Gender Discrimination: An impediment to equality.

We can see gender discrimination happening in all areas of life; in the home, at the workplace, in church and also the society. This comes into play in different forms, sometimes can be obvious and sometimes not. Mostly, women and girls are affected because they are denied of certain services whereby they became restrained depending on the culture and laws of the society.

Gender discrimination is the unequal treatment of an individual based on their gender. These discriminations negatively affect the female gender so much whereby they are restricted access to education, health care services etc.

We have heard of how girls are denied access to education because of the belief that their life only ends in the kitchen. Most cultures forbid women from going to school but allowed the male gender to get educated and provide for the family. To them, they see women as being fragile and their duty is to take care of the home while the man has gone out to find money for the family. Another one is limiting women to being full housewives as it is their job without allowing them a chance to also work in order to support the family too.

I saw a status last night where the guy requested an app to track one of his girls who was cheating on him. For real? Which law allows a man to cheat and not a woman? There are cases in homes where cheating and infidelity only favours the man over the woman. They quickly point fingers at the woman who does something bad than cautioning or punishing the man for the same thing committed. Another area is blaming women when children go astray. In society, when children are seen doing good and excellently well, they ask the question: who is your father? And when such a child is found doing the opposite, they ask, who is your mother? Are both not the parents of the children? Both should be disciplined and appreciated instead of accusing one of bad misconduct while hailing the other over the good conduct of a kid.

This is what is happening everywhere and it becomes a big issue in our world as it is seen as unfair justice and inequality of an individual where one is favoured over the other because of gender. There are times I have been discriminated against and stereotyped, and this had a negative impact on me too because it seems as being partial and unfair to me while looking down on my ability, likewise torturing me when I should be loved equally like the others.

When I was young, and because I had younger siblings, my parents would always blame me for everything in the house because they see me as the eldest who should take care of everything. They will say something like, "You don't know yourself as the eldest, leave them alone. You should portray a good example to your siblings". This hurt me most times as it happens when there are chores at home and they expect me to do the largest of all and most times, leave my siblings alone while seeing them as being fragile and not strong enough.

I had one in my compound two years ago when we were told to take care of our surroundings and cut the weeds outside. I took the cutlass to start cutting the grass when a lady was surprised and laughed telling me not to do anything because she saw me as being soft and cannot do anything. I tried explaining I am capable because it is what I do at home. The guys around cooperated with the lady and took the cutlass from me while saying I should sweep instead. I was hurt and pained because of that and refused to do anything with them. They have the mindset that boys are stronger to handle cutting the grass while it is the girls who should be responsible for sweeping since it is not tedious work.

With this, I have learnt some lessons here that many people only do this for their selfish gain and many look down on people and judge them based on their outward appearances. The truth is, no one can identify a person´s weaknesses and strengths if they are not challenged or given the benefits of the doubt for a particular task or responsibility. In the case of disallowing me to use the cutlass, I tried it another time when there were grasses behind my window, when they saw how neat it looked, they couldn´t believe I did it myself, and with a cutlass.

How can gender discrimination be eradicated?

Access to education: The truth is, all genders should be given access to education and not limiting one over the other. Education should be for everyone and also, there should be fair and equal treatment among all people irrespective of their gender.

Changing of mindset and perspective: The mindset of people has been clouded with the wrong ideology and belief. Having the belief that one should be favoured over the other even when it is obvious they are both qualified for it is total nonsense. When there are changes in mindset and belief, everyone wouldn't think someone is better than the other instead of allowing them to try in order to test their ability and capability.

Love: Above all, when there is love, there would be equal rights for everyone without stopping one from enjoying some benefits. Love covers all things and there wouldn't be a situation of liking one gender over the other.

Thanks for your time on my blog.