Problems faced by female teachers

Discriminationis the prejudicial or distinguishing treatment of an individual based on his or her membership – or perceived membership – in a certain group or category. It involves the group’s initial reaction or interaction, influencing the individual’s actual behavior towards the group or the group leader, restricting members of one group from opportunities or privileges that are available to another group, leading to the exclusion of the individual or entities based on logical or irrational decision making.

Discriminatory traditions, policies, ideas, practices, and laws exist in many countries and institutions in every part of the world. In some places, controversial attempts such as racial quotas have been used to redress negative effects of discrimination—but have sometimes been called reverse discrimination themselves. Though gender discrimination refers to beliefs and attitudes in relation to the gender of a person, such beliefs and attitudes are of a social nature and do not, normally, carry any legal consequences.

Gender discrimination, on the other hand, may have legal consequences. Though what constitutes gender 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 gender. Discrimination of that nature is considered a form of prejudice and in certain enumerated circumstances is illegal in many countries. Gender discrimination can arise in different contexts.

For instance an employee may be discriminated against by being asked discriminatory questions during a jobinterview, or by an employer not hiring or promoting, unequally paying, or wrongfully terminating, an employee based on her (or his) gender. In an educational setting there could be claims that a student was excluded from an educational institution, program, opportunity, loan, student group, orscholarshipbecause of her/his gender. In the housing setting there could be claims that a person was refused negotiations on seeking a house, contracting/leasing a house or getting a loan based on his or her gender.

Another setting where there have been claims of gender discrimination is banking; for example if one is refused credit or is offered unequal loan terms based on one’s gender. Another setting where there is usually gender discrimination is when one is refused to extend his or her credit, refused approval of credit/loan process, and if there is a burden of unequal loan terms based on one’s gender. Socially, gender differences have been used to justify different roles for men and women, in some cases giving rise to claims ofprimary and secondaryroles.

While there are alleged non-physical differences between men and women, major reviews of theacademicliterature on gender difference find only a tiny minority of characteristics where there are consistent psychological differences between men and women, and these relate directly to experiences grounded in biological difference. However, there are also some psychological differences in regard to how problems are dealt with and emotional perceptions and reactions that may relate to hormones and the successful characteristics of each gender during longstanding roles in past primitive lifestyles.

In the developing countries like Nepal, gender discrimination is one of the major backwards of development. It describes the absence of obvious or hidden disparities among individuals based on gender. Disparities can include the discrimination in terms of opportunities, resources, services, benefits, decision-making power and influence. Males enjoy a privileged status from their birth whereas females are often ignored and/or are isolated from social interactions. They are not granted the same opportunities ineducation, and other basic rights are often overlooked.

When a woman gives birth to a son, he is well cared for and is highly regarded by hisfamilyand society. On the other hand, in the event that she gives birth to a daughter, she is ignored and poorly regarded. Nepalese society expects females to inhabit with their husband’s family and their sons and to continue living in his parent’s home. Thus, the maintenance of the family lineage is perpetuated. Daughters are not considered as heirs in the system of Nepali lineage. Nepal’s total population is about 23 million. Out of this about fifty percent is Women. In Nepal, like other developing countries, the state of women is not satisfactory.

Male dominated family system provides very little scope for the female to assert their identity. They are marginalized from economic and social opportunities due to illiteracy, povertyand conservative social taboos. The present status of women is said to be strong than the past but it is the same. 32 women have been Members of Parliament after restoration of democracy but it is only limited up to the written forms but not so practically. The status of women is the same as it used to be in the past. My neighbor is a pretty woman who has been living near me for 5 years.

Her mother in law tortures her for not giving a birth to a boy child. As she has already given birth to two girl child. So they warned her that if next time she does not give birth to a boy then she has to leave the home and her husband will marry another woman. So she in the fear of losing her husband was ready to give birth to another child but unfortunately she got miscarriage and she got admitted to the hospital. The family members in this situation rather than consoling the women they didn’t cared about her and left her in the hospital. After few days the husband got married to another woman .

They didn’t allow her to enter the house and meet her daughters. Men can leave their wives for petty reasons such as if they fail to give birth to a male heir. Socially and economically men are always considered as superior to women, breadwinner, head of the family and the care taker and this is major cause for the low participation of women in every sector. This is only one example from our society there are several such discriminations and crimes happening in our society for several reasons. Not only in Nepal but throughout the world females are being dominated by males.

It is time that Nepalese men understood the value of their women and respected them for what they are. After all, their mothers were also born as girls. The prevailing unfair social and labour relations compounded by unequal power structure and patriarchal thinking contribute to the sorry situation of girls in Nepal. Social attitude towards girls is still regressive. Majority of girls are denied care, education, healthservice, recreation and other basic services right from the birth. Theenvironmentin which they are living is not conducive for physical and cognitive growth.

Moreover, the atmosphere that prevails at home, family, community and at the national level obstruct the path of overall development of girls. If we fail to properly analyze the nature and form of the problems and the reasons for such a situation of girls, not only will we be unable to ensure a bright future of our girls, but we will fail to ensure a secure future for our women and mothers. This means the movement for women’s liberation will barely be able to keep its head above troubled water. Following facts reveal the situation of the girl children in Nepal. a. Population: Girls in Nepal consist 50 per cent of the total child population. CBS)

In every thousand children Boys Girls Infant mortality rate (IMR)  144. 50  150. 38 Child mortality rate (U5MR) 108. 00 133. 00 b. Gender Discrimination/Son Preference: Discrimination of girls is rampant in every sector of society. Son preference is very high. According to the 2001 census, the national ratio of boys and girls is 100: 101, while in some districts such as Far West Kailali it is 100: 84. c. Literacy Rate: Literacy rate of girls is 42 per cent compared to 65 per cent among boys.

In Nepal, primary school going girls is 74 per cent compared to 86 per cent boys. (MOE 2003) d. Child Malnutrition: Child malnutrition in Nepal is 56. 2 per cent in which the state of girls is more vulnerable than boys. Statistics on breast feeding indicate that 51 per cent male children are breast fed, while its number is only 43 per cent among female children. e. Child Sexual exploitation: Almost 40 per cent of survivors of child sexual abuse and rape are girls below 18 years. Most of them are abused at home, in educational institutions, work places or any given place. They are insecure in all these places. CWIN 2008) f. Child Marriage: 34 per cent of total marriages in Nepal are with girls below 16 years. Some 7 per cent of child marriages take place with children below 10 years. (UNICEF 2005). Existing practices of dowry in many parts of the country further provokes child marriages in the society. g. Child Labor Exploitation: Most household chores and child rearing activities are theresponsibilityof girls. Girls aged between 10-14 years work double compared to boys in the same age group. It is also reported that 2. 6 million Nepali children are working in different fields of labor.

Amongst these 56% are reported to be girls. (ILO-IPEC, 2001) h. Bonded Labour: Labour bondage still persists in the form of ‘ Kamlari’ in the eastern part of Nepal, where girls are kept in the households of their ‘ masters’ to serve them. i. Girl Trafficking: Girls are trafficked for different purposes including domestic work, forced beggary, marriage, carpet weaving and sex trade. About 20 per cent (i. e. 40, 000) of the total trafficked women for sex trade are girls below 16 years. (CWIN 2006) Annually approximately 12, 000 girl children and women are trafficked.