Gender Diversity & Neutrality – Rajashri Rajashekhar

Poornatva - Equity

The term “equity” refers to fairness and justice and is distinguished from equality: Whereas equality means providing the same to all, equity means recognizing that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to imbalances. The process is ongoing, requiring us to identify and overcome intentional and unintentional barriers arising from bias or systemic structures.

We design processes to create an equity parameter in your organization, that in the long run proves monumental for your company’s success.

Making Our Society Gender Neutral

Gender Neutrality made us realize the importance of Gender Polarity if we want to build organizations of DIversrity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.

The concept is described in different ways by many authors based on their understanding of the subject. Everyone has tried to bring out the meaning relevant and applicable to them. My quest was always to bring balance to society by creating Gender harmony and dignity. While researching there was a strong understanding of the differences between Gender and oneness that is the only way forward to create equality. In my work, it was discovered that equality is a manifestation of Neutrality.

Neutrality needs to be understood and adopted if one wants to experience equality in totality. The dictionary definition of Neutrality is:

The state of not supporting or helping either side in a conflict, disagreement, etc.
Absence of decided views, expressions, or strong feelings.

The process of creating Neutrality within Gender is the key to building a strong identity, acceptability, adaptability, and agility in an individual. Gender identity is built on various factors which keep influencing their way of thinking, behavior, mannerisms, approach toward life, interpersonal skills, wanting to get accepted or acknowledged, acceptance, ability to handle stress, and identity with the society and its culture.

Gender Polarization

Gender polarization is a concept in sociology by American psychologist Sandra Bem which states that societies tend to define femininity and masculinity as polar opposite genders. The theory is an extension of the sex and gender distinction in sociology in which sex refers to the biological differences between men and women, while gender refers to the cultural differences between them, such that gender describes the “socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women”. According to Bem, gender polarization begins when natural sex differences are exaggerated in culture

If we further look at the Ancient theory of Purusha and Prakruti as per the “Sankhya Philosophy” which describes two key principles operating out of every human being without separating them into two physical forms. Separateness comes only when the identity is determined either by sexual orientation or socially adapted Gender as per the social norms.