It can be clearly seen that the preceding economic condition was nothing to boast about and already a national concern, but with the current pandemic scenario, not only did we lose all hopes of recovery, the country is now expected to go into an even deeper state of recession.

The financial stoppage in India, quickened by the COVID-19 pandemic, is compromising the occupations of millions, and will as per moderate evaluations drive a million others into miserable neediness. However, there is an improbable partner in India’s fight against neediness and loss of riches – religious freedom and social harmony

“The social side cannot be viewed as different from the economy side. Not only is social harmony desirable in itself, but it is also necessary for investment to flourish and generate growth. In an autocratic system, dissent is more easily suppressed, but in a democratic environment it cannot be suppressed and this means it is important for the political leadership to work hard to create harmony.”- Montek Singh Ahluwalia

However, the scenario is not the same with India since religion has been a matter of conflict since ages. The government needs to ensure that social harmony is being kept and this topic is just too important to be ignored.

Freedom of Religion and Resulting Consequences

Freedom of religion in India is a fundamental right that is guaranteed to every citizen by Article 25-28 of the Constitution of India. It includes the freedom of conscience, the right to practice, propagate and profess any religion of their own will. As many as 172 countries have signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that protects the right to freedom.

However, since the faulty implementation is one of the basic root causes of any failed scheme, act or campaign in India, so is the application of the above law. Several incidents have been reported where this basic right has been violated in the past and even in the present.

There have been uncountable conflicts happening in India just because of religious disparities whether it entails the destruction or disrespect of someone’s place of worship or their religion itself.  This has resulted in violent attacks and led to a huge toll on the country’s economy with shops being put on fire and resting curfews that slow down economic activity. Social and religious instabilities and conflicts hamper the economic growth, be it the conflict over Ram Mandir or Attack on Indira Gandhi in the late 70s. Communal violence has been one of the weaknesses that result in the loss of millions of lives.

Deviation from the Crucial Problems

There are a variety of issues such as inadequate healthcare, unemployment rates that are soaring high, illiteracy, protection and empowerment of marginalized communities, systematic corruption, eccentric climatic patterns, poverty and sanitation problems for the urban slum dwellers which require resources and hold vital significance in any country’s agendas. However, with the rising violent conflicts in the country, resources get spent to bring the situation under control and are further utilized in the redevelopment of affected areas. This results in increased government spending and hence the focus shifts from the critical areas of concern to such social disputes.

Violence cost the Indian economy $1.19 trillion (over Rs 80 lakh crore) in the year 2018, in constant purchasing power parity terms, which amounts to roughly $595.4 per person, according to a report prepared by the Institute for Economics and Peace based on an analysis of 163 countries and territories. Also, in 2017, violence impacted $1,190.51 billion to the Indian economy, 9 percent of the country’s gross domestic product or $595.4 (over Rs 40,000) per person. On the other hand, government allocation on the education sector has been only a small portion, nearly 3 percent or even less some years, which is an essential need for the county to progress and develop.

The given data pretty much concludes the fact of how resources reduce for rather crucial issues when social harmony isn’t maintained. It is rumoured that many times such conflicts are the fruits of political disputes and conspiracies. Even the focus of the policymakers and thanks tanks gets diverted to such issues and the crucial issues go rather ignored. It has been suggested in many research works that social and religious conflicts hamper the economy as well as the overall development of the country gravely.

Impact on Investment and Foreign Relation

Even trade negotiations, political relations, and allies also get affected because of these disturbances in the social harmony as the various conflicts sometimes lead to a portrayal of poor image for the country.

It has been observed in various studies that countries that have low levels of religious malice and restrictions put up by the government are ranked higher in terms of education, technological readiness, financial markets and many more important parameters that define a country’s growth and development. China even boasts of not having democratic reforms as it believes that just hampers the nation’s economy and leads to dissent and chaos in the country. Investors tend to be happy with countries where social and religious harmony prevails.

“There is disappointment with India and increasing caution among investors since the last election,” said John Lau, Hong-Kong based head of Asian Equities at SEI, which has $352 billion under management. “The recent political moves and laws have distracted the government from economic reforms,” Lau said the disruptions had led SEI to cut exposure to the South Asian nation to below benchmark levels.

In February, as protesters blocked streets for the third straight month, WisdomTree Investments Inc., the US-based fund with $64 billion under management — said it is concerned rising political and social tensions will delay the country’s economic recovery. Western Asset Management Co., the $453-billion investor and affiliate of Legg Mason Inc., said in January — less than a month after protests intensified — that it was reducing its Indian government bond holdings after tensions around a new citizenship law and the Kashmir region.

These incidents show how investment suffers as a result of social and political issues and thus hampers development. When any protest or conflict takes place, a situation of uncertainties tends to dominate and becomes unappealing to the foreign investors especially. Foreign Direct Investment thus suffers greatly.

Environmental Issues

Moreover, social issues such as the environment have been completely ignored by many companies and industries. A possible reason for the same is that environmental degradation is not subtracted from the country’s GDP and the amount of pollution and toxic waste generated does not have any impact on the GDP. This portrays that although the industry might be severely polluting the nearby water bodies, as long as it is generating goods and services, and adding to the GDP it isn’t a matter of concern. But in the long run, environmental degradation would bring town the economy as a whole as many industries are consumers of natural products such as agricultural products, water bodies for all cleaning and production purposes in industries and other raw materials which are necessary for the manufacturing industry. If the supply of these materials is disrupted because of environmental problems then the economy would eventually slow down.

Imports in the country already supersede the exports and the country thus runs a huge trade deficit which is yet another challenge for the Indian economy. If the supply chain gets disturbed, we would have to again increase the imports followed by a decrease in exports which would further increase our dependency on other nations.

Conclusion

Thus social harmony needs to be given special consideration by the government along with environmental aspects if we wish to develop our economy and achieve the target of getting to a five trillion dollar economy by 2024-25 as envisioned by the government of India. The current GDP growth is already way lower than required to achieve the goal and hence relevant steps need to be taken by the government.

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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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