Women have always been given the status of being the secondary gender or referred to as being the weaker or the fairer sex, subjecting them to exploitations in almost all aspects of life. The woman who has been the progenitor of life on earth since its very inception has always been looked down upon by the men. Even in the developed societies where the experts claim exists complete gender equality many cases of gender based bias either in the personal or the professional front has been reported, which absolutely justifies the bias against women in the underdeveloped and developing countries where injustice is predominantly prevalent. These facts are reconfirmed with the study conducted by the UN, the reports of which clearly state that ‘women are discriminated against in almost every country around the world’.
This is the condition despite the fact that 185 UN countries had pledged to outlaw the laws favoring men by 2005. The report prepared for UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour sheds light on the fact that 70 per cent of the world’s poor population comprised of women and that women held only 1 per cent of the world’s titled land. The report compiled by Fareda Banda, the law professor at London’s school of Oriental and African studies (SOAS) says that rape within marriage is still not considered as a crime by the law in about 53 nations and is one of the major exploitations against women. The other discriminating aspects are the divorce statuses, maternity benefits and pensions where the men held an upper hand always thus leading to bias against women. Speaking on the report, Fareda Banda stressed on the fact that even subtle looking laws such as the prescribed age for marriages can bring about a big change in a girl’s life. Explaining this she said,
Many states still have different ages of marriage for young women then they have for young men, and the age for girls is always lower then the age for boys which leads to violations, for example of a girls’ right education, if she has to leave school at 14 to get married, and this impacts upon her life chances. It ends up being a life-long violation of her rights in terms of forfeiting education, having children too early, possibly being damaged her.
The explanation is apt keeping in account the harsh treatment a girl child receives when she gets married off at an early age in the form of doing the household chores and begetting children which harms her not only physically but also psychologically. To fight this, the report recommends the introduction of a new and separate mechanism as the existing UN and International Human Rights Commission are not being upheld. It also calls for a new UN expert to focus specifically on laws which damage women’s chances in life. These laws should ensure better conditions for women in all the countries bringing them at par with the rest of the world in all aspects of life.
Via: BBC
Comments
The male chauvinist society has never given equal right to women since the beginning.
The emergence of Islam was to bring equality and Justice to all irrespective of race or faith. Not only that, Islam has given so much importance to women and gives equal status. [See Quran- Al Nisha] Since the Umayyad period to till today Muslims women have been kept within the house and their rights have been grossly suppressed in the name of “Purda” curtain. Islam clearly warns both Male and female to guard private parts. Apparently, Muslim Males have forgotten it and think that this verse is only applicable to female.
Society can not progress rapidly unless the condition of women is improved. Let us be honest and give equal rights and respect to women and recognize their contributions for the human progress.