Gender Discrimination In Kashmir: A Sociological Study Of Women Of District Kulgam (J&K)

Abstract

Gender is a common term whereas gender discrimination is meant only for women, becausefemales are the only victims of gender discrimination. Females are nearly 50% of the totalpopulation in India but their representation in public life is very low. Gender discriminationhas deep roots in the Kashmiri culture, which in academic discourse has often remainedunexplored or unaccounted. The only Kashmiri sociologist who devoted most of his time inexploring the emerging issues in Kashmiri society was Professor Bashir Ahmad Dabla, onof the renowned sociologists of Kashmir. Women-related issues were always kept out ofintellectual discourse until modernization and westernization were drawn. Kashmiri womenface gender discrimination, injustice, poverty, loneliness, dowry deaths, and suicideattempts, and are even victims of rape and assassination. It was in this context that thepresent study was conducted in a sociological sense to investigate gender inequality in thesouth district of Kulgam. The study is primarily based on field observation and survey relied on interview schedule and observations.