What had irked me recently was unequal treatment in employment opportunity. I was promoted to a higher grade but did not know where to go. Why? Because certain bosses requested to have a male officer; saying that a female officer would be cumbersome... they would take leave when their children are sick, they would have permission problems with their husband, they would be pregnant and take long maternal leave...and thus, they would not focus on their carrier and they would be bad officers to have. Expectations due to attitudes based on the gender. If only these could be a legitimate basis for a lawsuit.
Gender bias favours men, and that is something that I had experienced personally, at almost every junction; as a daughter, a student, a wife, a mother, and a worker. The point where I lost my patience on these gender bias people was last year, when I was pregnant with my second child and when I told people the baby was a girl, they responded with "What? A baby girl AGAIN?".. Some even said in an accusing tone as if it was my fault/my genetics’ fault, something like “Amalina pun memang adik beradik ramai perempuan kan?” coz they felt it couldn’t have been because of my husband since his siblings were mostly male. Not only do they not know science (where the father is the one that contributes the X or Y chromosome), most importantly, they do not know the concept of fate (takdir).
Prakash (an aquintance) told me that in some rural areas, people would give cactus milk to try to abort the baby if it was a girl. It’s really sad to be pregnant but seen by certain people close to you as something not to celebrate just because they feel you are not carrying ‘the right gender’. Although psychologists acknowledge that tears communicate in ways that words cannot, I felt more towards anger rather than sad.
Gender bias is so deeply ingrained in our society that it starts even from the moment the baby has not even be born yet.
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