Page 103 - Vimarsha Volume 2

Human Rights, n.d. It’s a very heated debate whether or not a woman has a right to
choose career over family. Some people believe that a woman is predetermined to

be a mother, and that career plans pull her away from her natural role (Charlie, 2010).
When considering about the situation in Sri Lanka, a male dominant marriage system
can be identified. Sri Lanka is a patriarchal society. That means men have power

over women. Man is considered as the head of the family. However, marriage has
changed dramatically throughout history, but gender inequalities still remain. The

institution of marriage also came with strongly prescribed gender roles. Women’s
sexuality, rights and access to financial resources were strictly controlled in
marriages. Regardless of whether a family was poor or wealthy, women’s bodies and

labor were regarded as the property of their husbands in ancient times. But in some
of the contemporary society’s wives have gained their own legal and economic status

within marriage.

Anyway, society continues to promote different roles for men and women within the

family. Women take on much more of the household and childcare duties. Within
marriage not only females are discriminated, but also male. They also have a
particular role to play in accordance with the cultural norms. They should work hard

and earn money to feed their family. It’s a huge responsibility. When people are
unable to do so, problems arise. It may lead to assaults, domestic violence, divorce
and even murders. Gender inequality is the main reason for domestic violence.

4.3 Education and Gender Discrimination

When it comes to education there are several cultural norms that have been
differently impacted to the education of the people based on their gender. Frequently
girls and female are negatively impacted from these norms. For millions of girls,

discrimination on the grounds of sex and gender starts from their very birth. All
across the world, girls and women are still much more likely to never get into a
classroom than men and boys despite all efforts and the tremendous progress that

was made over the past few decades. Even though education is a fundamental human
right for everybody gender inequality in education is still a key issue. Nevertheless,

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