Flipping over the pages of the memory, one comes across the sweetest fond ones from the rooms of schools and colleges, in playgrounds, and canteens, with the coolest buddies and guiding beams of life. But, interesting is the fact that man hardly troubles one’s mind to fathom the development of one’s personality, which is the fruit of this same campus life.
The lessons learnt in the formative age are so deeply interwoven, that the things learnt cannot be unlearnt. Real education gets clouded amidst the rat race, which in lieu makes the things neglected in the past to remain in ignorance, in later life as well. The binaries of gender, racism, caste and class insidiously carry their presence, disrupting the equilibrium of life.
Among all the issues, gender remains the most poignant, sensitive issue that sows the seed of discrimination. This issue is addressed in multiple protests, movements, and rallies but one needs to address the root of the problems.
Binary in School Curriculum
The seed of discrimination between a boy and a girl starts from the primary textbook itself where in the lesson on pronouns, he and s(he) make the former feel a superiority complex, over the latter. The teachers not only inculcate these rote learnings but have a major role to play in shaping one’s gender identity and performativity.
Starting from assembly lines to seating arrangements within classrooms and even staircases are separated for boys and girls, the reason being stated that both would learn to identify themselves (with their gender), in the manner of their seating and walking habits. And, as boys by nature are bound to be notorious would push a girl (the contrary cannot be true) and ‘normally’ she would trip over and hurt herself, crying with rolling eyes.
Discrimination in Subject Disciplines
Women like Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams skyrocketed beyond space but the former had to face a premature death, which some people say was due to a larger conspiracy. Was the conspiracy because she had become a successful space woman? The answer is still nebulous.
But the most important thing is the seed sown which makes the boys believe that girls are feather brained incapable of performing scientific experiments or have logical thinking. Jean Jacques -Rousseau in the book Emile, Or Treatise on Education opined that the primary focus of a woman is to be a good wife and a good mother, so she need not be trained in the rational sphere as it would harm their delicacy and emotional faculty.
The book was published in 1762, and although things have changed a lot, the repercussions of the seed of discrimination are still felt today in the twenty-first century.
In the participation list of science and mathematics quizzes, girls’ names fall short because teachers tend to select boys’ names first followed by girls’ names. Even in the case of suitability of career choices, the generalized subject choice for boys is the science stream and for girls remains the humanities stream.
Identity Crisis
The self-esteem of a girl should be developed within the school boundaries, within her known arena, but sometimes it plays the contrary role, unconsciously and unintentionally. The gender bias is so deeply enrooted within the people’s psyche that it becomes hard to delineate in actions and words, that one is still carrying the seed of discrimination.
While choosing a class captain, a boy is by default selected as the eligible, while the most befitting student that is a girl remains as a vice-captain. The role of a father or husband being a guardian of the family, springs from this conception. And, the race of Eve, continues to be his better half, or part of his arm. Thus, she suffers from an identity crisis as a separate identity is never made to develop.
Nowadays, educational institutions stress on ‘Women's Education’ and the importance of girls standing on the independent ground, but whether what they preach, becomes their practice or not, needs to be scrutinized.
Otherization from Playing Field to Knowledge Field
Cricket players like Jhulan Goswami and Mithali Raj have made the Indian soil proud of their extraordinary playing talents, but when one unfolds their backstory, it becomes apparent that the journey of becoming a woman cricketer is cumbersome because they are wo(man) and not man. If schools had not differentiated Cricket and Football as boys’ games and drills for girls, then the struggle of women players would have been a bit easier.
Schools mark the line of distinction between self and other. So by default, boys learn to be superior in power and pour their bestial instincts upon their female partners. Even in cases of disrobing one’s honour, the blame is given to the girl for luring the male sex towards herself.
Gender cells are established in academic institutions, to take care of the issues of molestation and harassment, but often the perpetrator brags with his collar high and hardly a girl gets the courage to speak for herself.
The reason behind this kind of violence also springs from the half-cooked knowledge gained. Knowledge about menstruation and women's hygiene was neglected for decades, until recently campaigns from sponsored companies of sanitary pads, do bring in awareness within the campus walls.
Interestingly, these campaigns are kept as a secret from the boys, and an unusual guilt feeling within a girl works as if she has committed a crime. Even, teachers fail to give students proper knowledge about one’s own body and to draw the distinction line between gender and sex. This eventually creates a dilapidated person with no knowledge about one’s own desires and feelings, leading to premarital sex and discordant marital unions.
Conclusion
Starting from whom to keep friends with, to spending money on which item, from brother to father, from boyfriend to husband, men do meddle in the sphere of women. They consider themselves as the rightful beings to dictate the ‘second sex’.
Society is a larger field, where this seed of discrimination has been sown throughout thousands of years. But changes if brought on campus can create ripples in the former. Education should not delimit itself within the curriculum, but be inculcated within each, so that harmony and co-existence become the true spirit of the human race.
Is it possible to change the curriculum so easily? Is it possible to change the enrooted psychology that gets carried in the minds of both men and women till date?
What do you think about the same? Let us know what you feel in the comments section below. If you have an opinion to share, feel free to reach out to us at larra@globalindiannetwork.com.
