GENDER

1. Introduction
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between,
masculinity and femininity. Depending on the context, these characteristics may include
biological role (i.e., the state of being male or female), gender-based social structures (i.e.,
gender roles), or gender identity. In the tradition of culture is dominated by languages, in which
there are gender pronouns. The people who identify as men or women /masculine or feminine by
using a system of gender binary.

The meaning of the word ‘Gender’ did not become widespread until the 1970s, when
feminist theory embraced the concept of a distinction between biological sex and the social
construct of gender. Today, the distinction is followed in some contexts, especially the social
sciences.

In other context, including some areas of the social sciences, gender includes sex or
replaces it. For instance, in non-human animal research; gender is commonly used to refer to the
biological sex of the animals.

GENDER SYSTEM AND SOCIETY:

Categorizing males and females into social roles creates a problem, because individuals
feel they have to be at one end of a linear spectrum and must identify themselves as man or
woman, rather than being allowed to choose a section in between. Globally, communities
interpret biological differences between men and women to create a set of social expectations
that define the behaviors that are "appropriate" for men and women and determine women's and
men's different access to rights, resources, power in society and health behaviors. Although the
specific nature and degree of these differences vary from one society to the next, they still tend to
typically favor men, creating an imbalance in power and gender inequalities within most
societies.

Many cultures have different systems of norms and beliefs based on gender, but there is
no universal standard to a masculine or feminine role across all cultures. Social roles of men and
women are based on the cultural norms of that society, which lead to the creation of gender
systems. The gender system is the basis of social patterns in many societies, which include the
separation of sexes, and the primacy of masculine norms.

Legal status:
A person's sex as male or female has legal significance—sex is indicated on government
documents, and laws provide differently for men and women. Many pension systems have
different retirement ages for men or women. Marriage is usually only available to opposite-sex
couples; in some countries and jurisdictions there are same-sex marriage laws.

Understanding Gender:
 Understandings of gender continually evolve. In the course of a person’s life, the
interests, activities, clothing and professions that are considered the domain of one gender or
another evolve in both ways small and large. The data show that today’s young people have
significantly different understandings of gender than previous generations, with consequences
for all children, families, organizations and institutions.

Dimensions of Gender:
People tend to use the terms “sex” and “gender” interchangeably. But, while connected,
the two terms are not equivalent. Generally, we assign a newborn’s sex as either boy or girl
based on the baby’s physical characteristics. Once a sex is assigned, we presume the child’s
gender. A person’s gender is the complex interrelationship between three dimensions:

 Body:
Our experience of our own body, and how others interact with us based on our body.

 Identity:
Our deeply and internal sense of self as masculine, feminine and a blend of both.
Identity also includes the name we use to convey our gender. Gender identity can
correspond to or differ from the sex we are assigned at birth.

 Expression:
How we present our gender in the world and how society, culture, community and
family perceive, interact and try to shape our gender. Gender expression is also related to
gender roles and how society uses those roles to enforce conformity according to gender
norms.

Each of these dimensions can vary greatly across a range of possibilities and distinct from, but
interrelated with each other. A person’s comfort in his/her gender is related to the degree in
which these three dimensions are in harmony

2. Gender Inequality
Gender inequality acknowledges that men and women are not equal and
that gender affects an individual's life experience. These differences arise from distinctions in
biology, psychology, and cultural norms. Some of these distinctions are empirically grounded
while others appear to be socially constructed. 

The afflicted world in which we live is characterized by deeply unequal sharing of the
burden of adversities between women and men. Gender inequality exists in most parts of the
world, from Japan to Morocco, from Uzbekistan to the United States of America. However,
inequality between women and men can take very different forms. Indeed, gender inequality is
not one homogeneous phenomenon, but a collection of interlinked problems.
Types of Inequality:

 Mortality Inequality:
 In some regions in the world, inequality between women and men directly involves
matters of life and death, and takes the brutal form of high mortality rates of women as a
consequent of preponderance of men in the total population. The preponderance of
women in societies is facing gender biasness in health care and nutrition. Mortality
inequality has been observed extensively in North Africa and in Asia, including China
and South Asia.
 Natality Inequality:
Many male-dominated societies have given preference for boys over girls, gender
inequality can manifest itself in the form of the parents’ desire that the newborn to be a
boy rather than a girl. There was a time when this could be no more than a wish (a
daydream or a nightmare, depending on one's perspective), but with the availability of
modern techniques to determine the gender of the fetus, sex-selective abortion has
become common in many countries. It is particularly prevalent in East Asia, in China and
South Korea, but also in Singapore and Taiwan, and it is beginning to emerge as a
statistically significant phenomenon in India and South Asia as well. This is high-tech
sexism.
 Basic Facility Inequality:
Although demographic data do not show much or any anti-female bias (misogyny)
but there are other ways in which women can have less than a square deal. Afghanistan
may be the only country in the world the government is keen on actively excluding girls
from schooling (it combines this with other features of massive gender inequality)
 Special opportunity Inequality:
Even when there is relatively little difference in basic facilities including
schooling, the opportunities of higher education may be far fewer for young women than
for young men. Indeed, gender bias in higher education and professional training can be
observed even in some of the richest countries in the world, in Europe and North
America.
 Professional Inequality: 
In terms of employment as well as promotion in work and occupation, women
often face greater handicap than men. A country like Japan may be quite egalitarian in
matters of demography or basic facilities, and even, to a great extent, in higher education,
and yet progress to elevated levels of employment and occupation seems to be much
more problematic for women than for men.
 Ownership Inequality: 
In many societies the ownership of property can also be very unequal. Even basic
assets such as homes and land may be very asymmetrically shared. The absence of claims
to property can not only reduce the voice of women, but also make it harder for women to
 enter and flourish in commercial, economic and even some social activities. This type of
inequality has existed in most parts of the world, though there are also local variations.
For example, even though traditional property rights have favored men in the bulk of
India, in what is now the State of Kerala, there has been, for a long time, matrilineal
inheritance for an influential part of the community, namely the Nair’s.
 Household Inequality:
There are often enough, basic inequalities in gender relations within the family or
the household, which can take many different forms. Even in cases in which there are no
overt signs of anti-female bias, survival or son-preference or education, the family
arrangements can be quite unequal in terms of sharing the burden of housework and child
care. It is, for example, quite common in many societies to take it for granted that while
men will naturally work outside the home, women could do it if and only if they could
combine it with various inescapable and unequally shared household duties. This is
sometimes called "division of labor." The reach of this inequality includes not only
unequal relations within the family, but also derivative inequalities in employment and
recognition in the outside world.

Gender Inequality In Education

The state of girls' education has improved significantly. However, girls continue to lag behind
boys, in many areas of the world, in terms of access to education, completion of education, and
acquisition of basic skills such as literacy.  In 2009, around 35 million girls were out of school
compared to 31 million boys. Globally, there is still a large gender gap in youth literacy rates,
although the gap has been shrinking over time.

Pakistan has paid a little attention to female’s education major portion of the Pakistani society is
not welcoming for girls, who want to attend school. Even those who are enrolled in schools
cannot attend them on a regular basis. There are various reasons, including gender
discrimination, early marriage and pregnancy, and physical and mental violence against girls
within and outside of schools. Gender disparities are particularly wide in camps in South and
West Asia, especially in Pakistan, where 4 girls are enrolled for every 10 boys at the primary
level.

Causes:
 Cultural and Social Beliefs:
Cultural and social beliefs, attitudes, stereotypes and practices discriminate girls from getting
equal educational opportunities. The general tendency in society is to invest in sons’ education,
rather than daughters in developing countries. Such discrimination against girls results in poor
self-esteem among girls, who only envisage a future as wives and mothers.

 Violence:
Another key reason why girls do not attend school is because of violence. Parents are concerned
about safety and security of their children. They are concern about mobility of their daughters to
educational institutions especially in developing countries. Number of female kidnap cases has
been reported in Nigeria. Females in Pakistan face discrimination, exploitation and abuse at
many levels. In 2008 and 2009 in Pakistan more than 40,000 girls in the Swat Valley, where
Yousufzai lived, did not attend school due to threats by the extremists.

 Early Marriage and Menstruation:

Early marriage and pregnancy also play a central role in why girls do not receive equal
educational opportunities. Child marriage poses a threat to female education in developing
nations because when females are married off at a young age, it often means withdrawal from
school and no more learning. Menstruation, of course, is a natural and biological function, but it
poses a challenge to female education in some developing nation because some nations, such as
Nepal, seclude females and regard them as unclean. It also causes some added stress on their
wellbeing mentally and physically, including pains associated with migraines, cramps etc. Lack
of proper setup in educational institutions hinders them. A girl who lives in Kathmandu valley,
Nepal, had the story. She stated that since she was not allowed to touch anything in the kitchen,
if allowed to go to school, she had to go early in the morning before anyone was awake. When a
person is hungry, he or she cannot focus on studying, and, thus, females are again challenged in
their ability to obtain an education.

 Low Parental Literacy Rates:

It is clear from many studies that it is difficult for a female to get support from illiterate
parents who do not see the value of an education. Their lack of education creates a barrier to the
education of many females, especially in developing nations.

 Existence of Patriarchal Societies:

Then there is the existence of patriarchal societies. They pose another challenge to the education
of females in developing nations. Females are largely discriminated and conferred (grant) lower
status in society. Females are restricted to those courses that are stereotypically feminine like
cooking classes, home economics, art, and social studies, while males study mathematics,
physics and similar related courses. When it comes time to specialize or take entrance exams, the
females cannot compete with the males who are more knowledgeable and comfortable with
courses that deal with higher critical thinking such as the sciences and technology. This situation
contributes to females lagging behind and dropping out of school.

 Religious Custom:
Many females are blocked from school and suffer inequalities due to interpretation, often
misinterpretation, of religious tenets or the perceptions of such tenets by parents. The prophet
said
 “The pursuit of knowledge is a duty of every Muslim, man and woman.”

Nonetheless, many of the teachings and laws of the Prophet (SWA) have been misinterpreted
through the cultures of some societies and peoples to fit their own goals.

Muslim parents in Northern Nigeria are reluctant to send females to school and those who
go are often withdrawn before completion of their studies. This happens for a number of reasons,
including parents’ fear that their children will be deviant and that Western education will disrupt
the Islamic way of life. The conclusion is that religion itself does not limit education for females
in developing nations. Rather, it is a perversion of religions tenets by culture and people coupled
with certain misinterpretation and false religious perception that restrict female education

 Poverty:
Direct fees associated with schooling, such as tuition and books, can consume from about five up
to ten percent of the income of a middle-class family household and from twenty up to thirty
percent of the income of a poor household. The expense is often seen as an unnecessary expense
for females when other basic needs are yet to be met

Then there is the indirect cost of transportation, clothing, food, as well as the opportunity cost of
sending a female child to school instead of her working to earn money that might support the
family. At the end of the day when all of these fees and costs are levied on a poor household with
maybe five children, many times the females are left at home, while their brothers attend school

 Effects
 Female constitute nearly half of population today. No society can progress by
restricting more than half of its population in the abyss of ignorance and a maze of
undue limits. Educational inequality hinders national growth.

 The militants violate the Quran by depriving women of their right to education and
banning school for girls. Unfortunately, these people make their claims on behalf of
the sunnah.

 Gender inequality in education prevents women from fully participating in the

social, economic, political and spiritual life of the country. It harms society by
reducing national and international competitiveness. Therefore, in order to emerge
and grow as a country, there must not be a barrier to education for women.

 Without education women and girls cannot claim their economic, political, social
and spiritual rights. Education is the only way to establish, promote and protect
human rights.

 Education is essential to functioning and advancing in the modern world. It is also

fundamental to self-awareness, self-identity, and self-development. Studies show
that an educated female has the power to influence change in her life, family and
community. It reduces mother and infant mortality rates.
  An additional year of education gives a female ten-twenty percent chance of earning
more in her lifetime. It increases the welfare of the economy with an increase in
GDP. With education, females become a key component to ending poverty
worldwide.

Gender And Military:

I. The gender dimensions in military:
Liberal feminists argue as they want equality under the law, that there need to be

uniform standards and opportunities for men and women. That’s only possible in
case when military physical fitness test are gender neutral and all military
occupations are open for women. The logic behind this is that men and women
have the capacity to perform equally. Canadians have found that in battles women
can be just as tough as men. But the only actual barrier that observed, as far as the
women participation is concerned, is the male attitude towards females enrolled in
military professions. Males in military are encouraged to construct a body image
and set of mannerism so that women can’t compete with them and are seen as
weak bodies incapable of fighting against the enemy.

II. Science of reasoning behind keeping women out of military:

Women are considered weak in majority of the perspectives. Women are always
tried to keep out of armed forces because of some biological myth that women are
supposed to be genetically programmed to nurture life and are physically and
emotionally weak. Those who support this idea say that division of labor as males
and females is a biological rule. Despite the fact, women still made their presence
felt in military. The media coverage during the Persian Gulf War highlighted the
crucial role of women as camp followers, nurses, revolutionaries, spies and simple
female soldiers but rarely as supreme commanders. Though there is no evidence
that supports this myth. Cohesion is based on commonality experience, shared risk
and mutual experiences of hardships not on gender distinctions.

III. Institutional stereotypes:

 Lack of Leadership Qualities:

Febbraro (2007:111) reports that males resist female in leadership roles by

commenting on their “feminine” qualities or attributes. Women can’t be perceived
as competent leaders by virtue of their gender. In military, the qualities of a
successful leader such as decisiveness, confidence, accountability, and
 assertiveness, are taken weak or missing in females. Israeli military historian
Martin Van Creveld maintains that feminization of military is thought as
weakening the forces. And thus armed forces are trapped into a helpless situation
where everything that they invested for, goes in loss and failure.it is said that
women in armed forces can lead to lower rates of deploy (use) ability, lesser
physical ability, great need for medical care, high rates of non-availability, dual
service marriages, sexual harassment and these all factors lead to adverse effects
on morale, motivation and fighting spirits of soldiers.

 Sensitive Image of Women:

Women are portrayed as those beings that need male courtesy and protection and
as housewives who perform only household chores. In interviews with German
service man, who feel that it would be extremely difficult or women body dead or
suffering the idea of a women inflicting “violence” is strange. But none of these
men would find it weird or awkward, if a woman is seen protecting or raising her
child.
Some also comment that military will lose its “institutional soul” if women are
being enrolled in armed forces.

 Discomfort of Males While Working with Women:

Another important reason was that of “male dominance”. Males in every field
want to lead over everyone else and they can’t take anything over their supremacy
or leadership or even commanding stake. Conaway (2006:10) tell us that when
“positions” are held for women, men become “infuriated”. There they feel a danger
when the seats are reserved for females and even other ethnic minorities that in this
way they will have to confront with extra layers of scrutiny. This gender thing is
being so mainstream now. Males think that the concept of gender is frequently
linked with “biological basis”. They don’t think of females as human but rather
only as “female or girls” which simply can’t compete with them in any terms.

IV. Endeavour at Gender Mainstreaming and its Significance: (Gender mainstreaming is

an approach to policy-making that takes into account both women's and men's interests and
concerns)

Women in military are an example of postmodernism. World is facing a pressure

and so males are being forced to add and make a part of all fields that were once
associated with males including “armed forces”. Beijing Declaration and Platform
for Action (1995) established the significance of the gender as an important
strategy in maintaining and developing the gender equality all across the world.
This step was taken and it inculcates a special or important segment that includes
and focuses on “women and armed conflict”.

The Zeid Report states about the “masculine culture” of UN peace mission,
recommends more gender balancing in its missions. According to this report, the
 presence of more female in the missions can lead to promotion of such an
environment that leads to discouragement of sexual harassment, exploitation and
abuse of local population.

A study for the UN Division for the Advancement for Women found that the
incidence of Rapes and Prostitutions falls down at a higher pace just with the token
of female presence.

“Stated simply, men behave better when in the presence of women from their own
culture” (DeGroot)

Most important troop contributing nations include Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
Even then, in these countries, women participation is very low in military services.
Only 30% of the international civilian staff is females and out of that only 1% is
female’s staff in military personal and 4% in police forces. Thus females’
abilities are matched well for service, management and clerical jobs rather than
field work. This is because of the dominant “masculine culture which thinks that
“boys are boys”.

Conclusion:
Be it military or any other occupation, females are rarely allowed to sync well. It
seems as males and females are the two ends of the ocean that can never meet in
terms of leadership qualities, strength, power, decisiveness and mental power.
Male bastion has always continued with its own trends and values. But the world
is realizing the intrusion of females in military is indispensable (crucial, essential).
A cultural turn is must in order to minimize the unwanted violence that is possible
in the form of military becoming an egalitarian institution for all genders.

Gender and Politics

The study of politics has now broadened beyond the narrow focus on those holding
formal office and the politics of distribution. It now encompasses many new groups
espousing (embrace, accept)‘‘gender trouble’’ as well as new ideas about masculinity and
femininity across a range of context, from house or home to the house of parliament.
Gender is centrally is important to politics and that inequalities are embedded in both the
study and practice of politics.

Political Gender Inequalities

Even in Democratic societies in which gender equality is mandated, gender
discrimination occurs in politics, both in regards to presumption about political
allegiances (loyalty) that fall along gender lines, and disparate gender representation
within representative Democracies. Historically, this was even truer when women were
neither considering full citizen nor could vote.
Voting Right for Women
Before 1920, women did not have a national right to vote in the United States. Women
suffrage movement to achieve the female vote, was won gradually at state and local level
during the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1920, the Nineteenth
Amendment to the United State Constitution was ratified, which provided “The right of
citizen of the United State to vote, it shall not be denied by the United State or by any
State on account of sex”.

Women in Recent Politics

Since gaining the fundamental right to vote in 1920, women have worked in many level of
government in the United States. In 1920, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra
Day O’Connor as the first female Supreme Court justice. Hillary Clinton was served her
services as secretary of state. In Pakistan and in Islamic World Benazir Bhutto was the
first lady prime minister. Apr 10, 2019 - A woman becomes a figurehead
for female rights protests in Sudan.  The woman standing on top of a vehicle
surrounded by thousands of protestors is going viral. The woman (22-year-old student,
Alaa Salah) has become a symbol of feminist resistance against Omar Al-Bashi... As she
took thousands of women to streets to protest and plead for change against autocratic
(absolute power) or calling for president Omar al-Bashir to step down.
Nationality Right
International human right law imposes an obligation on state to bestow equal citizenship
on both men and women, to guarantee women equal right with men, both as regard
acquisition of citizenship and as regard to exercise citizenship right in the public and
political spheres. In some countries, there exists discriminatory legislation around the
nationality right and the right to confer nationality on spouse or children. For example, a
number of African constitutions, in Nigeria, Zambia and Ghana, specify that citizenship
be determined by nationality of the father alone.

Gender Stereotyping
Despite the increasing presence of women in American politics, gender stereotypes still
exist. Data from the 2006 “American National Election Studies Pilot Study” confirmed
that both male and female voters, regardless of their political persuasions, expected men
to perform better as politicians than women. The only deviation in this data had to do
with competency in areas such as education that are typically perceived as women’s
domains and voters. Because gender is considered to be a master status or a primary trait
around which individuals identify lies. In other words, “women” are supposed to have
certain political priorities (usually those having to do with children and education) that
unite all women as a voting bloc or a group individual who tend to vote in the same way.