Gender Issues in Relationships, Essay Example

Since being in college, I have experienced scenarios that have left me convinced that Indian men look down on women. I have a friend in college who is a year older than me, and she was close to delivering her third child. She and her husband were excited about the pregnancy and could not wait. A month after delivering her child, she realized some changes in her husband because he started coming home late, was not talking to my friend much, and was unwilling to help with the newborn. My friend was concerned and spoke to me about it, claiming that her husband was no longer happy with their family. I sought advice from one of our friends, who told me he would speak to her husband. Upon meeting with him, her husband said he was devastated because his wife had given birth to another girl. He had been expecting her to give birth to a boy since she had already had two girls. The man said he loved his children but was tired of his wife only delivering girls. He said he was ashamed of facing his male friends who had sons. He added that most Indian men respect their peers more if they have sons than when they have daughters. This shows that many Indian men place more value on sons rather than daughters because they consider them more responsible than girls. When my friend told me what the husband had said, I considered this a gender issue because men look down on the female gender in society. Men pay less attention to female children from a young age, making them feel weak and unsupported in society.

The trouble in my friend’s relationship is a gender issue because the man despises his wife for only delivering daughters. If my friend had delivered a son, her husband would have been prouder and paid attention to her. This has become a common problem in Indian societies because women are afraid to deliver to girls. After all, society will not accept them. Son preference in India is a common occurrence, where men place a higher value on men than women for social, religious, and economic reasons. Adult sons are accepted because they can work to support their families financially and have a long-term obligation to their parents. At the same time, girls become a part of their in-laws’ families. Men also dislike having girls because their families must pay for the dowry when the daughters marry. This leads to society neglecting women, which focuses on educating and protecting boys/. Looking down on women has led to many disadvantages for them, such as an increase in ultrasounds and selective abortion of female fetuses. Regardless of the risks associated with illegal abortions, women are forced to undergo them because their partners do not want them to give birth to girls. The gender issue left me worried about my friend because her husband would no longer respect her for having another girl. Her future feels uncertain because she does not know if she will ever deliver a boy for her husband and if he will love and care for his children, who are all girls. Looking down on women in India has led to them growing up without guidance and love from their parents, making them think they are weak and unworthy in society.