When a boy is born, we proud Indians of the 21st century celebrate, and when a girl is born, festivities are typically muted or nonexistent. Since the beginning of time, we have been killing our daughters at birth or before birth out of love for male children. If, happily, she is not slain, we find other methods to treat her unfairly throughout her life. Although women are treated as gods in our religions, we fail to see them as human beings first; instead, we worship the goddesses while abusing young women. When it comes to how we treat women, our culture has double standards; what we think and preach does not always match what we do.

The gender gap persists in India despite the country's rapid economic growth and several government initiatives to promote gender equality. Lack of gender equality jeopardises the prospects for future generations' quality of life in addition to restricting women's access to resources and opportunities. In this article, an effort has been made to look into the issue of gender disparity in India. Along the way, the essay not only examines the scope, root causes, and effects of the issue, but also recommends legislative solutions to lessen gender inequality

Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which men and women are not treated equally. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology, or cultural norms prevalent in the society. Some of these distinctions are empirically grounded, while others appear to be social constructs. While current policies around the world cause inequality among individuals, it is women who are most affected. Gender inequality weakens women in many areas such as health, education, and business life.

Studies show the different experiences of genders across many domains including education, life expectancy, personality, interests, family life, careers, and political affiliation. Gender inequality is experienced differently across different cultures and also affects non-binary people.Natural distinctions between the sexes are based on biological and anatomical variances, namely varying reproductive responsibilities1 . Chromosomes and hormonal variations are examples of biological differences.

There is a naturally occurring difference in the relative physical strengths (on average) between the sexes, both in the upper and lower body. However, this does not imply that any particular man is stronger than any particular woman. Men are typically taller than women, which has both benefits and drawbacks.

Gender inequality or the gender gap continues to be an immense issue of concern in India despite its achieving high rates of economic growth in recent years. Traditional patriarchal customs and norms have relegated a lot in the society2 Despite experiencing strong rates of economic growth in recent years, gender inequality or the gender gap remains a major cause for concern in India. Because of long-standing patriarchal norms and conventions, women are treated as second-class citizens and employees. India's poor performance on the 2014 Gender Gap Index (GGI) of the World Economic Forum, which includes below-average rankings

Definition and Concept of Gender Inequality

Gender is a socio-cultural term referring socially dened roles and behaviors assigned to 'males' and 'females' in a given society; whereas, the term 'sex' is a biological and physiological phenomenon which denes man and woman. In its social, historical and cultural aspects, gender is a function of power relationship between men and women where men are considered superior to women. Therefore, gender may be understood as a man-made concept, while 'sex'is natural or biological characteristics of human beings.

Gender Inequality, in simple words, may be dened as discrimination against women based on their sex. Women are traditionally considered by the society as weaker sex. She has been accorded a subordinate position to men. She is exploited, degraded, violated and discriminated both in our homes and in outside world. This peculiar type of discrimination against women is prevalent everywhere in the world and more so in Indian society .

India's gender inequality: Its causes and effects
The patriarchal structure of Indian society is the primary contributor to gender disparity. Patriarchy is "a system of social structure and practises in which men rule, oppress, and exploit women," according to renowned sociologist Sylvia Walby. The exploitation of women has always been a part of Indian culture.

Whether it is Hinduism, Islam, or another religion, the patriarchal system finds support and legitimacy there.For example, according to Manu, an ancient Hindu law creator, women should be in the custody of their father when they are young, their spouse when they are married, and their son when they are elderly.

Different Types of Inequalities

In paid labor participation
In comparison to males, women participate less in the formal, paid employment sector of the economy globally. According to the International Labor Organization (2009)3 , there is 40 percent of women in the world's paid workforce overall, with rates generally lower (nearer to 35 percent) in less developed nations and higher (nearer to 50 percent) in more industrialized nations (closer to 45 percent in the OECD). For our purposes, the difference between assuming a constant rate of 40 percent involvement and expecting some variance won't be very noticeable.

The gender wage disparity has been extensively documented in the literature4 , primarily during the most 2 Jacobsen 2007, Chapters 10 and 12 3 World Bank, 2010: World Development Indicators recent years (1970–2010), but also for earlier times. The gender pay gap appears everywhere and at all times. Based on my own earlier surveys of gender wage gap studies5 , I benchmark the current gender pay ratio in the calculations below at 60% in developing countries and 75% in developed countries (women's to men's earnings) and use calculations from Goldin (1990) and other sources to estimate the pay ratio globally.

There are less systematic studies of the wage ratio dating back to 19006 , especially for nations other than the U.S. and the U.K.7 The gender wage gap is generally attributed to forty to fifty percent of observable differences in characteristics, according to studies from both developed and developing nations.

This leaves up to fifty to sixty percent of the gender wage gap unexplained and potentially attributable to discriminatory factors in the labour market. Of course, these unobserved factors could also be non-discriminatory; for instance, women may choose jobs with lower pay.

In educational attainment and training Even though there are still large gaps between men and women's levels of education, a number of nations have recently reached complete parity in primary education and have even advanced to the point where women in younger cohorts appear to be receiving more secondary education and now even more tertiary education than men (World Bank 2010).

As an illustration, the ratio of female to male primary enrollment in 2009 spans from a low of 67 females per 100 boys in Afghanistan to a high of 108 females per 100 males in Mauritania, with parity achieved in all of the high-income nations (11 out of the 11). But in many nations, women fall far behind of men in terms of literacy rates, enrollment rates, and degree completion rates.

SOCIAL ISSUES Costs of gender inequality from 1900 to 2022 The figures above show the disparities between men and women in terms of household production, educational attainment, and rates of paid work participation and earnings. To complete the calculations required to determine the costs of gender inequality, a few extra numbers are required. Let's start by estimating how much of the gross domestic product-or, more accurately, gross domestic income-can be attributed to labour as opposed to capital.

Where reliable data are available, Pakko (2004) finds that labour has contributed around constant 70 percent of U.S. national revenue during the past 50 years. Costs associated with women's lower participation in paid work in comparison to what it would be if they were given equal access to education, training, and all occupations as are men, leaves out a number of additional costs associated with gender inequality. They are lesser costs that, in contrast to the systemic factors stated in the earlier section of the paper, can be computed and added to the aforementioned figures

if desired. In addition to their smaller size, one reason I did not include them in the main calculations above is that there has been less research on the topics. Ways to correct Gender Inequality Gender equality in education enhances growth by increasing the amount of human capital in a society and improving the possibility of a more efficient allocation of human resources.

Gender inequality in education reduces the average amount of human capital in a society and harms economic performance by restricting the pool of talent from which to draw for education. Gender equality increases growth indirectly, through increased health and education of the next generation. Several studies show that better-educated women contribute to the welfare of the next generation by reducing infant and child mortality, lowering fertility, and improving the nutritional status of children.

Reducing gender inequalities in the labor market contributes to growth, pro-poor growth in particular. As in the case of education, gender inequalities in the labor market that result in sex-segregated labour markets lead to welfare losses (reducing total output) arising from the misallocation of the labour force: competent female workers are excluded from some of the more productive activities. Growth as a result of higher gender equality in the labor market 'increases the size of the pie'.

Gender discrimination in the labor market can lead to significant efficiency losses, and the economy suffers a loss that is primarily borne by women. Research suggests that if barriers to female Labour force participation were lifted, women's wages could increase significantly at practically little loss in male wages, as a result of significant output gains.

Gender-based violence reduces growth through lower female earnings and increased cost of health provision. Women who are victims of domestic violence earn much less than their non-abused peers. Additionally, kids who see their mothers being mistreated do poorly in school, which reduces their opportunities in the job market in the future.

The significant increase in health care needs brought on by domestic violence. There have been many different sorts of actions made to address institutionalized sexism. People are starting to speak out or "talk back" in a positive way to highlight gender injustice and underrepresentation in other institutions as well as in politics. The phrase "undoing gender" was coined by academics who studied systemic sexism in politics.

By promoting "social interactions that diminish gender difference," this phrase focuses on education and a broad understanding of gender. Feminists contend that "undoing gender" is difficult because it depends on the situation and could even perpetuate gender. Researchers advise "doing gender differently" by removing gender norms and expectations in politics because of this, but culture and level of government can also play a role

Impacts Gender inequality and discrimination are argued to cause and perpetuate poverty and vulnerability in society as a whole. Household and intra-household knowledge and resources play a major role in determining an individual's capacity to seize outside possibilities for livelihood or react effectively to challenges. All home members are more productive and society as a whole is more equitable when all members of the household have high levels of education and social integration.

Critical Analysis
World is dominated by men still r, which can provide numerous difficulties for women who choose to work in politics. The gender of female candidates has a role in both advantages and disadvantages in their campaign themes and advertising strategies as the number of women participating in politics continues to rise globally.

The main issue appears to be that, regardless of their activities, women are unable to succeed in the political sphere because they are judged using different criteria than their male counterparts. The manner female candidates choose to dress and how their choice is regarded as evidence of the disparities in attitudes between male and female candidates10.

Women are seen as "conspicuous" when they choose to dress more masculinely. They are viewed as "deficient" when they choose to dress more femininely. Women in politics, however, are typically expected to uphold the masculine ideal, supporting the notion that gender is binary and that power is connected to masculinity. The aforementioned factors show how these contradictory messages put women in a "double-bind."

Conclusion
The research on gender attitudes shows that acceptance of women's participation in the workforce is higher than acceptance of adjustments to the domestic work division. We contend that this distinction exists because challenges to inequality in the home pose a particular danger to men's interests and that women's reliance on men influences how gender disparity is seen.

We investigate the link between family status and criticism of gender inequality at home and at work to examine these assertions. Family ties deter criticism; for women, married status is particularly important in anticipating criticism, but for men, parental status is more important. We contend that perceptions of gender disparity are mostly shaped by men's social power, women's reliance, and men's and women's interests with regard to gender stratification.