“I raise up my voice-not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard…We cannot succeed when half of us are held back” _ MALALA YOUSUFZAI
When talking about gender inequality, it would not be wrong to say that it exists in every sphere, be it politics or whatever and each women is affected by it. Women are often left behind by men in different dimensions such as their ability to participate in politics, undertaking entrepreneurship programmes, and many other leadership roles. A woman doing all these things is labelled as bold and bossy and according to our society, a ‘good women’ should be sober and quiet.
The societal expectations from a woman serve as a limitation in her political and economic growth.Simply talking about inequality it would not be wrong to say that the reason why educated girls are less than educated boys is; inequality practiced by parents. Due to the idea that a girl will get married and will be of no economic benefit to parents, many people in rural areas of Pakistan prefer their sons to get educated instead of their daughters.
Gender inequality is not just restricted to rural areas of Pakistan. Economic gender inequality exits even in the developed country like The United States of America where collectively, more than 55 Million full -time working women earned an estimated $545.7 Billion less than their male counterparts in 2019. While talking about the political gender inequality, it is quite visible even in Pakistan that there are less female politicians than men.
Women worldwide make up less than 23 percent of parliamentarians, with an average of 18 percent in the Arab region, while men make up more than 77 percent, leaving a more than 50 percent gender gap. Women in politics are often subjected to political opponents questioning their capability to act as a politician. Jacenda Arden,being the 40th prime minister of New Zealand broke all the stereotypes and managed the country in the hard times of COVID-19 along with a new born baby ,thus proving herself to be one of the strongest politicians ever .
Now, it’s time to stand up and break all these stereotypes that a women cannot be a good leader or a good labour; and all these stereotypes will fade away if and only if we speak up for ourselves. The power of speech can never be ignored by anyone if the power is itself powerful..!
Contributed by:
FATIMA KHURRAM