“GENDER DISCRIMINATION AND WOMEN HARASSMENT IN ASIAN COUNTRIES: STILL HAPPENING?”

 

“GENDER DISCRIMINATION AND WOMEN HARASSMENT IN ASIAN COUNTRIES: STILL HAPPENING?”

This is 2023 & there’s barely any woman in the world who didn’t have to face gender discrimination and harassment at least once in their lifetime. Unfortunately, the scenario of gender discrimination is quite rampant & it starts more or less from home.

This male dominant society loves to treat women as the weaker gender so they boundaries to suppress women. Although women nowadays are breaking stereotypes, discrimination & harassment have not been nipped in the bud yet. Now the question is: “WILL IT COME TO AN END FOREVER?”IF “YES”, HOW AND WHEN? IN CASE THE ANSWER IS “NO”, WELL WE DON’T EVEN WANT TO CONSIDER THAT!”

 “At what age a girl faces discrimination for the first time?” Well, it can be right after her birth. A common scenario in brown households is when a boy child is born, his parents and relatives buy cars, planes, bikes, and balls for him whereas they are more likely to buy utensils, dolls, and cosmetics for the girl child. This might sound very intricate of  me but if you look at the matter deeply, you’ll notice we have a mindset that boys are naturally oriented towards outdoor activities whereas we think of girls to be  suitable for cooking, cleaning and maintaining households only–the most basic form of gender discrimination starts right here.

Not only that, when the children grow up, even in most modern families, the parents have a mentality that their sons should be able to do the outdoor chores only whereas their daughters must know how to cook and to do all other daily chores. They think of cooking and doing all the daily chores to be gender-specific roles that should be done only by women. But the most basic skill for survival is to know how to cook and to make one’s own food; it’s not something that a woman has to know, it’s for all. This sort of upbringing harms a child’s mentality. Boys who were raised in a family like that grow up as  men who refuse to marry working women whose only job is not to make food for the family and to do the household chores or even if they do, they would usually make a fuss out of it. Men like them find it disgraceful and not their responsibility to assist their  wives in doing the chores. This is how a lot of women suffer in their marital life because they do not get the support and cooperation of their spouses. They often have to hear from their husbands or in-laws that if they want to continue working outside, they’ll have to single-handedly perform all the chores as well. Their husbands and in-laws make them feel as if they had done a great favor by allowing them to work and make a career of their own.What a disgrace for men who think like that!!Boils my blood whenever I get to know that men like them still exist. Sigh……..

Again when a girl wants to pursue a career of her choice, which is unconventional according to society, she has to hear that women should not choose a challenging career for instance, joining the military or airforce or navy; not because they care a lot about the women but they underestimate women’s potential and caliber to undergo everything that comes in their way also some of them think if women start working hand in hand with them it’ll be very shameful for the men as they won’t be able to boast of being the stronger gender.They have the fear of being outperformed by the women because at any cost, they are not ready to believe that “Men and Women are equal”.To prove them wrong, a huge number of women have joined the military breaking all the stereotypes even though they had to face a lot of hurdles.

Even in the job sectors, women are underestimated. Their superiors tend to believe that women do not have the professionalism to accomplish any task. According to them, a man over a woman is always a better and wiser choice. This sort of behavior cannot stop a woman who is unwavering and has strong willpower. Queens are those who continue to fight their battle no matter what. More power to them.

Another burning issue in the job sector is wage inequality. Often we get to hear that despite doing  equal work , being equally qualified or even more, women are always paid less than their male counterparts. Priyanka Chopra, a very talented actress, presently a global icon shared how she was always deprived of the salary that she deserved. Chopra said that she’d get only 10% of the salary that the male actors received. 

THE MISOGYNIST SOCIETY DON’T EVEN LET A WOMAN TAKE HER PERSONAL DECISIONS BY HERSELF.If a woman is not happy in her marital life & she wants a divorce people from her surroundings start shaming her as if it’s a negative consequence of women empowerment.Most of the time people indulge in character assassination of that woman.If she is a working woman, they do not even think twice before accusing her of not being able to save the marriage and blame her career as the main reason behind the divorce.Again if a woman decides to not marry at all, this is also society’s headache.They would invade her privacy by asking questions and giving unwanted suggestions. Little do they understand that the world of a woman doesn’t revolve around the concept of being someone’s wife.Some women want to achieve beyond that because a woman doesn’t need a man to complete her.

When a woman is raising her child alone people question the ability of a mother to raise her child alone.In academic institutions, providing a mother’s  association is said to be inadequate.Little do they understand that if  situation demands that a mother  can be anything her child needs.

Not only misogynist people but also some women who are not aware of their rights & who glorify their sacrifices by staying tolerant towards injustice are  allowing gender discrimination to take such a pervasive form. Sad but true that a remarkable percentage of women shame other women for being feminists because they think women being too rebellious against the male dominant society is a taboo.This is how they are suppressing themselves and evoking gender discrimination.On the contrary, women who break stereotypes, raise their voices and prioritize themselves to ensure freedom of speech, freedom of movement, and above all freedom of living their  life as their own are the real warriors. Salute to them.

“HAS WOMEN HARASSMENT COME TO AN END? WILL IT EVER STOP”. Well, gender discrimination ultimately works as the main driving force behind harassment towards women. Having a clear idea about consent and respecting a women’s consent is very important which many men lack.The most heinous form of gender discrimination is raping a woman. Not only that, a lot of people indulge themselves in victim blaming.

They come up with misinterpretations of religion and question the victim’s character. This is exactly where the main difference lies between Asian countries and Western countries. Unfortunately, rape is prevalent more or less everywhere but the audacity of character assassination of the victim;not every nation has it. I wish there existed a way to educate this misogynist community  that rape is a crime that can’t be justified in any  way and the rapist is guilty irrespective of the victim’s character.

Women are also being abused by their family members or boyfriends or even husbands. The act of marital rape is pervasive in Asian countries. The reasons behind this heinous act can be many such as sexual perversion of the husband, the mentality to establish dominance over the wives, and also the unawareness of women who want to be the “Good Woman” defined by society. Well, speaking of the features that society’s “GOOD WOMAN” should have are obligation and submission towards husbands, fulfilling all his demands without questioning, never saying “NO” to anything he asks for and obviously never ever raising voice on him even at the cost of sacrificing consent and will.Her role should be of a submissive.Well ladies, my question is Why would you want to be society’s “GOOD WOMAN”?

Even in the job sectors, women are abused  by their superiors or collegues.In the film industry,the directors try to take advantage of the actress’s need for work with the intention of molesting her.If he gets refused,he will try to destroy her career by any means.One such incident came to limelight when Indian actress Tanushree Dutta shared how she was abused on set.    

Not only this, even the teenage girls are also the victims of harassment by the security guards and even the teachers of their own institutions.How pathetic!!

When a woman wants to raise voice and to take actions against the abuse people from her family or society try to keep her mouth shut.Because they think that the victim might face a lot of criticism in her life for instance,society will deem her a woman of questionable character,will doubt on her lifestyle and behavior, some might also complain about her dresses.The victim is usually pressurized mentally as she has to hear that no man will agree to marry her if she talks about this incident let alone raising voice against it.

Now that we know that no woman is actually safe in her family,institution,workplace or anywhere in this world,how can we possibly stop this injustice and brutality?Well, in my opinion,the prerequisite is to come out of the cocoon breaking the stereotype of being society’s “GOOD WOMAN” and to be aware of the rights that a woman was born with. It might take ages  to ensure 100% safety of women but we shall never stop fighting. No matter what it takes and no matter how long it takes,we shall keep the BATTLE ON  to achieve our goals.Parents should teach their children what consent is,the difference between good touch and bad touch. Institutions should have a zero tolerance policy against abusing women.Above all, what’s most important is the coherence between women and that of a woman’s support to another woman so that all women can be able to be their own “MAN”. SPREAD YOUR WINGS QUEENS,FLY HIGH BECAUSE NOT EVEN SKY IS YOUR LIMIT……………

About Me: This is Kazi Maisha Rahman. My family and friends call me Rania. Presently, I’m doing my undergraduate as a CSE major in Brac University. As a person, I am very enthusiastic. My hobbies are cycling, cooking,and reading books.I love to travel. This is my first blog. Hope I could connect with you!