Eliminate Gender Discrimination by Building Self Awareness

Every girl and woman in this world are entitled to equal rights and access to education, job, food, healthcare, and safety as that of a man. Unfortunately, that is not the case in any society in the world. Even in the developed countries in the world, women are exposed to gender based discrimination and violence. In order to eliminate gender discrimination from our lives, we need a great deal of awareness and willingness to fight against it.

Gender based inequalities are major causes of violation of human rights of women and girls across the Globe. Bringing complete gender parity is one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations to be achieved by 2030. Thus Humanitarian Organizations and States around the world have taken several initiatives, campaigns and programs to eliminate gender discrimination from the world.

We dream of a world free of gender based discrimination and gender based violence. And this is possible only by spreading awareness, educating and engaging people from all walks of our society.

Gender discrimination are not always associate with very violent or extreme outcomes. To eliminate gender discrimination, we must first accept that it exists in each of our life, sometimes in a rather subtle way.

Time For Self Reflection

Let’s first start with these 4 steps of self reflection to increase our awareness level in identifying the gender biases affecting our individual lives –

1.  Irrespective of your gender, pay attention to your own life, to your family members and surroundings to find out signs of gender based biases and discrimination.

2. Do you and your partner, your mother and father, son and daughter enjoy the same rights, privileges, opportunities? Can women pursue career and education, express their social and political views or lead their lives the way they want?  If not, do you think their ‘gender’ plays any role in it?

3. After that, try to reflect on your roles in these issues in your life or surroundings. You might or might not have an active role in it, but you would most likely have some passive involvement in that.

4. Then think what you can and can not do to eliminate these gender biases which are currently existing in your life or in the lives of people around you. It’s not easy to change habits and believes which are old and widely accepted.

Let’s face it and then address it

The basic idea behind this practice is accepting the fact that we ALL are responsible for  supporting gender inequalities.  For instance, we think we can prevent sexual misconduct against women by restricting women and girls from certain activities. But the problems lie with the boys and men who violate or assault women. How often do we talk to our boys about treating women with respect?

Let us initiate this journey with building our self realization and self awareness around this issue. With increased self-awareness and willingness to make changes we can make the world a better place for women and girls.

After building greater self-awareness, you should focus in PRACTICING gender equality in our own lives. You can also read Mind the Gender Gap to understand what  you can do to make differences.

Remember, you too have a responsibility. Let us know if you have any concerns around these issues. Or if you need any help to practice gender equality in your own life. We are here to extend our support and guidance to you to be a change maker. Please read this Step By Step Guidelines for Men to Fight Against Gender Discrimination to access more resources about this.

Share your story with us at equalityrightsof@gmail.com.

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