A case for gendered mobility

The continuum of the present is always marred by the hues of the past. Right from the Greeks, women have been otherised by their so-called ‘stronger’ male counterparts.

According to the 2024 SDG Gender Index, a girl born today will have to wait until her 97th birthday – beyond her expected lifespan – to see gender equality. The report further asserts that no country is on track to achieve gender equality by 2030.

Countering this egregious, perennial impasse entails a multi-faceted approach, including revamping public consciousness, and reforming and applying equality laws and policies. What is also needed is to enhance empowerment programmes – especially covering the peripheries, where this ailment is mushroomed by outlandish poverty and extremist religiosity – and increase public-sector spending on services and social infrastructure to support women’s participation in society, among other things. In short, there is an unflinching need to reconfigure societal DNA: to morph the global outlook towards women.