Social justice in the contemporary world is related to determining logical criteria for the allocation of goods, services, opportunity, benefits, power, and honors as well as obligations in society, particularly in a scarcity situation. It is evident that political philosophers and scholars from Plato to contemporary philosophers have been engaged in a great debate about distributive justice or social justice. The term „social justice? is usually applied to comprehend all three aspects of justice in society – social, economic, and political. United Nations defines - “Social justice as the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political and social rights and opportunities. Social workers aim to open the doors of access and opportunity for everyone, particularly those in greatest need.” And the National Association of Social Workers defines - “Social justice encompasses economic justice. Social justice is the virtue that guides us in creating those organized human interactions we call institutions. In turn, social institutions, when justly organized, provide us with access to what is good for the person, both individually and in our associations with others. Social justice also imposes on each of us a personal responsibility to work with others to design and continually perfect our institutions as tools for personal and social development.”
The liberal model is rooted in individualism and is based upon a commitment to social mobility and a flexible pattern of inequalities as opposed to fixed and structural gradations in social position and wealth. D. Miler argues that inequality is rampant and becomes necessary evil and social justice is necessary for the worst – off individual in the society. He emphasized that all social primary goods-liberty and opportunity, income and wealth, and the bases of self–respect – are to be distributed equally unless an unequal distribution of any or all of these goods is to the advantage of the least favored.
The socialist model of justice is rooted in collectivism and exhibits greater support for social equality and community. The democratic socialists are both socialists as well as democratic, and therefore, for them, justice exists in a just order and in a just society. Democratic socialism seeks to provide for democratic rights and civil liberties as well as the socio-economic rights of citizens – a difficult combination indeed. If this could be achieved, it would serve as an ideal scheme for social justice.
The subaltern approach considers any group in society that has been relegated to a subordinate position because of gender, age, vocation, class, caste, race, religion, language, culture, etc. to be in the category of subaltern groups. The subaltern perspective on justice demands social justice for the deprived and disadvantaged. It demands two–fold objective: a) elimination of all types of discrimination; and (b) provision for special care so as to attain social equality.
Feminist critique of justice maintains that women are disadvantaged in comparison with men. Because women are regarded as unequal to man, she is made to suffer throughout their life: their subordination, powerlessness, and oppression are the consequences of male dominance. Justice, from a feminist perspective, demands patriarchal culture would have to be demolished; gender socialization would have be imbibed; women’s liberation from male oppression would have to be fought out.
Gender justice is often used with reference to emancipatory projects that advance women’s rights through legal change, or promote women’s interests in social and economic policy. However, the term is rarely given a precise definition and is often used interchangeably with notions of gender equality, gender equity, women’s empowerment, and women’s rights. Gender justice includes unique elements that go beyond related concepts of justice in class or race terms, which complicate both its definition and enactment. The most formalized attempt to establish principles of gender justice is found in the 1999 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which makes the absence of gender-based discrimination the indicator of gender justice. Gender justice in the spirit of social justice is about where women and men can be treated as fully human.
In South Asia including India, common patterns of structural constraints and resultant exclusion are evident. These structural constraints deny rights and agency to poor people more generally, and, to women more specifically. Indian societies are highly unequal and these inequalities are structural and historical. Inequalities based on caste, class, ethnicity, and gender, have created a virtual situation of apartheid in which access to justice and equal citizenship remain unattainable for the majority of people.
The Indian Constitution, for instance particularly in its Preamble and the part dealing with the Directive Principles of State Policy, holds the promise of justice-social, economic and political.
Gender discrimination is an all-pervading phenomenon of Indian families cutting across the lines of caste, creed, and class. Discrimination against women is spread widely in areas of education, employment, and health. Most of the women’s work, inside the house, goes unnoticed and unremunerated. Even outside the family, they remain underpaid.
Gender Discrimination in Indian Family
Gender discrimination can be seen in all walks of life cutting across caste, class, ethnicity, race, and religion. Discriminating against women has reached such a climax that it has penetrated into the protective womb of the mother, and today female infanticide is being replaced by foeticide. Gender discrimination in families takes many different forms: denial of nourishment, health care, education, being pushed into domestic chores, a whole host of marriage-related violence such as early marriage, and dowry deaths-the list is endless.
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Work and responsibility given to the woman are undue but when it comes to decision-making, the man takes the upper hand, considering she is less knowledgeable. Children living in this environment and witnessing the differential role pattern of the man and the woman, learn the lessons of gender inequality right from their childhood, and the pattern is bound to continue generation after generation.
Education
Education is the key to achieving equality and justice in everyday life. Without equal educational opportunities or skills and qualifications, women of certain classes and social groups have over the years been condemned to inferior status, especially in their personal development, and in their choice of work, as citizens. One of the main reasons for the majority of girls not being able to take up higher education is the weak base, at the school stage, particularly in the rural areas also economic deprivation, lack of motivation, and strong patriarchal attitudes against girls’ education. It is now empirically established that women's education is a single cure for a thousand societal ills.
Health
Neglect of women, particularly girls, is a black mark on our society. Sound health is not a day’s product. In India, Gender plays a significant part in determining physical well-being and access to health care. The Indian women’s health situation is quite different from that in the West, greatly due to their dietary habits, living standards, lifestyles, and environmental factors. India is a predominantly patriarchal society women have a lesser share and access to health care. They are discriminated against in terms of nutrition, care recognition, treatment, and prevention.
The health of women is worsened when it is associated with poverty, illiteracy, rural background, lower caste, widowhood, desertion, disability, single marital status, or childlessness. This condition is worst in the northern states of India, where low female literacy, combined with the low social status of women, has resulted in keeping them oppressed in the name of community, culture, tradition, family honor, and religion. In areas where women and girls are neglected, their health status is obviously very badly affected.
Employment
The sexual division of labor is prevalent in society. But, there is nothing “natural” about the sexual division of labor. The fact that men and women perform different kinds of work both within the family and outside has little to do with biology. Only the actual process of pregnancy is biological, all the other work within the home that women must do-cooking, cleaning, looking after children and so on – can equally be done by men. Unfortunately, this work is considered to be “women’s work”.
This sexual division of labor is not limited to the home, it extends even to the “public” arena of paid work, and again, this has nothing to do with “sex” (biology) and everything to do with “gender” (culture). Certain kinds of work are considered to be “women’s work”, and other kinds, are men’s, but more important is the fact that whatever work women do, gets lower wages and is less valued. For example, nursing and teaching, particularly at lower levels, are predominantly female professions and are also comparatively ill–paid in relation to other white–collar jobs which the middle classes took up.
In terms of horizontal segregation, women are concentrated in low–paying positions such as secretaries, typists, beauticians, nurses, caregivers, and assembly–line workers. “Equal work but unequal pay” is still a common practice in India’s private sector.
Third Gender
The Hijras (eunuchtransvestite) is an institutionalized third-gender role in India. According to one estimate, India has about two million transgender people. Hijra is neither male nor female but contains elements of both. Hijras have a recorded history in the Indian subcontinent since antiquity, as suggested by the Kama sutra. They are known as the devotees of the Mother Goddess Bahuchara Mata, their sacred powers are contingent upon their asexuality. The third gender individuals face discrimination within their family, society, and schools, in employment and housing, within the government settings, through hate crimes, and under the justice legal systems. Parents often time respond quite negatively when their children cross gender barriers and prompt transgender to run away. As a result, homeless transgender are more likely to turn to drug dealings, car theft, prostitution, and other sexual exploitation. Campaigners say they live on the fringes of society, often in poverty, ostracized because of their gender identity. Most make a living by singing and dancing or by begging and prostitution. They often face huge discrimination and sometimes hospitals refuse to admit them.
India’s supreme court has recognized transgender people as a third gender, in a landmark ruling. “it is the right of every human being to choose their gender,” it was said in granting rights to those who identify themselves as neither male nor female.
Conclusion
Gender justice is genuine equality among human beings where neither man is superior nor woman inferior. Gender justice conceives the equality of sexes in each and every sphere. Gender justice is not based on biological differences. Its object is to eradicate man-made differences in areas concerning economic, social, cultural, political, and civil. Areas with low levels of female literacy have high rates of maternal mortality, infant mortality, birth, and cases of female foeticide and dowry deaths. When gender discrimination has been socialized and internalized, it is no longer visible to the gender insensitive.
Gender equity emphasizes that all human beings be they men or women are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles, and political and other prejudices. Their different behavior and aspirations should be valued and favored equally and they would be treated fairly according to their respective needs. Social justice in the spirit of gender justice is seen as an important way to achieve this. The time is ripe to eliminate sex discrimination and sex inequality and to ensure gender justice in our society. All sections of society have to work for this transformation and this is where N.G.Os, the media, and the people’s representatives have to play a major role.
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