Gender Discrimination
Gender discrimination (বৈষম্য) means the practice of treating a male differently from a female in an unfair way. Generally a male child is given more facilities than a female child in our country. There are a few causes of gender discrimination in our society. The first cause is that as most of the houses in our country are male dominated, the males always think that their female counterparts (প্রতিপক্ষ) are inferior (নিকৃষ্ট) and unimportant (গুরুত্বহীন). So they want to have male children so that they can, when they are older, supplement (যোগকরা) family income and do the household work. They do not welcome the birth of a girl. Low female literacy (স্বাক্ষরতা) is another cause of gender discrimination in our country. As most of the women are not aware of their rights, they accept the male domination (কর্তৃত্ব) without any opposition. They are neglected (অবহেলিত) in different ways. They are confined in domestic chores. Moreover, they are deprived (বঞ্চিত) of proper education. They are married off (বিবাহ দেওয়া) before they reach puberty (বয়ঃসন্ধি). This discriminatory (বৈষম্যমূলক) treatment has some long term negative effects on the body and mind of girl children. As they are not given nutritious food, they suffer more than their male counterparts, from malnutrition (অপুষ্টি) and anemia (রক্তস্বল্পতা) which make them vulnerable (অরক্ষিত) to various diseases. They also develop a sense of self-effacement (আত্মবিলোপ), self-denial (আত্মবির্সজন) and inferiority (নিকৃষ্টতা), which prevent them from holding up their heads high in the society. Therefore parents should treat their both male and female children equally (সমানভাবে). They should educate their children properly so that they can be self-reliant (আত্মনির্ভরশীল). If they do not treat their children equally (সমানভাবে), God shall punish them hereafter (পরবর্তী কালে).