‘Eradication of gender discrimination vital for progress’

HYDERABAD: The issue of gender discrimination can be addressed through awareness and dissemination and its eradication is of utmost importance for the country’s progress.

These views were expressed by former Hyderabad’s Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (Colleges) Inspector Syeda Fareeda Mushtaq, while talking to APP, on Tuesday.

The society’s attitude is different towards working women and if they are career-oriented there are specific careers that are ‘fit’ for them, she said, adding that this social attitude forces women to become nurses, doctors, teachers and secretaries both in public and private sectors.

There are well-qualified women engineers, managers or geologists but preferences are given to a male of in these professions. Such gender bias creates an obstacle at the recruitment stage itself, she said and added that when it comes to remuneration, the law proclaims equality but it is seldom put into practice.

An age-old belief of male superiority over women creates several hurdles for women at their workplaces, she said. Working in such conditions inevitably put much greater strain on women than what men experience as these problems tend to make women less eager to progress in their careers, she added.

A woman’s work is not merely confined to paid employment as she has to almost always shoulder the burden of household chores as well.

However, the counterparts of the working women do not realise that it’s the male superiority complex that creates obstacles not only at the workplace but also in domestic life, she lamented.

She said that women could overcome these problems if they have control over their money, but in most their fathers, husbands or in-laws control finances for them.

“Female education plays a vital role for a developing country like Pakistan, so we must spread education for all in every sphere of life,” she concluded.