UNIT 1 WHY STUDYING WOMENS ISSUES?

Contents 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Aims and Purpose Introduction Why Womens Issues Womens Issues and Gender Equality Gendered/Gendering/Gender Typing in Society Patriarchy
1.5.1 1.5.2 Patriarchy as an Ideology - Its Institutionalization and Legitimization Indian Women and Patriarchy

Global Debates and their Impacts

1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11

Womens Issues Challenge Patriarchy and Male-Domination Deconstructing Gender Differences and Inequalities The Abolition of Gender Roles Concluding Remarks Clarification of the Terms Used Some Useful Readings

1.0 AIMS AND PURPOSE

This is the first unit of the course on women and society global concerns and local issues. This also is the first unit of Block I on Women and Social Construction of Gender. Why and how women as a collectivity has become a subject of study? This is the concern of the present unit. Various issues concerning women became the focal point for the social reformists and women activists around the globe from mid 19th century onwards. With the development of the society and the corresponding social and political changes as well as in response to the regional and local requirements the issues concerning women became heterogenous. Nonetheless the central issue concerning women is the existence of gender inequality in various of spheres of life. The major objective of this unit is to explain to you:

The diverse facts of womens' issues and the emergence of women's issues as a subject of study; Patriarchy as an ideology and its institutionalization and legitimization; Womens access and control over various resources; Deconstructing gender difference and inequalities for a just society; and Problems and prospects for womens liberation.

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Women were for many years hidden from history and womens experience was invisible. They were confined to the unchanging domestic milieu. Gender difference was either simply taken for granted or considered to be irrelevant to whatever womens issues were being discussed. It was one of the most fundamental contributions of feminists to interpret posing many new questions related to women. Various concepts have been used to theorize the feminine condition. In the past decades a great deal of academic and research work has been devoted to documenting and seeking to identify the sources of gender inequalities and the way to combat them. Gender studies, especially of women, developed on a wave of recognition that females were marginal or completely absent from the sociological and other discourses, or were treated in ways

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International Convention and Constitutional Mandates for Gender Equality

that reflected common stereotypes of mother-housewife. Much research in sociology inseuting uncritically women into paradigms developed on the basis of understandings about the lives of men. Historians, economists, anthropologists and psychologists are given critical attention by the sociologists of gender. Sociologist and other social scientists have had a lot to say about gender over the last three decades. Gender is a pervasive feature of social life that we seek to understand. Further, through its impact on social relations, on identities and institutions, gender is intricately connected to many social processes. This Unit will explore the contours of the gender system which is one of the organizing principles of social world.

1.2 WHY WOMENS ISSUES?

The womens issues involve identifying and challenging those elements in society which are gendered in nature and highly detrimental to women for developmental perspectives and which exclude or disadvantage women. They questioned how universal values are defined, how truth is distorted in directions that serve male interests. The womens question often asks about the gender implications of social practice. Under these debates are broader issues of gender equality and sex differences. What is the significance of these sex differences? To answer this question sociologists have to examine two related issues: a) b) The magnitude of sex differences; and The consistency of these differences across the global societies, time periods and situations.

These are important issues because virtually there are no traits or behaviours that reliably distinguish all men from all women. The consistency of sex differences refer to their relative stability across age, class, religion, ethnicity, time period or any social contexts. The Women Question requires a thorough search for gender bias and demands gender justice. The basic things in the womens issues lies somewhere to uncover and find out the disadvantages based upon gender (for more details on this concept, please refer unit 4). The gendered condition in society is to be explored which facilitate certain institutions and to find out the ways in which womens experiences and interests have been overlooked. Gender inequality is a much discussed topic. Behind the scenes of the historical struggle for gender equality lies long standing and ongoing debate about the meaning of equality. Now the question is whether the achievement of equality require the provision of equality of opportunity or does it mean securing equality of outcome? What is the nature of the difference between men and women and how does this relate to the attainment of equality between them? What is the standard by which the achievement of gender equality is to be judged? Does equality mean that women have to take on masculine norms, values and lifestyles? How does gender equality relate to ethnicity and sexuality? Does equality mean equal rights? The issues that are central to the gender studies mainly are two: a) whether equality requires all women to be treated the same way as all men, irrespective of their differences and, b) whether equality requires that differences between women and men be recognized and provided for. In the equality perspective gender is regarded as an attribute that should not be significant in the distribution of social values or social rights.
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A group of scholars disagree that all women are equally oppressed and disadvantaged in modern societies. It is important to recognize the different

experiences and problems faced by different groups of women. They emphasize on different experiences faced by groups of women of different age groups, occupations, caste, class and ethnic background. They believe that oppression of women exists, but this is not affecting all women to the same extent and manner. Do You Know? 1 Why do the Womens Issues need separate attention?

Global Debates and their Impacts

To involve women in development programmes in order to tap their productive usefulness. Gender issues are today regarded as very significant and of priority in development policy and planning. Men and women have different access and control over resources and in decision-making with a persistent inequality. Womens issues aim to reduce these gender gaps. Womens issues aim to empower women from traditional economic and political disempowerment. Womens issues aim to overcome the gender regimes and gendered work culture. Womens issues aim to stop differences, discriminations and inequality existing in society and finally to place her as an equal citizen in society. Womens issues also challenge those ideologies, institutions, rules and practices that are gendered in nature and do not take cognizance of womens experiences, which are different form that of men.

1.3 WOMENS ISSUES AND GENDER EQUALITY

Equality can be defined as a state or condition of being the same. When it comes to human equality, it means equality especially in terms of social status or legal and political rights. This idea of equality as sameness became a subject of debate in gender studies. By the end of twentieth century a range of legislation was in place to ensure equality for women with men. The Acts like Equal Pay for Equal Work Act and Sex Discrimination Act that aimed to facilitate equality between women and men, through the prohibition of discriminatory practices. The concern of gender equality is to extend to women the same rights and privileges that men have, through identifying areas of unequal treatment and eliminating them. In the equality perspective gender is regarded as an attribute that should not be significant in the distribution of social values or social rights. Equality is achieved through gender-neutrality or androgyny. This can mean that goal of equality is achieved through the assimilation of subordinated group (women) to the values, institutions and life styles of dominant group (men). For equality theorists, the goal has been gender-neutrality, where women are enabled to participate with men as equal citizens in the public sphere. Gender equality has gained wide acceptance as an important goal for development in many countries around the world. The growing support for and attention to gender equality is bolstered by the assumption that it would improve the lives of women and children as well. Many now consider enhancing gender equality to be a vital component of population policies. The advancing gender equality, the empowerment of women and the elimination of all kinds of discrimination and violence against women and ensuring womens control over their fertility are cornerstones of population and development related programmes. In general, as the difference between mens and womens roles diminish, women gain status and power within a society and begin to control their sexuality and reproductive lives.

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International Convention and Constitutional Mandates for Gender Equality

In most of the patriarchal society the roles that women and men assume accord women fewer opportunities and privileges. Women generally have less power than men in all facets of society. Gender inequality may also be structured and perpetuated by the economy, the political system and other social institutions. Thus it can be said that gender practices are culturally or socially constructed that means they are defined within and through social structure and institutions of a society. Gender refers to the different roles men and women play in society and the relative power they wield. While gender is expressed differently in different societies, in no society do men and women perform equal roles or hold equal positions of power. The impact of this inequality on womens lives varies tremendously. Women are always in a disadvantageous position within society and there are particular circumstances which have produced male domination in its current form. The approaches of womens issues will recognize the centrality of gender to individual life, social institutions, social organizations and policies. The major objectives for emphasizing womens issue is to give the women their due rights in society. The society treat women subordinate to men. Women are discriminated and deprived simply because of their sex (second sex) in the guise of culture, tradition, customs, and religion. These deprives womens basic rights to life, food, education, enjoyment, etc. and there is always a tendency of political and economic disempowerment of women in society lacking independence and decision-making powers in all spheres of life. This reflects on how social institutions are built up on patriarchal foundations with gender discriminations and gender bias. The Womens Issues will expose all the derogatory practices against women, often ignore mens experience and thereby poses challenges to overcome the highly irrational, unlawful, unjust institutional practices. Society will no loner ignore womens experience, raising womens consciousness of gender and give women possession of equal rights and responsibilities and dignity that comes form realizing their full human potentials. The key to creating gender equality is to make gender a less influential factor in shaping social life than it is today. Reducing the importance of gender will contribute to a lessening of gender inequality. Reducing gender inequality will help to reduce gender distinction and gender discriminations. Think It Over 1 Do you think the interests and concerns of women needs to be discussed in aspects related to women only or in all aspects irrespective of sex? Why?

1.4 GENDERED/GENDERING/GENDER TYPING IN SOCIETY

Something is gendered when it is, in and of itself, actively engaged in social processes that produce and reproduce distinction between women and men. Gendering and gendered are concepts which signify outcomes that are socially constructed and give males advantages over females. Society is gendered when its character is either masculine or feminine or when it exhibits patterns of difference by gender. Gendered characteristics of culture, institutions and organization place women subordinate. There are processes - or practices which make an institution recognizably gendered in its character. Gendering has its focus on the processes through which power relations between men and women in employment are constituted, and how advantage and disadvantage, exploitation and control; action and emotion; meaning and identity are patterned through in terms of a distinction between male and female. There are many examples that describe the gendered character of the culture, institutions and organisations of contemporary societies i.e., gendered character of education and training, paid work, household work and child caring, popular media culture, and politics. From the perspective of

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gendered institutions, gender segregation stems from institutionalized barrier between male and female jobs. Gender-typing results form the social processes through which meaning is collectively generated and reinforced. It imposes itself by establishing certain works, roles, jobs and occupations as appropriate for one sex and off-limits to another. It establishes a set of conventional understanding of who should engage in what type of work. Gendertyping thus represents one aspect of work as a gendered institution. Gendered aspect of work are often unintended, taken for granted and operate very subtly. Jobs held by women are seen as worthless than jobs held by men. Societies that always place a higher value on males than females thus carry over this assessment into other institutions. Activities performed by women often tend to be viewed as worthless than those performed by men. Men can differentiate themselves from women by specializing in certain maleidentified areas by emphasizing masculine components and ideologies. They also use several strategies to maintain their masculinity. A patriarchal system is the ture reflection of gendered division in the society. Let us learn more on this in the following section. Learn Form Your Experience 1 Have you noticed gendering of jobs? Make a list of jobs that are socially marked as female and male jobs. Talk to two or three women who are doing jobs, which are typical male jobs and ask her experience on the responses from her fellow workers as well as society at large. Based on that write a note on the topic experience of females on male jobs.

Global Debates and their Impacts

1.5 PATRIARCHY
Society is patriarchal when it is dominated and ruled by men. From this point of view men are the ruling class, and women are the subject class. Feminists have argued that men have most of the power in families, that they tend to be employed in better-paid and higher status jobs than women and they also tend to monopolize political power. For radical feminists, patriarchy is the most important concept for explaining gender inequalities. Walby (1990) refers patriarchy is central to a feminist understanding of society.

1.5.1 Patriarchy as an Ideology Its Institutionalization and Legitimization

Patriarchy is indispensable for an analysis of gender inequality. This is an encompassing term for mens control over women that can take many motivations. Patriarchy is an ideology or a belief system according to which men are superior than women. Social institutions are built upon patriarchal foundations with a gender bias. Religion has played an important role in creating and perpetuating patriarchal ideology. Patriarchal ideology is the dominant ideology all over the world that govern patrilineal institutions of patriarchal residence, patrilineal descent and patrilineal inheritance. This ideology plays an important role in perpetuating social systems and controlling peoples mindset. Walby (1990) identifies six patriarchal structures, which restrict women in society and help to maintain male domination. These are: patriarchal culture, sexuality, patriarchal relations within the household, paid work, male-violence towards women and the state. Each of these structures is independent from others but they also affect one another. Each structure is reproduced or changed by the action of men and women in society. Women constitute the oppressed class in patriarchal society and men constitute the class of oppressors. Men of all ideological persuasions define women and

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International Convention and Constitutional Mandates for Gender Equality

feminity in the same patriarchal terms, and all women are subject to this definition. This sexual oppression through the gender relation is the most basic relation of social and cultural oppression, and the one from which all other oppressive relations derive. This relation of sexual oppression is maintained by means of unceasing physical violence and psychological aggression against women. Thus the operations of gender and sexual coercion work within the context of patriarchy as a system that operates through persons, institutions and values. Gender oppression is systematic under patriarchy and not a matter of isolated violent and discriminatory incidents. But the systematic nature of patriarchy is observed, except when subjected to feminist questioning and analysis. Do You Know? 2 Normally patriarchy controls in the following areas of womens lives and societies: Womens sexuality Womens reproduction Womens productive or labour power Control of economic resources and property Womens mobility Social, cultural and political institutions

There are certain biological, physical, psychological, ideological, sociological, educational, economic, religious and motivational factors which explain the existence of patriarchy. This provides men with a higher social status and women with inferior social status. All the major institutions in human society i.e., family, religion, law, judiciary, education, economy, politics, knowledge, media, etc. are gendered and patriarchal in nature. Social and cultural values have legally reflected mens experiences, and excluded women from participating in the definition of those values. Women also support such values and the customary practices based on those values because they are not being given free choices. Social system and related practices support male domination and various forms of discrimination, disregard, control, exploitation, oppression, insult, violence within the family, at the place of work and society at large. Women are no longer exploited so much by individual patriarch but instead are exploited collectively by men in general through their subordination in public arenas. As Walby points out women are no longer restricted to the domestic hearth, but have the whole society in which to roam and exploited. Learn Form Your Experience 2 Can you point out some instances in every day life around you, which you think are manifestations of male dominating patriarchal system?

1.5.2 Indian Women and Patriarchy

India has a long and continuing tradition of oppression of women. The apparent and overpowering patriarchy and religion dominate Indian society. Sex inequality cannot be, in reality, differentiated from variety of social, cultural and economic inequalities in Indian Society. The ascription of women as a sex category seems to have been the result of grading of social functions deeply embedded in traditional social structure.
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Further, because the inferior sex roles of women established and enforced through customs, mores and laws by men being the custodians of these

agencies, womens struggle for freedom and emancipation could not do much headway. Womens oppression prevails in all spheres of life much visibly and pervasively till today even after passing of several Acts in favour of them and guaranteeing of equality by the Indian Constitution. Indian social structure allowed men greater freedom and liberty and dominance over women. There is congruence between the structure of patriarchal authority and the traditional family and socialization process. Since centuries women were the target of various forms of social exploitation and mens subordination. Economic exploitation led to a more direct form of social oppression and women were to pay a heavy premium at the cost of their self-dignity and independence. Male oriented and male dominated value system swayed the society everywhere, where subordination of women appeared in direct form in every sphere of life. The role of women in the cultural development and social process is underestimated and underscored in India. The language, literature, education, symbols, art, architecture, learning-process all are male-dominated and malecentric in India. This indicate gendered and negative value system towards women and support their inferior position in society. The usage of values and societal attitudes, presentation and communication of these values are highly irrational and anti-women in nature. The traditional social structure, family, marriage, superstitions, beliefs, customs, religion and rituals developed in due course of history support the perpetual exploitation of women which have direct bearing on her position in society. Do You Know? 3 Patriarchy functions in society in the following ways: Culturally created conceptions of the relative places of male and female in society Lack of various opportunities to women Womens culturally sanctioned disinheritance i.e., lack of inheritance and property rights Most social institutions are shaped around male definitions, priorities, requirements, preferences Male control over womens bodies and sexuality Gender stereotyping and gender bias in socialization process Non-preference and discrimination against girl child Female infanticide in new form i.e., in the form of female-foeticide Sexual violence in the form of eve-teasing, wife-beating and rape Burden of household work for women Lack of freedom and mobility of women Exclusion of women form all important economic activities Lack of promotion opportunities on par with men and existence of barriers to promotion beyond certain level at paid working No control of women over fertility and reproduction Religion is used as a way of legitimating masculine dominance Womens marginal role in politics and the ineffective leverage of women in the political institutions Patriarchal thread also run through the state and government. The state acts to support patriarchal relations in a variety of ways which include limiting of womens access to paid work and by regulating marriage and divorce, etc.

Global Debates and their Impacts

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International Convention and Constitutional Mandates for Gender Equality

1.6 WOMENS ISSUES CHALLENGE PATRIARCHY AND MALE DOMINATION

Patriarchy is a cultural (ideological) system that privileges men and all things masculine, and a political system that places power in the hands of men and thus serves male interests at the expense of women. Men are the carriers of patriarchy and they only intimidate and repress women. Womens experience is completely different form men. Some sociologists view that capitalism and patriarchy work together in the economic and sexual exploitation of women. Under capitalist patriarchy, the economic relation is combined with the sex relations. Patriarchy by definition imputes, political, moral and social meanings to sexual differences. Women are considered inferior in all these dimensions. Under patriarchy gender is an exclusionary category. In patriarchy men and women are not valued equally, that in fact, men are socially more esteemed than women. Patriarchy is rooted in a need to deny power and autonomy of women. Being engendered, women to some extent internalize asymmetries of power and esteem. Human society is based on binary categories, categories that are based on a fundamental distinction between men and women, positive and negative, where women always occupy the inferior subordinate position. These binary oppositions are, then, arranged hierarchically and exist in antagonistic relations to each other. Women as a category shared oppression among all women. Both male development and patriarchy are partially rooted in a need to deny the power and autonomy of women. Radical feminism analyses the relationship between social inequality and sexual difference; the domination of women by men seems to provide the foundation of social inequality, and the sexual oppression of women is seen to underlie the economic, cultural and social subordination of women. Radical feminists consider gender as a system. The systemic nature of gender ensures continued male domination through the masculine control of feminine sexuality. To them, gender oppression is the most fundamental form of oppression and precedes the economic structure of patriarchal societies. Think It Over 2 What do you understand by patriarchy? How will you explain the existence of patriarchy in our society? Sexuality is not a neutral term; it refers to male sexuality of which feminine sexuality is seen as a variant (or deviant). The control of feminine sexuality is achieved through strategies such as the ideology of compulsory heterosexuality, restrictions upon the right to contraception and abortion, control of reproductive technologies including sterilization, and male sexual violence, all of which ensure masculine control of feminine sexuality. According to Shulasmith Firestone (1970) sexual oppression is the fundamental and foundational form of oppression in patriarchal society. Andrea Dworkin (1978) also agrees with firestones perception that the oppression of women arises from causes that are fundamentally biological, that women are oppressed through their sexuality. She sees as medical and technological advances are only more sophisticated patriarchal strategies for controlling womens sexuality and keeping women imprisoned in their biology. In Dworkins view women are kept passive and subordinate by the ever-present threat of male violence. Women internalize patriarchal values to perfect their obedience; they conform to the stereotypes, they display uncovering loyalty, they do not betray any sign of dissatisfaction or resistance to male control all in order to avoid violence against their persons. And this threat of male violence is present all around each individual women in patriarchal culture; rape, wife-beating, forced child bearing, medical butchering, sex-motivated murder, sadistic psychological abuse,

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these are some of the punishments Dworkin categorizes in addition to destitution, ostracism, death (burning) that await the rebellious women. The institutions, and values of patriarchal society demean her, degrade her, glorify her powerlessness, insist upon constraining and paralyzing the most honest expressions of her will and being. Under patriarchy the values of male supremacy and female selflessness or invisibility that pervade everyday life. Other strategies of male power that ensure male sexual access to women include: prostitution, marital rape, wife beating, incest, bride price, the selling of daughters, purdah, etc. From the perspective of male domination and female subservience, the strategies of terrorism and sexual abuse appear natural and inevitable, if they are not rendered invisible. Sheila Rowbotham (1973) points out that feminism in the early suffrage era was liberal and focused upon the achievement of equal rights; there could be changes in womens position in capitalism without either transforming the outer world of production or the inner world of family and sexuality. The Marxist tradition of feminists of the mid-twentieth century was concerned to emphasize improvement in womens position at work and reform the legal relations. The socialist feminists are in the opinion that these oppressive relations are motivated by the power structures existing in patriarchal society, which cause oppression to be experienced differently according to class and ethnic background. Social relations are reflected in social ideology, embodied in individual women and engaged by womens activities. Womens issues challenge the patriarchal values by which women are controlled most effectively. These also challenge the authority of men in society and their vested or motivated interests as they are the oppressor. Womens issues also challenge the social conditioning of patriarchal gender roles and demands of womens own identity. Now in the twenty-first century women has the voice adequate enough to counter the patriarchal terms of men. Learn From Your Experience 3 Have you experienced gender inequality in your personal life? Write down three instances when you felt males and females are treated unjustifiably discriminated.

Global Debates and their Impacts

1.7

DECONSTRUCTING GENDER DIFFERENCES AND INEQUALITIES

Gender inequality is reproduced through the process of institutionalization and legitimation. It is women into social structure and the everyday routines that sustain them. Gender is a multilevel system of social practices that produces distinctions. These issues are important because much of social life not just in the realm of gender is stable, ordered and changes relatively slow. Therefore certain difficulties are associated with deconstruction of gender and reduction of gender equality. The question is how social change occurs within deeply institutionalized social processes of gendering. First, even highly institutionalized social relationships are not immune to social change. In fact social change is inevitable and ongoing and this is specially true in increasingly diverse global society. Change is uneven i.e. all parts of the social world do not change at the same time or in the same way. As a multilevel system, gender order and gender regime are particularly resistant to radical change or disruption. It will take a long term at least for dismantling this system however small but certain significant challenges are there to the gender order. These sorts of challenges have already produced futile effort in the direction of greater gender equality.
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International Convention and Constitutional Mandates for Gender Equality

Gender is produced at the individual interactional and institutional level and therefore each level may be impacted differently by social changes in greater society. Significant changes have been occurring in the gender order during the latter part of the twentieth century. Changes occur at the institutional level of work and family which is reflected in women and mens gender identities. Women worked for pay, and men participated in child caring and were expected to shoulder household responsibilities. Change in one part of gender regime and gender order creates openings for changes at the other levels. For example socialization processes and practices of our next generation will accepted and adjusted the new realities of gender identities of young women and men and become less anchored in the traditional dichotomy of male breadwinner and female mother-housewife. Gradually the concept of division of labour in family and society will be deconstructed. Women will have more bargaining power in relationships with men and men are expected to be more involved in family, children and housework. Sometimes the individuals change first and create new kinds of relationships that ultimately pressure institutions to respond. Changes in the institutions are not easily achieved; they require unified, sustained, collective and conscious action. Kimmel (2000) notes that 20th century has witnessed an unprecedented upheaval in the status of women, possibly the most significant transformation in gender relations in global society. The changes he cited as evidence for this include right to vote, as well as right to work virtually in all jobs, to be admitted to all academic institutions on the same terms with men and even to join in military service. He called it as the half finished revolution. This will begin dramatic changes that have occurred in womens lives and work than the lives of men in society. Kimmel suggests It has paved the way for the second half other revolution: changes in mens lives. Uneven social change creates greater rather than less gender equality through deconstructing gender roles, gender regime and gender order. Over the last five-decade particularly in western countries changes in gender order have generally moved to this direction. Thus to some extent gender inequality at the individual, interactional and institutional levels has been reduced. However, elimination of full gender inequality in a long way from global society. Gender inequality is much more discussed topic than gender equality because inequality is institutionalized and legitimated. Therefore gender equality seems a long way in future. The path to gender equality is to make gender matter less. It means that gender would be significantly less influential as a factor shaping social life than it is today. For example the social changes can be considered as evidence for greater gender equality represent successful attempts to make gender matter less in the areas of voting, employment and education. A truly degendered society would extend changes to all areas i.e., social, economic, political, legal aspects of social life. Degendering institutions means that their practices policies and structures would be indifferent to gender. Degendering individuals means that gender would no longer be the primary organizer of peoples traits, personalities and identities. Eroding gender distinctions is a necessary pre-condition for reducing gender inequality. Reductions in gender inequality, is turn, contribute to a lessening gender distinctions. Women and men today seem as more similar than different reflects not merely a change in peoples understanding and perceptions, but rather is a direct consequence of greater gender equality than in the past. The forces reproducing gender inequality are deeply entrenched but this has not prevented some reduction in gender inequality and a lessening of gender distinctions that support them.

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Think It Over 3 What are the essential requirements for a gender-neutral society?

Global Debates and their Impacts

1.8

THE ABOLITION OF GENDER ROLES

Many feminist writers have advocated for the abolition of gender roles, with the mother-housewife role being selected as the prime target. Ann Oakley (1974) argues that the following steps must be taken to liberate women: a) The housewife role must be abolished. Oakley rejects less radical solutions such as payment for housework, which, she argues, will simply reinforce, the woman equals housewife equation. The family, as it now stands, must be abolished. This proposal follows from the first since the housewife and mother roles are part and parcel of the same thing. Abolishing family will also serve to break the circle of the daughter learning the role form the mother, the son learning his role form the father. The sexual division of labour must be eradicated in all areas of social life.

b)

c)

Oakly argues, we need an ideological revolution, a revolution in the ideology of gender roles current in our culture, a revolution of concepts of gender identity. Thus men and women must be seen as people, not as a males and females. Kate Millet (1970) a radical feminist writer argues that a society without culturally defined gender roles; each individual will be free to develop an entire-rather than a partial, limited and conformist-personality. Thus female may develop so-called male traits, and vice-versa. This would involve complete tolerance of homosexual and lesbian relationships, so that the sex act ceases to be arbitrarily polarized into male and female. Thus, those who are biologically male and female may develop their personality and behaviour along lines best suited to themselves rather than being cramped and confined by the culturally defined labels, male and female.

1.9

CONCLUDING REMARKS

A major objective of the International Decade for Women (1976-1985) was to integrate women in development. This is an important concept in economically developing countries, in which women have always been integrated in development on unequal terms. India, like many other countries is a signatory of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), yet it has a long way to go before it actually eliminates the various discriminations that women are subjected to. In a developing society like India, it is essential that both men and women play equal and important role in the development process. It is being realized that an all out effort should be directed towards building up a society where men and women live on equal terms, where women have the same facilities and the same opportunities to develop themselves as mankind and also have the same social and economic status as that of men. Women should no longer been left out of consideration. A proper space should be given to women with equal terms with men for a healthy human development. Womens experience should be valued and society should not ignore womens
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International Convention and Constitutional Mandates for Gender Equality

experience and sufferings while fixing, formulating, applying and enforcing various policies and laws. Time and again it was suggested that any moves to increase female participation in education and employment must involve a change in male attitudes and behavior to women. A societal reorientation for gender-just society would require a radical transformation through gender sensitization and awareness on gender issues. Womens own perceptions of themselves as inferior, weak and passive also need to be changed and an active temperament and attitude is further reinforced. Empowerment of women-equitable access to resources, power and in decision making is essential for gender equality. Such process requires a realignment of power in decision-making at the household, institutional and all levels of society. Efforts need to be intensified and multiplied by all quarters - Government, NOGs academics and business world have an important role to play in making Indian and the Global society more just. If the inequality and discrimination prevails in various spheres not only will the women marginalized together but the country and the global society will lose out since a large part of its economic female potential will remain untapped. The present unit views gender inequality as the basis for the emergence of highlighting womens issues in the society. The continued presence of gender inequality in all spheres of human life lead the womens activists and feminists to question the injustice meted out to women as a whole. The concerns of the first part of the unit are the basis for the emergence of womens issues to the forefront. Patriarchal social system accorded women a secondary position to women in family and society. The issues such as evolution of patriarchal system and the institutionalization and legitimization of it, how the patriarchal system were questioned are dealt with in this unit. The last section deals with the need for deconstruction of gender difference and inequalities for a more equitable distribution of resources among the genders. The unit points and that the ultimate goal of raising womens issues should be an equitable partnership between women and men built on the strengths of shared knowledge, energy, creativity and skills and equal terms. This brings positive benefits to society as a whole, and contributes many of the worlds most pressing problems. Gender equality becomes a reality when women and men to reject negative gendered norms and accept gender equality, social-justice and human rights. Male enlightenment is the other important dimension. All these in essence are the indicators of gender development as well as human development.

1.10 CLARIFICATION OF THE TERMS USED

Gender : Gender is the social, cultural and psychological aspect of maleness and femaleness socially defined through interaction. Something is gendered when its character is either masculine or feminine, or when it exhibits pattern of difference by gender. The gender order is a patterned system of ideological and material practices, performed by individuals in a society, through which power relations between women and men are made and remade, as meaningful. It is through the gender order of a society that forms or codes masculinities and feminities which are created and recreated, and relation between them are organized. It is a valuable turn for analysis of gender.

Gendered

Gender Order

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Gender Regime

A gender regime is a cluster of practices, ideological and material, which, in a given social context acts to construct various images of muscularity and femininity and thereby to consolidate forms of gender equality. The concept of Gender Regime was proposed by R.W. Connell. An encompassing term for mens control over women that can take many motivations. Patriarchy is indispensable for an analysis of gender inequality.

Global Debates and their Impacts

Patriarchy

1.11

SOME USEFUL READINGS

Rowbotham, S. 1973. Womens Consciousness, Mans world, Penguin, Harmondworth, U.K. Walby, S. 1994. Towards a Theory of Patriarchy in The Polity Reader in Gender Studies. Polity Press and Blackwell Publishers Ltd: U.K. pp. 22-28. Wharton, A.S. 2005. The Sociology of Gender. Blackwell Publishing, Malden: U.S.A.

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