Sixteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Gender is not something that one is; it is something one does, an act of “doing” rather than a “being.” The several ongoing projects globally focusing on gender are communicating for change, getting voice, visibility, and impact for gender equality while enabling women to represent at all operational levels. Education has definitely been paramount in empowering women. From basic education to entrepreneurial skills, to improved health and to facilitating more women in public life, education is the key factor. Education has not only aided the elevation of women’s status, it has also boosted confidence in decision-taking, though there is still progress to be made in boosting the latter. In most countries, it is now the case that young women complete upper secondary education at a par with young men. The number of women graduating in vocational programmes has also increased.The education gap between men and women is narrowing, with countries like Denmark, Portugal, and Spain showing higher secondary level graduation rates among young women, exceeding the rates of young men by about ten per cent. No less important, in the home, women do bear responsibility for the boys and girls of tomorrow’s society, for their education and for instilling the values of equal treatment in and outside the home. Women’s liberation requires the revolt and seizure by controlling and removing the tyranny of sexual division based on biology. With such a removal comes a collapse of these social and cultural structures i.e., the family, cultural myths of romance, marriage, and motherhood which have provided the ideological support for this sexual division. The move to transform the gender inequality is growing tremendously as women are entering into the male dominating workforce like education media, police, defense, and technology. This gives women a sense of security and also it adds a completely a different perspective to the society by giving it a positive attitudinal change towards gender inequalities. Though there is still a wide gap between the constitutional and legal rights provided to women and the ground reality of its implementation and treatment, my paper discusses the most insightful analysis of struggle and effort to rearticulate an identity for women which is thoroughly imbued with discourses of culture, tradition, and family.