#BreakTheBias: Freedom, Fairness, Fortitude
“Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination… world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive… a world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women’s equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.” (International Women’s Day website)
Every human, no matter their gender, has the advantage of all human rights, respect, power, and opportunities to form choices about their lives. Many misunderstand gender equality as females and males being equivalent. Gender equality means standing on an equal platform to do anything they want with total respect, comfortably with all biological differences.
Women professionals are standing shoulder to shoulder with men in earning their own bread and butter. They have penetrated many sectors and excel in fields that were once the entire empire of men. Despite progress, company traditions and biased systems towards men, result in women being kept back. Inanimate gender bias remains a significant impediment to a woman’s career advancement.
Sadly, girls are left behind by general norms framed with boys in mind and not girls. So advantage boys and disadvantage girls by policies, programmes, government systems at the grassroots level. It intensifies the adverse effects of all other sorts of discrimination, exclusion and worse for women.
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Dr Lucy Gabriel Chattopadhyay is an international broadcaster at the World Service of AIR Delhi, and a visiting faculty at several universities, tuning voices and coaching young minds on leadership, journalism and communication.