How will we know when we have gender equality?

People often argue that most Western societies have achieved gender equality – women have all the same legal rights as men, and workplace discrimination based on gender is illegal.

So what do we mean when we talk about gender equality, and how will we know when we have it?

Equal mean identical???

No.One might object that there are meaningful differences between males and female. Someone believe that equality is the wrong word to use, because males and females can’t be equal if they are different.

But when feminists refer to gender equality, we are not arguing that males and females are identical or indistinguishable on all behaviour, preferences and abilities. Nor does it mean all gender differences must be eliminated, or that we must have equal gender representation in every field.

 Gender equality doesn’t mean we must have a 50:50 balance of men and women in every profession purely for the sake of equal representation.

 Gender equality also does not mean that males and females must always be treated the same. Given the existence of biological sex differences, it is reasonable for males and females to have different legal rights in some instances. For example, only females can ever require maternity leave specifically for pregnancy and birth.

In cases such as these, what is required is not equal treatment, but equitable treatment. Equity means recognising that differences in ability mean that fairness often requires treating people differently so that they can achieve the same outcome. At times equity is necessary to achieve gender equality, but there are many instances where this is not the case.

 So if gender equality does not mean that males and females must be identical or always require the same treatment in order to achieve fairness, what does it mean?

Gender equality is seeing males and females as being of equal status and value. It is judging a person based on their merit, and not viewing them as inferior or superior purely based on their gender.

Equal rights are not enough. Inequality exists in our minds, in our biases and prejudices, and that remains to be fixed.

Equal rights for all, special privileges for none.

                                                                             -Sana Sheikh