Recently Sania Mirza, an Indian tennis player, was quoted as saying that gender inequality makes life difficult for women in India.
However, it is not only India where this issue is widely prevalent. This is inherent even in the west where there are significant pay gaps, and fewer women make their way in the hierarchy of organisations. However, in the west, in the recent past there have been several initiatives to close this gap and to allow more women to take up leadership posts. In India such initiatives are sadly still lacking.
Sania said that it was the culture in the country that barred women from coming into sport and if that was changed, it might encourage more women to join.
For sport, moreover, Sania has a point. Recently, I was watching an interview with the captain of the Indian women’s cricket team. She was asked if they were treated in the same way as the men’s cricket team in terms of the perks and pay. For any of us who watch cricket it is a widely known fact that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (also known as the BCCI), is the richest cricket board in the world. She said in terms of perks, they were generally put up in good hotels, but were paid a lot less than the men. In addition, few people know about these women cricketers. They do not get endorsed in the same way, and neither are their matches aired or played at the same level as the men.
Sania said that it was the culture in the country that barred women from coming into sport and if that was changed, it might encourage more women to join. This is a fact. In individual sports like tennis and badminton, you still see women being recognised, but in team sports there is hardly any recognition. The culture barrier that Sania talks about is huge because everything they do is questioned and comes down to them being a woman. If I remember clearly, when Sania first started out in the WTA tour and gained recognition, there was a lot of disagreement amongst the Muslim community about the way she dressed on court, which is ridiculous because she was wearing the normal tennis attire that all tennis players wear. Furthermore, Sania said that it was the mentality of both men and women that needed to be transformed if the issue of gender inequality was to be addressed. While men need to realise that women are as capable as they are and must work just the way they do, women need to also know this and not feel inferior to men. As Sania pointed out, it is all in the culture, and hopefully with more awareness and initiative, this will change.
It is all in the mindset of people at the end of the day and women should not rely on the perception that men have of them. Women should strive for excellence in whatever they do and create an identity of their own.
India is no longer the country it used to be ten years ago. Yes, there is still a lot of gender inequality, and with the recent influx of rape cases being reported, it is also seen as an unsafe place for women. This, however, I would say, is owing to a lack of education and a lack of strict policing, and I hope that the new government is able to bring in changes in this area. But in more progressed cities such as Mumbai, women are able to be independent. It is all in the mindset of people at the end of the day and women should not rely on the perception that men have of them. Women should strive for excellence in whatever they do and create an identity of their own. This, however, will come from women believing in themselves and their abilities, and women like Sania who have risen in a sport that is dominated by men in India, should be an inspiration.
