Women in the World - Essay Example

? Women in the World Affiliation with more information about affiliation, research grants, conflict of interest and how to contact Abstract Though the world has progressed faster in the past few decades, the discrimination against women still continues unabated. This paper tries to look at the oppression that women experience in different countries around the world. The nature of discrimination women face around the world is distinct and distributed among a wide range of fields such as workplace, household etc. The paper also looks at the reasons for the different kinds of oppression faced by women. Basically, in every field where man and women interact, discrimination can be seen in one form or another. This paper tries to bring out the nature of oppression against women, not only in America, but also across the world and across the various religions. It also brings to attention the female oppression in the fields of politics, science and technology. The paper ends in a positive note hoping for the creation of a new horizon for women across the world. Keywords: Women, Discrimination: The fact that discrimination against women still exists in most countries across the globe, is a blemish to humanity. The discrimination “ranges from tacit male dominance in religion and philosophies to the brutal male oppression, for instance Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) that is still carried out in some communities”(Female Oppression 2008:1). “Though what constitutes sex discrimination varies between countries, the essence is that it is an adverse action taken by one person against another person that would not have occurred had the person been of another sex” (Discrimination 2011). Africa is a continent in which the disparity between men and women are greater than any other part of the world. Infinite cases of rape, domestic violence and genital mutilation are reported from Africa every year.        The main reasons for this increased female oppression in Africa are poverty, corrupt government and apartheid. Even though apartheid is banned in Africa, it is still creating negative ripples in the life of African women. Apartheid is the segregation of human beings on the basis of race. The groups formed in Africa based on the above criteria are Black, Colored, White and Indian. After much struggle and strong opposition from the women community and other social organizations, the system of Apartheid is eliminated from Africa. But women in Africa still suffer cruel discrimination.        Poverty and illiteracy of Africa are other major reasons for the unequal treatment of women. South Africa reports the world’s highest number of rape cases, which is about half a million each year. Ironically, the actual number of rape incidents is much larger than the official reports. Even among the many reported cases, only a few receive justice from the court of law. According to a study done on the rape cases in Africa, about 69% of the 394 rape cases that were reported, only 17 cases fetched justice. This is really a pathetic situation.        Genital mutilation in Africa is greater than any other continent in the world. The four type of Genital mutilation as per the WHO classifications are practiced in Africa. On the basis of a study about 60% of African women are circumcised. Africa is not only the part of the world where discrimination occurs on such a rampant scale. It is a surprising fact that discrimination against women occurs not only in underdeveloped countries, but also in developed countries like America.         Even in the modern world of technology, the traditional roles of women and men are not still revolutionized. Men are still seen as the breadwinners and women as the homemakers. Even though career oriented women and domestic centered men are present in the modern world, the inequality in the opportunities that both the genders share is still great. There is a wide gap between the positions of men and women in the technically perfect modern world.        In the developed countries, women politicians and scientists are few in number when compared to their male counterparts. As can be discerned from the data with the US National Science Foundation 2000, the female gender constitutes only 20% of science and engineering professors. According to a study on top grade women scientists and engineers in the .S, about 7 out of 10 of them think that creating a balance between home and work environment is the greatest challenge they face. This shows that even if a woman enjoys a high profile job, she is still considered as a homemaker.       Men are assigned the title of the breadwinners in the family. From the above data, the inference we get is that even in America gender discrimination occurs, but in a different level as compared to the underdeveloped countries. An interesting fact to consider here on the subject is that the women who have gone to space are only around 400 when compared to the other sex. Researchers have pointed out that sex determination and gender selective abortion are taking place in large numbers in India. As a result of the female infanticide, about 500,000 girls are dying in India every year. About 79% of the suicide cases reported in China are those of women. China is the only country in the world where the number of women suicide cases is greater than that of men.        The sex ratio in the parliaments across the world exposes the gender inequality. Based on a data on the sex ratio in parliaments across the world in 2007, the greatest women representation is in the Parliament of Sweden which is about 47%. The data sadly shows that even in developed countries the representation of women in Parliament is very low. In Japan, which is a developed country, the female representation is only about 9%. In the US it is only about 16% and it is 8% in India, a developing country. Even though in the UK, the representation of women in the parliament is increasing every year, the representation of women is not sufficient to create a well balanced representative body.        The situation of women in the Middle East is still worse. The women in Saudi Arabia do not enjoy even the basic civil rights. They are not allowed to drive and by law, the women in Saudi Arabia are forced to wear a ‘pardah’. They are even deprived of their right to vote and their legal rights. This paper aims at exposing the disparity that women face across the world. By a meticulous analysis of the data that is presented in the paper, it comes to fore that women across the globe, irrespective of whether they live in developed, underdeveloped or developing nation, suffer discrimination in one way or another. While in the underdeveloped countries the discrimination occurs in a crude manner, it takes a slightly refined form in the developed countries. However, the discrimination and oppression that women face is same all over the globe. It is high time that educated and sophisticated women across the globe fight for their equality in all spheres of life through their skills and capability, without using any violent measures. The Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and development stresses that “Advancing gender equality and equity and the empowerment of women, and the elimination of all kinds of violence against women, and ensuring women’s ability to control their own fertility … are priority objectives of the International community” (Guidelines on Women Empowerment n.d.: 2). This is a welcome change in the field of gender equality.  Reference List Discrimination. 2011. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 27, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination#Sex.2C_Gender_and_Gender_Identity_discrimination Female Oppression. 2008. Oracle Education Foundation. Retrieved October 27, 2011, from http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/01443/fo_home.html   Guidelines on Women Empowerment (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2011, from http://www.un.org/popin/unfpa/taskforce/guide/iatfwemp.gdl.html Read More