July 30, 2009
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USA
Payne’s tips to reach gender equality…
OUR CORRESPONDENT Siliguri, July 30: Gender equity cannot be achieved till the discrimination that exists in accessing vocations is removed, US consul general in Calcutta Beth A. Payne said here today.
“The problem does not only exist while accessing education, but also afterwards when women have to choose a vocation for themselves. Women are pushed towards stereotypical vocations like nursing or teaching while men are considered efficient to take up profession in engineering, management et al. These barriers only make the discrimination between men and women more severe,” Payne said.
She was speaking at an interactive session on Gender Equality—A Reality Check organised by the north Bengal zonal council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in association with the Lions Club of Siliguri Greater Femina this afternoon.
The problem of discrimination has been made more severe on the job front by the use of gender specific language.
“Why can’t there be gender neutral language in our work places? Terms like chairman in an organisation can be replaced with chairperson and flight attendant is more appropriate than stewardess because both women and men occupy these posts. Such terms only help to widen the gap,” she said.
Unfortunately, Payne added, it was not just men but women, too, who adopted such discriminatory attitude.
“India is a country where 50 per cent of the population is women and if there isn’t gender equality, the full potential of its work force cannot be achieved. The solution lies in changing our attitudes and perspectives,” the US consul general said.
