Posted On: 2021-10-03 12:18:22
Equality is about guaranteeing an equal opportunity for every individual and a chance to achieve the most in their lives and talents.
It is also the belief that no one should have more disadvantaged life chances because of the way they were born, where they come from, what they believe, or whether they have a disability. Every one of us is born similarly and leaves this world in the same way. It is the way people treat them differently that creates biases based on gender, age, colour, skin, literacy, position (designation)and caste. These are just a few "words" that are the base root of biasness.
Bias is widespread in every aspect of our lives. Our brains are hardwired to classify things we find to make sense of the complex and complicated world around us. However, biases can cause us to form resentments against others, which allows for extreme inequalities to form between different demographics. While bias comes in many forms, this article concentrates on gender bias.
Gender bias can affect women at every level of the legal profession. Women may have to field comments, judgements from male clients and colleagues who are concerned that a female cannot go “toe-to-toe” with a male opponent. Women often find themselves reminded of their male opponents’ experience, despite their own experience. It is not unusual to hear comments that men can more efficiently resolve disputes with males.
As compiled by a new UN report about COVID-19 and girls and women, this pandemic has seen in a spike in domestic violence as girls and women are living with their abusers in the same place. The loss of employment for women who hold the majority of vulnerable, insecure, informal and lower-paying jobs, the risk shouldered by the world’s nurses, attendants and wage workers who are mostly women and there is a rapid increase in unpaid daily work that girls and women mostly work. “Across the globe, women earn less, save less, hold less secure jobs, and are more likely to be employed in the informal sector. They have less access to social protection and are the majority of single-parent households. Their capacity to absorb economic shocks is, therefore, less than that of men.”
Read more on the same: Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Women.
Worldwide, below are the statistics related to diversity and gender bias in the workplace as per Builtin:
- 42% of women experience gender discrimination at work.
- In 2017, 25,000 sex-based discrimination claims were filed.
- In 2018, victims of sex-based discrimination received more than $148M in payouts from the complaints.
- 5 of the 14 top barriers women face in the workplace are related to discrimination and gender bias.
- Both men and women are twice as likely to hire a male candidate.
- Women are 79 times more likely to be hired when there are at least two female candidates in the finalist pool.
- Women are 25-46% more likely to be hired with blind applications or auditions.
- Half of the men believe women are well-represented at their company when 90% of senior leaders are men.
- 40% of men and women notice a double standard against female candidates.
- Men view unconscious bias as the number one barrier women face in their careers.
- 34% of men and women believe male executives are better at risk assessment.
- Men are 30% more likely to obtain managerial roles.
- Women and men ask for pay raise at the same rate.
- Women receive pay raises 5% less often.
- 23% of CEOs are women.
- 4% of C-Suite roles are held by women of colour.
These are just some of the recorded stats. There are many other pointers that go unnoticed.
Globally girls have greater survival rates at birth, are more likely to grow on the right track, and are just as likely to participate in preschool, but India is the only large country with a population of 1.3 million where more girls die than boys every single day. Girls are also more likely to drop out of school. In India girls and boys experience adolescence differently. While boys tend to experience greater freedom, girls tend to face restricted limitations on their ability to move freely and to make decisions affecting their work, education, marriage and social relationships.
As girls and boys age the gender boundaries continue to expand and continue into adulthood where we see only a part of women in the formal workplace. Some Indian women are global leaders and powerful voices in diverse fields but most women and girls in India do not fully enjoy many of their rights due to deeply rooted patriarchal views, norms, traditions, cultures and structures.
India will not be fully developed unless every gender is equally supported to reach its full potential.
We can take a step and stop these biases among everyone and can lead our lives with the mindset that "all are born equal". We can work in educating children, people, employees on how to behave and act towards a situation if they face any biases or see someone going through it. Standing up to biasness is more prominent and important as the person facing it might not know how they should act or are just plain scared about it. It is not easy to be the person who faces biases based on something which is so unrelated and pointless.
All people are born free and equal in importance, dignity and rights. They are provided with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of equality.
Everyone should have equal rights and freedom. No distinction should be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Let us make sure that we all live with kindness and aim not to bring someone down based on the distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or another opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or another status.
"The day women can walk freely on the roads at night, that day we can say that India has achieved Independence. "
-Mahatma Gandhi
Author : Lubdha Dhanopia
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