,000 individuals are dealt every year in spite of the fact that it isn’t known precisely what number of are ladies. The greater part of these ladies is dealt with sexual abuse. 

The most aggravating is that in parts of the Middle East, “respect killings” are as yet drilled. These killings can be expedited by ladies taking part in gay acts or sexual acts outside of marriage, needing to end or counteract a masterminded marriage or notwithstanding dressing too provocatively. In Turkey, there is no assurance for ladies being mishandled, there are no safe houses or help for ladies in these risky conditions. 

In Nepal if a lady is assaulted or ambushed the culprits are not punished, they aren’t captured. These are for the most part instances of extraordinary separation of ladies all through the world yet we can discover increasingly unobtrusive instances of segregation here in the United States. Despite the fact that females have advanced education rates and work more than men in a similar calling regardless they get paid less in America. 

There is as yet a 20% pay gap among people working in a similar field. There has anyway been advancement. The compensation hole has diminished since it was 28 pennies on the dollar in 1988 to now being 11 pennies on the dollar in 2007, however, in 19 years, the main decline was 17 pennies. On the off chance that we can continue revealing insight into the separation of ladies all through the world, we can ideally improve things.

For instance, all the other foreign countries are eroding gender discrimination by giving equal opportunities to both male and female, also by encouraging them towards both in education and political field. By giving scope and wider their path, females are getting improvement in the field of personal development and responsibility towards society.  Politics is the best example where development of women is very-well noticed. Also, girls are now promoted to education and sports. 

India’s progress towards Gender Equality, measured by its position on rankings such as GENDER DEVELOPMENT INDEX has been disappointing, despite fairly rapid rates of economic growth. 

Discrimination against women and girls is a pervasive and long-running phenomenon that characterises Indian society at every level. Social organizations in India, especially those legacies through male relatives (patrilineality) and wedded couples living with or close to the in-laws (patrilocality), assume a focal job in propagating sexual orientation disparity and thoughts regarding gender-appropriate behaviour.

Being and staying in an updated society people also needs to get modernised. Girls are treated as a small and easy target to hit and easily won and this mentality makes a female feel mentally weak and unstable. There are girls who want to work for their living and want to give support to their family but unfortunately, these capable girls are kept behind doors just because society doesn’t want them to work, as it is a shameful act of girls working outside. 

In India, discriminatory attitudes towards either sex existed for generations and deferred from religion to religion and place to place. Although the constitution of India gave equal rights to both sexes in relation to every field that is right to free movement, right to vote, right to speech, etc. Men always had an upper case in all these fields. Research shows Gender Discrimination is always in favour of men and not in favour of women, this remains the same at the workplace. 

Gender Disparity still exists in India. Being born as women in Indian society one has to face gender discrimination. Attaining gender justice is not an easy task in India. Discrimination against women begins even before her birth. The traditional value system, low level of literacy, more household responsibilities, absence of self-assurance family demoralization and propelled science and innovation is a portion of the variables capable to make sex divergence in our general public.

The most significant reasons for sexual orientation divergence, for example, neediness, absence of education, joblessness, social traditions, convictions and hostile to the female frame of mind. Women are also discriminated in terms of credit lending and property ownership. Women also lack the corporate and government sectors.

“Gender-based discrimination towards girls doesn’t simply prevent them from being born, it may also precipitate the death of those who are born,” wrote by Christophe Guilmoto. 

In India, many of the reported deaths have been due to neglect in health-seeking behaviour as well as the invisible routine bias in food allocation. The mechanisms of gender discrimination are complex and multi-layered. Out of line dissemination of resources and prejudicial treatment of young men and young ladies in intra-family social insurance and sustenance distribution is at the centre abundance female mortality.

Due to religious beliefs and religious affairs, there are many reasons for disparity caused because of gender. 

Though at today’s scenario time is totally changed and is walking towards the positive side. The country is developing for both men and women. Reserved seats are there for women in all types of jobs either government or private. This development is for the people and with the people. 

To know more about gender discrimination in legal profession, please click here.