Women are neither subordinate to men nor do they need to be submissive to anybody, as the Constitution guarantees equal rights to individuals of all genders, the Supreme Court has said in its ‘Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes’, which was launched on Wednesday.
The handbook contains a glossary of gender unjust terms and suggests alternative words and phrases which may be used instead.
It has also termed “incorrect” some common stereotypes about the gender roles ascribed to men and women. On the stereotype that “women should be submissive or subordinate to men”, the handbook says, “The Constitution of India guarantees equal rights to individuals of all genders. Women are neither subordinate to men nor do they need to be submissive to anybody.”
On the stereotype that “women should do all the household chores”, it said, the reality is that “people of all genders are equally capable of doing house chores. Men are often conditioned to believe that only women do household chores”.
Another stereotype which the handbook highlights is that “wives should take care of their husband’s parents.” It said the reality is that the responsibility of taking care of elderly individuals in the family falls equally on individuals of all genders and this is not the “sole remit of women”.
The handbook also dealt with the common stereotype that women who work outside of the home do not care about their children. It said working outside of the home has no correlation with a woman’s love or concern for her children and parents of all genders may work outside of the home while also caring for their children.
It said the common stereotype that “women who are also mothers are less competent in the office because they are distracted by childcare” is incorrect as females who have “double duty”, that is work outside the home and raise children, are not less competent in the workplace.
The handbook dealt with another stereotype that “women who do not work outside the home do not contribute to the household or contribute very little in comparison to their husbands”.
It said women who are homemakers perform “unpaid domestic labour”, such as cooking, cleaning, washing, household management, accounts, and work like caring for the elderly and children, helping kids with their homework and extra-curricular activities.
“The unpaid labour performed by women not only contributes to the household’s quality of life but also results in monetary savings. Women who are homemakers contribute to the household to an equal (or greater) extent. Their contributions are often overlooked because men are conditioned to believe that such work is of limited value,” the handbook said.
Regarding another stereotype that women are physically weaker than men, it said, “While men and women are physiologically different, it is not true that all women are physically weaker than all men. A person’s strength does not depend solely on their gender but also on factors such as their profession, genetics, nutrition, and physical activity.”
It also dealt with the stereotype that unmarried women (or young women) are incapable of taking important decisions about their life.
“Marriage has no bearing on an individual’s ability to take decisions. The law defines specific ages for persons to consent to certain activities, e.g., marriage or consuming alcohol, and all individuals of or above this age are deemed to be capable of taking such decisions irrespective of marriage,” the handbook said.
Stereotype-promoting language should be avoided: SC
The top court also suggested alternative words and phrases for use in the judicial discourse and in orders and judgments. These include using woman instead of career woman, assigned female/male at birth instead of born a girl/boy, sex worker instead of hooker.
It also says to use homemaker instead of housewife and the word eve teasing should be replaced by street sexual harassment, among others.