Gender

Sex         – refers to the biological characteristics which define humans as       

                   female or male

Gender  – refers to the culturally based expectations of the roles and 

                  behaviors of men and women                                                                                                                                                        

                                                                         – Gender & Elections, BRIDGE

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when we say gender? Are gender issues just about women? If it is not, then why are most issues about gender related to women?

Well, let me share my opinions with you. When we talk about gender, the two words that come to my mind first are equity and women. Now I know, one of those two words is women, but gender issues are not just about women as most seem to think ( at least most people I have met seem to think so). The following are some statistics that might interest you.

	Female	Male
Local Leaders	5%	95%
Parliamentary Representation	14%	86%
Dzongdags	5%	95%
Unemployed	65.9%	34.1%
Illiterate	65.6%	34.4%

(Some of these data’s are old and may have changed)

(P.S: I had originally made a beautifully colored graph to make my stats look more attractive but I just couldn’t figure out how to get it in my blog. So I guess the table will have to do to get my message out…. J)

Looking at the table above, it’s easy to understand why gender issues are mostly about women. And this is not just Bhutan’s problem. Women occupy 17% of parliamentary seats around the world and out of the 180 heads of Government, only 12 were women as of April, 2007.

 If we look at the table, for the first few bars which shows parliamentary representation, leaders, etc., the male percentage is very much high. But when it comes to disadvantages, the percentages are sadly reversed.

I don’t know whose fault it is. It’s something that has been bred into us, if you know what I mean. For thousands of years, we have believed that the male are the superior of the two and it’s not easy to just wake up one day and change all that. I am someone who believes there should be gender equity but I have also been stereotyping, although unknowingly. I always bought my daughter something pink, with flowers and princess print on them and Barbies. And I bought blue for my nephew and trucks and Ben 10 stuffs. You may think that these things are very subtle and hardly matters but now when they talk, they say that pink is for girls and blue for boys, Barbie for girls and trucks for boys. It was not intentional on my part but sadly I was the one who shaped them that way – I bred it into them.

So if you are reading this, begin your journey with me. Doesn’t matter how small your step, just take it. Buy your daughters guns and trucks and boxing gloves. Tell them they are inferior to no one, so that one wonderful day, we may be able to change the statistics that I have just shown above.

I can’t say that I will change the world overnight, but I sincerely believe that I have begun my journey……