The Need For Gender Diversity In Institutions

It’s actually emotional abuse this society has inflicted upon couples. They are judged wherever they go, this reveals how sick the mentality is of some people.

As I was browsing through my Facebook feed, I saw the news about the government announcing a scheme to create an interest among girl children to attend college. The thought of the government having an interest in female education is something to be applauded, but when I read about the scheme I was shocked.

Is gender segregation in colleges really necessary?

The scheme was to make girls attend college in the morning hours and boys in the evening hours. The process of separating boys and girls in schools and colleges is going on in this country for years now and now the government itself is announcing such a thing is really a bad sign of where our society is going.

The news article which I read is really interesting. It is fascinating to see that the article and some social activists condemned this action saying it is not healthy to separate girls and boys, which will go against gender diversity. Female education is the only way to attain equality in society but to do this by separating boys and girls is not the right way.

Serious repercussions of the gender divide

In the same article, they have shared news about a girl who committed suicide in some coaching centre. The reason for the drastic step was because she’d been in a relationship with a boy for a year and one day the boy’s parents came to know about the relationship and they complained to the girl’s parents and the institute. The boy was made to leave the institute and cut ties with the girl. The girl heartbroken committed suicide in the hostel dorm. We are now used to reading these kinds of news almost every day and don’t think twice about it anymore.

But this is a serious issue, having a relationship with the opposite gender is seen as a very serious crime by parents and society. The students or anyone for that matter who are in a relationship undergo a lot of abuse from the parents, teachers and society.

A man was killed by the girl’s family for marrying out of her religion and these honour killings are happening almost every day in this country.  And these kinds of gender segregations in educational institutes will instigate more violence in this society.

Let healthy communication between the genders begin in school!

In schools and colleges, boys and girls are still prohibited to talk and hang out with each other. They are made to sit separately and this will create a sense of difference between them, and a sense of awkwardness with each other and they won’t be able to develop healthy communication with each other. There also won’t be any gender diversity in schools and colleges.

By doing all these things there won’t be any friendship between the boys and girls. A healthy sense of camaraderie, competition, communication between the sexes will be stifled. There will either be only love or hatred between them, not friendships, which is very important for understanding each other.

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In urban areas, some of the colleges are not following these rules, but in almost all rural areas every educational institutes still follow all these rules and mind you, these rules are for only girls. This should change, we are going back to the stone age by imposing all these strict rules.

Even today boys and girls being in relationships is being frowned upon by society. Be it a teenager or 30-year-old, they still fear and hesitate to open up about their relationships with their parents or family.

The family without any hesitation rejects the couple citing petty reasons such as family honour, caste, religion and respect. They even go to the extent of expelling them from the house to murdering them in cold blood, this is the dire situation of our current society.

Being in a relationship is something normal, in every age, there will be someone we might be attracted to and a relationships blooms, be it in colleges, schools or offices. But this is labelled as a sin in our society, the persons who are in relationships have to live every moment with the fear of being caught by family or friends.

It’s actually emotional abuse this society has inflicted upon couples. They are judged wherever they go, this reveals how sick the mentality is of some people. This all should change, from school level girls and boys should mingle, be friends and understand each other, parents and society should not judge or abuse people who are in relationships.

Imposing all these rules and creating a chasm between genders will only create more problems in society. The government is right to improve female education, but it should bring schemes in a progressive way not this way.

Image source: shutterstock

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About the Author

Praneash V

A Research Scholar, ardent book lover, and amateur writer who wants to write about the injustice in society in the name of religion and tradition and wants to break all the stereotypes. read more...

12 Posts | 22,838 Views

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