by Sage Anonymous

Created on: December 10, 2009

Many dads treat their sons and daughters differently solely based on gender.  The dad loves them both dearly but he is more secure when the son is late coming home than the daughter, thus limiting her freedom more than the sons'.  Every dad who loves his daughter does the same.  Is the dad victimizing his own daughter or merely being protective of his child?

What’s the difference when one daughter feels that her dad is severely limiting her freedom verses another daughter who appreciates her dad for being protective? It’s understandable if the daughter with limited freedom feels victimized by her own dad. Is she a victim by virtue of the dad’s behavior or her sensibilities?  Dads generally do not want their kids to feel victimized and in this case, the dad should treat each daughter differently based on her sensibilities.

Having an absolutely identical treatment without consideration for an individual or group’s sensibilities is ridiculous, and because of that, we need to treat people differently based on their individual sensibilities. To discriminate means we treat another person without any consideration for their sensibilities.

Consider the fact that the US military has a policy that does not allow women in combat roles on the front line.  It can be argued successfully that there are many women more capable and qualified than some men who are allowed in combat roles.  This is sufficient to make women feel victimized.  To make this a non-discriminatory policy it should be based qualifications other than gender.

Gender is a very broad differentiator and should never be applied to specific situations like the one above.  Our policies should be based on more appropriate criteria and gender alone should never be a criterion for policies that govern our institutions. With gender based policies prevalent in our institutions, we inadvertently practice gender based discrimination.

Policies like the one in US military are pervasive in our society and culture in many organizations. There is another class of policies that when formulated, did not take into consideration the sensibilities of women. Such policies too, discriminate against women. As more and more women take the jobs performed exclusively by men in organizations that are governed by such policies, women are bound to feel victimized in those organizations.

Discrimination against women is as widespread as the policies that are based on gender alone and as widespread as the policies that did not take into consideration the sensibilities of women. As long as such policies continue to govern our institutions, there will be women who will feel discriminated.

Learn more about this author, Sage Anonymous.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.