The notion that gender is binary, that is when gender is recognised in only two terms – male and female is highly refuted. Social research has shown there are as many as 52 genders. Some definitions of gender overlap and some change over time, as a cultural change. One would commonly encounter individuals who would identify themselves as cis-gendered – a label whose personal gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned to at birth.

Cisnormativity is the notion that a cis-gender identity is a socially accepted norm. This leads to discrimination and creates stronger social setbacks for those who do not fit in this norm. It has thus become important to understand gender closely and use appropriate language and gender. This not only promotes inclusivity but also lets people know one is supporting and affirming to the other person’s gender. For example, a genderfluid person moves between different gender presentations. The individual may identify as masculine one day and on another day, the individual may identify as a femme or woman. Hence, the use of gender-neutral pronouns such as “they/them” is encouraged for genderfluid people

Gender becomes the most conspicuous difference between humans and animals and it manifests itself psychologically. Traditional western viewpoints designate males and females as binary opposite and argue that gender is inescapable. But this is not the case anymore. In our social surroundings, gender plays an important role. Through this article, we learn about the meaning of gender and its distinction from sex along with some cases and examples. We identify the common gender-related discrimination and understand the true sense of the word.

A Tryst with High Heels

The famous red-soled Louboutin with their breathtakingly high or rather painful stilettos are reserved for the women’s section and viewed as a commodity for the feminine gender only.

A commodity restricted to gender, strikes as a strange idea to me.

The retailer asked, in a rather monotonous tone to my friend, “Which size ma’am?” and then when we told him it is for me, a he! At once the retailer was taken aback and for a fraction of second, we could see the gears in his brain process the information. Well, we tried the shoe, it wasn’t a perfect fit, end of the story.

A Brief History of Gendered Commodities

Historically, high heeled shoes were initially designed for upper class men to use when hunting on horseback, an activity considered fairly masculine.

With time, as women began wearing high heels, male heels slowly became shorter and fatter as female heels grew taller and thinner. Over time the perception of the high heels gradually became seen as feminine. There is nothing intrinsically feminine about high heeled shoes. My friend enjoyed wearing my ‘Peanuts’ themed Vans sneakers but, she wasn’t subjected to gender horrified looks or old auntie gasps. Such has happened because social norms have made it so.

Gender roles are not set in stone. It varies from society to society and time as well. It is susceptible to change.

Understanding Gender from Biological Sex

The baffled expression of the retailer tells us something which runs much deeper in the texts of Gender Psychology and its social perspective.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines gender as “the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.”

Through the social lens, gender becomes a much broader term. While sex refers to an individual’s biological status as either male or female; gender refers to the person’s sense of expression of their maleness and femaleness.

While most people are born either male or female, they are taught appropriate norms and behaviours. This includes how they should interact with others or of the same or opposite sex, within micro and macro levels of societies. Such as households, classrooms, communities, religious places, sports fields and many more.

Individuals or groups who do not fit established gender norms, often face stigma, discriminatory practices and subjected to social exclusion. This in return has an adverse effect on health- both their physical and mental wellbeing. For example, the atrocities acted upon the hijra community in South-East Asia.

Cross-cultural and historical evidence do challenge this limited ideology and many gender-based stereotypes. The early rise of 20th-century feminism emerging as a social and political force has been fighting for equal opportunities and challenging traditional sexism of patriarchy.  This viewpoint is further supplemented with an interesting case from the Philippines.

A Case from the Philippines

PETA, acronym for Philippine Educational Theatre Association, a non-stock, non-profit organisation found in 1967 by Cecile Guidote gave the women of Philippines a strong voice. Under PETA, the Women’s Theatre Program (WTP) becomes an artistic medium that eventually becomes a weapon in the face of conservative political and religious influences which had been oppressing the women of the nation, solely due to their gender.

When PETA was formed, the Philippines was suffering from the dictatorship of President Marcos, making major gender inequality gaps and oppressing women. The WTP explores issues such as violence against women, prostitution and trafficking, poverty and reproductive right for women.

From the mid-1970s to mid-1980s PETA took seriously the task of leading a national theatre movement that would fight Marco’s dictatorship. They believed the struggle for social justice, women empowerment, democracy and equality amongst gender should also be urged on the educational and cultural fronts. The importance was paramount because without shaping people’s consciousness, the change will never prove lasting.

Sartorial Sexism

We dive deeper in the social perspective of gender in current times with the life examples of author Vicki S. Helgeson in her book The Psychology of Gender.

When her daughter was born, in 1998, Helgeson was exposed to the psychology of gender far more than as an advocate of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women.

She observed that after dressing up her baby in gender neutral clothes, passer-by’s often mistook the infant for a boy.

In her book she explains, the biological default is female. At conception, the embryo is destined to become female unless exposed to male hormones.

But the social default is male. When in doubt, assume the baby is a boy unless strong social cues are present, indicating the baby is a girl such as the pink, the bow, the specific patterns on toys and clothes. Further, she observed that it is not nearly as offensive to assume a girl is a boy as it is to assume a boy is a girl. She was surprised to find out how apologetic people become when they guess a baby boy for a girl.

Sartorial sexism stands strong within infants as it stood against me in Marks & Spencer. Infant clothes and toys are divided, with strict hints of sexism present. Slogans on apparels such as ‘Daddy’s Little Princess’ are for girls, expecting them to behave in a certain manner while for boys there are ‘Daddy’s Handyman’ reinforcing the machoism at an age when they cannot spell the very word. Symbolism also strictly divides dress codes with a pair of denims with stars and glitters are considered for boys and rugged or faded jeans are kept for girls.

Something seemed funny in that last line, didn’t it? And that is the social perspective of gender we carry today.

Conclusion

The nature of gender roles varies from society to society and time as well, such as certain commodities have shifted from one gender to another through time. Sex and Gender are two distinguished terms where sex relates to the biology of the individual and gender relates to the expression of behaviour from the individual. Gender manifests itself psychologically and if individuals do not fit the societal gender norms, they often face discrimination and subjugation from the dominant gender. Cecile Guidve initiative in 1967 lead to the creation of the Women’s Theatre Program (WTP) under the Philippine Educational Theatre Association (PETA) which fought gender inequality from both educational and cultural means. Sartorial sexism exists in our society and manifests itself through symbolic slogans, colour and fashion.

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Poverty, maternal health and hygiene practice are some factors that contribute to Malnourishment. In India, there are around 46.5 million children who have stunted growth due to this malady. Lack of food security and infective Food Distribution System in India has further aggravated the situation. It is reported that, that India will miss the expected global nutrition target by 2025, according to the Global Nutrition Report 2020.

Neelesh Singh, founder of Pehchaan NGO in Ghaziabad has personally taken the responsibility to do something about undernourished and malnourished children, who are facing a hunger crisis due to the initial lockdown and resulting economic crisis. He reaches out to children in the Pratap Vihar and Vijay Nagar areas of Delhi NCR.

What is the situation regarding malnourishment in India?

Since COVID-19 happened, according to the WHO reports, 3 lac children are suffering, and due to the pandemic, their life is at threat. Tentatively this can happen within 3 months. It may not be as big of a problem now compared to the COVID-19, but it has the potential to become worse.

Those who are unemployed, are mainly daily wage earners. Their children were already undernourished. Now, that since their jobs have gone, the families with whom I am in touch with, due to Covid-19 they didn’t get their income, and for two to three days the families didn’t eat. Today, many families are dependent on me. I am feeding their children but also offer food to their parents. I think, if I don’t feed them (parents) they will sleep with their stomach empty. Our responsibility is to get proper food for these affected families.

What is your food distribution frequency and quantities?

In one aluminum foil container, it commonly has rice and chhole, the net quantity of these food packets are 500 gm. We make the food ourselves in our family, in our house. We make sure the quality and the nutrition of the food is good. The food we distribute amongst the families, we eat it ourselves within our family.

We are member of 4 people in our house; My parents, my younger brother and me. we make the food.

Earlier, COVID-19, in the initial period of lockdown, we had 35 volunteers from Ghaziabad for food distribution. They used to distribute food and worked without money, for social work purposes only. Now, what happened, ever since the numbers corona cases of escalated, it was hard to decide for us, who was infected and who wasn’t. Earlier we used to make food for 1000 families, feeding them twice a day. That time, it was easier since there were not many cases, I had the help of my team. We had cooks also involved. This is about 30^th March to 31^st May. Since 1^st June we are focussing on 500 families.

Then we noticed, from the 1000 families who were dependent on me, few families got some jobs and went back to work. We removed them from our list and sorted out those 500 families who haven’t got any employment. This was done due to the limited resources and funding on our part. We started food distribution with the help of our family. We didn’t take the help of any volunteers since we did not want to risk the health of these families. We stopped taking volunteers because we did not their travel history, where they are going, and if they are taking precautions. So we removed the halwai and everyone, and on our own, we started cooking food and distributing them amongst kids and their parents.

Support or response from Government?

Our organisation is four years old, and we are supported by individual people.. Like people who are watching our activities telecasted live on Facebook. They sometimes help us with ration and food stock. We have a camp for old clothes, we collect these clothes from several societies and give them to the children for free. Now by collecting clothes, more people got to know about us. To them, we requested to help us with food and ration, and we did not take monetary relief from them. Many people helped, and are continuing to help.

From our understanding, there are almost 2 lac children within Ghaziabad who are undernourished. It is as it is difficult with our limited means to extend support to the 500 families we are connected with. We provide 200 ml Amul milk every day in the morning and one banana to the children.

There are some families who are in dire need of food, and their conditions are not favourable, to them we provide Emergency Ration Kit. In Emergency Ration Kit, 10 kg Atta, 1 litre oil, 4-5 kg rice, and condiments such as salt, masalas and pulses. With this Emergency Ration Kit, ours is that for them at least 10-15 days they can comfortably eat and survive.

I regularly visit families who are unemployed. I first approach the kids, I do talk to the elders, and they can lie, so I ask the children first. We ask them “beta, kal kya khaya tha shaam ko?” ya “din mein kya khaya tha” Children are innocent, and they won’t lie on these matters, I believe. They say what they had the other day, then they say what they had, and we on that basis judge how equipped the family is.

Are the kids aware of the global situation, how things have suddenly changed for them? Do they ask you anything?

In my last, I know of children who are not aware of the current situation. Many of the children are infants who haven’t started speaking yet. We saw many of these children begging around the streets. Many of them were our students, and it really affected us seeing them begging for food. From there I decided to focus on this food relief.

We used to provide nutrition before this as well. But on that day, we realized how grave the situation is. One of us asked the kids why were they begging, and they said, “Sir, hamare paas khaane ke liye kuchh bhi nahi.” I was really moved by this, and have been focussing on the food relief and provide nutritional food to children so they don’t go to bed hungry.

Neelesh Singh was approached by BBC World and BBC Hindi, and his efforts were highlighted on the NDTV news channel as well.

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In India, four months have passed since the initial nationwide lockdown implemented by the Government of India on 25th March 2020 and now preparation for Unlock 2.0 is beginning, with relaxed restrictions barring a few services such as of Cinema halls, theatres, bars, educational institutes, swimming pools, and other similar services.

Amidst the new policies announced and regulations updated, the role of women, and the economic impact on them is undervalued at an unprecedented rate in India. In a recent policy brief on ‘The Impact of COVID-19 on Women’ by the United Nations on 9^th April 2020, it was stated that “Women will be the hardest hit by this pandemic but they will also be the backbone of recovery in communities.” 

The threat of the pandemic worsening the pre-existing gender inequalities is rising, with a risk of erasing the limited gains of women liberation made in the past few decades in India and worldwide. It is widely known the abysmal manner in which the center handled the migrant labour situations, but often the cases of women migrant labours are overlooked in the broader term of this case.

Women’s Position in Coronavirus

Unpaid care work has increased for women, within households, and informal care jobs. Established gender norms have added responsibilities to women performing the majority of the household chores and care work, and sadly these are not paid and invisible in the economic sense of nature. Women perform 9.6 times more unpaid care work than men, according to a report by the International Labour Organization.

Teachers and nurses are underpaid in the formal care sectors, and even though educational institutes are closed, some teachers still have to go to school for administrative purposes. Sanya Bannerjee, a preschool teacher in a well-reputed school in Vadodara, Gujarat is a single mother of an 8-year-old son. She recounts her experience, “We teachers don’t have to go to school every day, maybe twice or thrice a week. I have to leave my son with the neighbors as the school crèche is closed. I cannot avoid my work as it is my only source of income now. Earlier, I used to take tuitions, but that has stopped since March. I am worried about the health of my son, but I have to go to work for both of us.”

Around the world, women earn less than men and are more likely to be employed in the informal sector, especially in south-Asian countries. With reduced social security and entrenched gender norms, their ability to absorb economic shocks is less than that of men. The pandemic and the economic crisis in India has created a detrimental atmosphere for the single-parent household.

Deepali a domestic helper from Khar, Mumbai says, “I haven’t worked for three months. Out of four houses, only one house paid my salary all these months. In the beginning of the year, I had got a job for washing dishes. But you know, these rich people get to know everything first, and they made some absurd reason and asked me not to come to work in the middle of February. Now I cannot go looking for jobs. Many societies here have rules not to allow people like us to enter because we come from Jhopar-Patti areas. It has been very difficult for me to make ends meet. I am desperately in need of work.” Deepali worked in houses in Santa Cruz and Bandra. She adds that once she was given 3kg of dal and rice from an NGO, but now Deepali and her daughter survives on rice water and boiled vegetables.

According to a recent article on the New York Times, it was reported that female labour participation decreased to 21% from 32% from the year 2005 to 2018 in the country. Women are at a much higher risk of losing their existing jobs and the lack of employment opportunities is said to make it tougher for Indian women to re-enter professional workspace.

Women and girls perform three times more unpaid care and domestic work than men. In the informal sector, they have limited access to social protection and paid sick leaves. While this invisible economy has a positive impact on the formal economy, it has a much greater negative impact on women’s lives.

The mental strain on women worrying about their job security is causing major anxiety-related mental health issues. Due to a low or negligible support system, they are truly in a vulnerable position. The social distancing rules have induced an undesirable effect of a safety norm since it has created a greater physical divide for women to reach out for help. Lack of a support system and negligible safety nets has created a catastrophic environment for women like Deepali and Sanya. 

The discussion of the drawbacks of policies by the government in this period of the pandemic in gender-neutral terms has downplayed the economic impact on women’s lives.  The national media and prominent political figures often wash away the unique issues and situations faced by women due to the systemic social disadvantage. It is imperative to address challenges faced by women and form policies keeping their needs at the center of it.

Conclusion:

A major economic recession announced by the International Monetary Fund, and it is deemed to be unique than any previous global recession. This likelihood will bring challenges to the vulnerable and weaker members of our society, especially women. The progress in women empowerment over the years is likely to be erased in these difficult times as women are burdened with more unpaid care work, domestic labour and gender pay gaps. Women are distanced from NGOs and other organizations for help in current times, which is likely the cause of the rise of domestic violence. Policies should be formed, taking the sensitive issues faced by women, as they have comparatively weaker social safety nets.

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