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India is one the highest populous country in the world where thousands of castes and religious groups live and women's status in various castes are variety. Some where we can say that there is no governmental bondage towards women customs and rights among interior places. However, I have tried to collect some real facts on Indian working women and gender equality.
Gender Equality Factors and Indian Women customs on Media Research
The first and fourth scenario is gender neutral, it can happen to both
men and women. A person can be forced to study medicine or pursue
engineering as a part of legacy (or else like dinosaurs their
intelligent genes shall hit extinction). Every Indian (at large) parent
wants to brag that their child is either a doctor or an Engineer and if
its topped with IIM or IAS, moksha is guaranteed!
Here is a certified project thesis entitled "Problems and Challenges
Faced by Urban Working Women in India" being submitted by Varsha Kumari
for the award of the degree of MA in Development Studies in the
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Institute of
Technology Rourkela, is a record of bona-fide research work carried out
by her under my supervision and guidance. Her research work at the
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences from National Institute of
Technology, Rourkela has reached the standard fulfilling the
requirements and the regulations relating to the degree. The contents of
this thesis, in full or part, have not been submitted to any other
university or institution for the award of any degree. The main
objective of the study was to understand the problems and issues faced
by urban working women in India. The objectives also included
identifying the key socio-economic attributes contributing to women’s
status, safety and security, and to study women’s involvement in various
activities/ organizations for improving of family, community and
society. The study was confined to the urban working women in white
collared jobs in the city of Rourkela, India. A mixed methods approach
involving face to face interviews, focus group discussions and
questionnaire technique including both close-ended and open-ended
questions was chosen for effective elicitation of data from the
respondents. Methods triangulation was adapted for establishing validity
and reliability of the study. The study was based on primary data
collected from Rourkela city to find out the possible solutions for
working women which could help them to overcome the problems that they
face in the workplace.
Another research report was published in ZEE NEWS had
said that Women may topple men in multitasking but at the same time, it
is also taking a toll on their health. A recent survey by Associated
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) has found that three out of
four working women in the country suffer from health disorders.
The survey called 'Multi-tasking seriously affecting corporate women’s
health' found that 78% of working women suffer from various health
ailments; the age group of 32-58 is the most affected. The study reveals
how women in the country are hit with lifestyle, chronic and acute
ailments like obesity, depression, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart,
kidney disease, etc. The survey found that about 42% of working women
are suffering from lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, obesity,
depression, backache, heart ailments while 22% are afflicted with
chronic diseases. The chamber conducted the study in ten cities
including, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, and Mumbai to mark the
International Women's Day on March 8.
As Senjuti Kundu mentions in her answer to What are five things girls
hate about being in India, how girls have to go an extra mile to prove
themselves that they are equivalent to boys. Going all the way to find a
women college is a waste of time as a girl will be patronized in a
co-ed to an extent that it will be enough to make her hit temple of
doom! Then, there are a considerable amount of parents that prefer "only
boys" education too. As if women are the key to destruction!
Coming to "Love marriages", in India (caste or inter caste) affects both
genders. Indeed a woman is subject to more intense ridicule and is at a
higher risk of being honor killed.
Is the Indian society more partial towards women and girls, What is the
worst country in which to be born a woman, the recent media coverage of
sexual violence All these issues have been pretty much talked about in
every answer on Quora that speak about the challenges women in India
face owing to patriarchal society, deep rooted cultural norms, specified
gender roles esp child bearing and care etc).
In the history of human development, women have been as vital in the
history making as men have been. In fact higher status for women
vis-Ã -vis employment and work performed by them in a society is a
significant indicator of a nation’s overall progress. Undoubtedly,
without the active participation of women in national activities, the
social, economic or political progress of a country will deteriorate and
become stagnant. But ironically and tragically, women employees in
general, are not taken very seriously by their superiors, colleagues, or
society at large. Having a career poses challenges for women due to
their family responsibilities. Traditionally Indian women had been home
makers but in the recent decades, proper education and better awareness,
in addition to the ever increasing cost of living has made them to go
out and choose careers. In a patriarchal society like India it is still
believed that a man is the primary bread winner of his family. Although
Indian women have started working outside their homes but still they
have a long way to go both culturally, socially and economically, to
bring in positive attitudinal changes in the mind-set of people.
However, one issue that nobody has mentioned so far is the gender
discrimination educated empowered women face in an "organisation", that
has been structured solely around men.
Even if a job is presented as gender-neutral, it does have a gender bias
because men and women enter the organisation on unequal terms. In,
India men have greater cultural rights to autonomy, social freedom, and
mobility outside the home than women. Women's domestic
responsibilities, and their culturally and socially specified roles,
hinder them from entering into and fully participating in an
organisation, unless they receive extra-support to overcome such
barriers, which is usually considered a liability to an organisation and
hence, limited.
Moreover, a gender division of labor in society (for eg, a natural
split between productive and reproductive roles) means that women's
roles and positions in an organisation are equally determined by the
assumption that women are good at certain tasks but not at others. For
example, men are able to travel long distance on their own, men can
extend their work hours as often men don't have the same domestic or
child-care responsibilities as women. So, this has consequences for the
allocation of power, which is also unequally allocated on the basis of
"men's" or "women's" work which constitutes a large chunk of"unpaid"
domestic and child-care work ( the main reason that rural women and
housewives remain exploited)
The women in an organisation (esp lower hierarchy have to face a system
that has been molded to masculine standards. This is the reason why
there are not many women at higher positions in India (its same story
worldwide) limiting women to hold lower-graded posts even after being
over-qualified and experienced than their male counter-parts; which
invariably translates into lower salary, less responsibility, lower
status, and less influence on decision making. Referred to as breaking
the "glass ceiling" in management language.
When an organisation emphasizes in bold that it is an "equal
opportunity"employer, it is basically just an illusion. As we research
more about gender and development, we come to understand that gender
inequality goes beyond male power and breeds in the "institutional"
sites where these inequalities are produced and reproduced. - Gender
works, Oxfam experience in Policy and Practice.
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