High Court frowns upon sexual discrimination by Tamil Nadu

The Madras High Court Bench here on Wednesday directed the State government to amend a Government Order permitting married sons of government employees, who die in harness, to seek public employment on compassionate grounds, but prohibits married daughters from making a similar request.

Disposing of a writ petition, Justice R. Mahadevan expressed anguish at the authorities continuing to deny employment on compassionate grounds to married women, despite several court orders having been passed since 2008 against such discrimination. He stressed the need to sensitise officials to the rulings.

Beginning his judgement with a couplet from a poem of ‘Mahakavi’ C. Subramania Bharathi on the need for treating women on a par with men, the judge said: “Though voices had been raised for women’s emancipation since the era of Mahakavi Bharathi, we are reeling under old customs and traditions even in this modern world.”

‘Far from truth’

“Though the Constitution emphasises equality for all, the ground situation remains far from the truth. No one can deny that still we are living in a world dominated by male chauvinism, and compared to a man, a woman has to face lots of trial and tribulations, besides tiding over many a crisis in all spheres of life.”

Pointing out that the Maintenance of Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, cast an equal duty upon sons as well as daughters when it came to taking care of their parents, the judge wondered how the State could discriminate between married men and women in issues such as staking a claim for employment on compassionate grounds.

Fixed notions

Also blaming society for harnessing fixed notions about women, he said a majority of families claiming employment on compassionate grounds preferred a male member to take up the job rather than a female member because of the misconception that a woman might not take care of her parental home after marriage. “In a civilised society, such an act is highly unwarranted, and such unmindful thoughts prevailing in the society should be uprooted,” the judge said.