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Gender Dichotomy

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THE ROLE OF ‘PUBLIC’ AND ‘PRIVATE’ BEHIND THE SLOW PROGRESS OF GENDER EQUALITY
The public-private bifurcation: Perpetuating gender hierarchy
The dichotomy of public and private sphere is an excellent example to understand how it plays a major role in the existing gender inequalities and unequal distribution of power control in the society. The “private” sphere has been historically construed to be restricted to women as it relates to matters of family whereas the “public” sphere is regarded as the domain of men as it relates to matters of business and politics.
The isolation of these spheres leads to further distortions in gender hierarchy because of the extent of state responsibility relating to matters in both these spheres. The state hesitates …show more content…

The judges ask the victim why she doesn’t leave the man inspite of repeated violence. This is where ‘the battered woman syndrome’ comes into play where the victim, due to social condemnation or other economic reasons is unable to leave and does not have any forum for redressal which renders her passive and helpless. Similarly in cases of rape, the judges interpret marriage as a mode for long-term sexual access to women which is why in cases of marital rape, the judges resort to victim-blaming and treat it is a trivial private problem of the family instead of a serious criminal …show more content…

However, this case is problematic in its interpretation of the relationship between privacy and reproductive rights as it does not clarify when the life of the foetus begins. Moreover, it treated reproductive freedom as an aspect of privacy but this privacy was a spousal/family privacy where the decision was not hers alone but also depended on the man which perpetuates the gender inequality in the family. Spousal privacy means that her husband has a say in her right to or not to have a baby and in the number of children she wishes to have. This treatment of reproductive right as an element of privacy is not suitable as it further isolates this issue into the private sphere instead of treating it affirmatively as her own reproductive freedom and bodily

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