Empowering Women in the Time of Inequality
In the past few decades, American society has been made aware of empowering women through education on the right to equality. Despite the broadening of awareness, equality for women has not been achieved. Education is supposed to be the great equalizer in all societies-a process by which the disadvantaged get their chance to be upward mobile. For women the rule the higher the educational attainment, the higher the income does not apply. This paper will discuss barriers to empowering women through educational attainment.
The key goal in empowering women lies in educating them. Even in contemporary society, despite the great emphasis among the intelligent and policy makers on the education of women across societies, advancement towards equal chances of getting education is still dismal. In most countries, there is, as yet, no policy that addresses gender issues and women’s rights in general. In reality the issue is not choices or chances. To get high quality education is the right of every individual, irrespective of gender. For women, a key barrier to achieving this right is inequality which is deeply embedded in the social structure, and elimination of which requires a fundamental transformation of society.
One major contributing factor is the system of patriarchy in society that places male and females in different and unequal positions. The gender system is reinforced through different aspects of life, such as interpersonal behavior, law, and politics. Indeed, Amartya Sen feels that the empowerment of women is one of the main issues in the process of development and more importantly, that “the factors involved include women’s education, their ownership pattern, their employment opportunities and the working of the labor market”. (p 101)
A barrier to acknowledging the importance of empowering women through education relates to stereotyping in the formal education system which further reinforces the traditional gender roles. The system of inequality is created to keep the roles that translate into dependence, powerlessness, and servitude. In contrast to this, men are powerful and it is in the interest of society to maintain the unequal distribution of power to maintain their political, social and economic advantages. Male dominance is universal. Roles are socially constructed. The gender inequality manifests itself most deliberately and persistently in all societies across time and space with strong anti female bias.
The system of inequality has generated two segments: a primary or male dominated segment in which man has high stability, high wages, and promotional ladder, opportunities for advancement, good working condition and provision for job security. The other segment is related to women characterized as low wages, fewer or no promotional ladders, poor working conditions and little prospect of job security. Mostly, it is taken for granted that women as a group have less education and experience than men and should, therefore be paid less than men. In actuality, patriarchy is a barrier to women’s empowerment and it interacts with the political system to oppress women. It is a matter of common experience that women workers do not approach earning parity with men even when they work in similar occupations with same education.
The aim of education is the shaping of personalities so that they are in basic congruence with the demands of the changing society. Although for women obtaining education is most important avenue to later success, education is an entry point to other opportunities. Educated women are better mother. Education of the mother is linked to children’s educational attainment. Investing in the education of women is one of the effective ways to reduce poverty. Sen brings a very strong point saying that women’s earning power, economic role outside the family, literacy and education, property rights may appear to be rather diverse and disparate. But what they “all have in common is their contribution in adding force to women’s voice and agency-through independence and empowerment” (p 191)
Generally, it is argued that the greater the educational attainment, the greater the likelihood of larger economic reward. A woman’s education therefore has profound impact not only on different aspects of her life, but also upon that of her family. Societies can be strengthened as women utilize their knowledge and skills in creating stable family. We know that child care and housekeeping is apportioned strictly to women. To that end an educated women can be a better mother. According to Sen, “since there is considerable evidence that women’s empowerment within the family can reduce child mortality significantly”(p 193). What Sen is trying to argue for is that empowering alone can take care of so many issues that society faces.
Almost all societies assign different expectations to women and men and these expectations are ranked in favor of males. First of all we will have to change this socially created system. Other than some biological differences men and women should have same prestige, power, and privileges.
Although the gender inequality situation is improving slowly, most women are trapped in low earning-ghettos. We will have to eliminate gender disparity in education. Women should not be discriminated against and should have equal chances in the field of education. Empowering women can save them from psychological issues such as low self esteem and a general sense of worthlessness. The issue of empowering women through education should be reinforced through language, interpersonal behavior, mass communication, religion, the law and the politics.
References:
Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom, Alfred A. Knof, New York, 1999.
© 2010, muzammil18. All rights reserved.