The bleak truth behind India’s engrained gender stereotypes

Despite significant gains in women’s empowerment across India over the years, largely thanks to the grassroots self-help group movement, gender stereotypes continue to be all-pervading – in families, workplaces, cities and of course perhaps most significantly of all, in the villages of rural India!

Sadly, we live in a world where both men and women have conditioned beliefs about the roles different genders are supposed to play in families, communities and society. Yes, both men and women have been socially conditioned – by mainstream media, by cultural practices, by family systems - to believe certain roles are meant for certain genders.

Let’s examine six of the most common gender stereotypes, rife in rural India, and the impact they have on the lives and minds of our women and men.

“Women do not understand technology as well as men.” 

Whether it be changing a gas cylinder or lightbulb, driving a tractor, using the ATM or navigating a smartphone - rural women are being held back by this stereotypical belief.

The limitations placed on women in using smartphones is a perfect example – yet another way to restrict her mobility and interactions as men try to control who she meets, interacts with and falls in love with. With a mobile phone in her hands and access to social media – anything could happen! 

Yet when women are given the opportunity of technology they are able to quickly learn from different platforms, understand different thoughts and beliefs from the outside world and identify improved ways of living.

A smartphone provides women with access to social capital and the outside world – friends and acquaintances, along with resources for growth like the many courses and tutorials available on Youtube. However, smartphones in rural households are few and far between, and those that are there are restricted to the hands of the men of the household.

It’s the man’s job is to earn money, and the woman’s job is to look after, and make sacrifices for, her home and family

Despite the fact that in rural families women do a great deal of the work on farms, if a woman says she wants to work, she of course needs permission. In the Indian context, there is a widespread belief that women only need to work if the family financial situation requires it. 

There is no concept of working for one’s own personal pleasure and self-respect. Additionally, even if a woman becomes a breadwinner, her role in taking care of the home and family remains – even if she is working, she is still expected to carry on with household duties – men don’t step in to help as its not seen as their job.

Further, stereotypes exist around a woman’s need to ‘sacrifice’ her own needs, for those of her family. We’ve all seen examples of women forgoing their fair share of food for the want of their sons or husbands – often putting her own nutrition and health at risk as a result.

If given the chance, women are adept at finding ways to earn an additional income - be it from the NREGA scheme or kickstarting micro enterprises, women are resourceful in finding different avenues to earn to increase the family income, if only we let her.

“Finance and investments are better managed by men.”

In rural and urban households, financial decisions are usually made by men. Often, even if women are breadwinners, they do not have control over the decisions of how to use their own money. It is the men who make most of the primary decisions round finance - what type of fertiliser to buy, which policies to invest in, when to invest in assets like gold or land. Even if men do buy gold for women, or assets in her name, she has no control over them to sell if she wants. Women are not involved in, and have no control over these investments and financial decisions of the family, leaving her vulnerable and ever reliant on men as her financial literacy or independence is never developed over time. 

But when women are given the opportunity to earn, they actually save! They find means by which a certain percentage of their savings can be kept for emergency situations, or for their child’s future. And that’s why SHGs are doing so well in rural India with more and more women coming together and being involved in savings and credit enabling them to start their own businesses.

“In India, most farmers are men.”

India is known for its agricultural produce, but unbeknownst to many, the task of feeding 130 billion people primarily sits on the shoulders of India’s women farmers, because about 60-80% of food in India is produced by rural women. Upon imagining an Indian farmer, one will only think of a man, wearing a dhoti kurta, standing against a dry landscape. Yet whilst 85% of rural women are engaged in agriculture, only about 13% own land once gain limiting and inhibiting her ability to make decisions and choices.

Men are the natural heirs of the family

Men are commonly seen as the natural heirs to the family name, leaving women and girls out when it comes to the inheritance of assets. With the lineage of the family name carried forward by men, women are left in the lurch – once more leaving women vulnerable and robbing them of what is rightfully theirs by birth. This further decimates her confidence and the value that she, and the broader society, places on her.

However, a trend is emerging among new couples in allowing women to continue with their family names, with husbands allowing them to choose which family name they follow after marriage.

Little girls are gentle, boys are tough.  

Of course, it’s not all one sided. Gender stereotypes are placed on men also, with devastating ripple effects on Indian society. There is a widespread belief that Indian men shouldn’t feel pain or express emotions. Boys are not supposed to cry – something perhaps seeded in the minds of India’s billions by the tough characters shown in movies and advertisements. Whilst many films today are trying to break those norms and a shift taking place in mainstream media, the damage has been done to generations of men. 

When men cannot express their agony, hurt, and emotions, a lot of psychological trauma is inflicted, and these emotions are often replaced with anger. Which perhaps explains India’s high rates of violence against women along with resultant health impacts on men – as highlighted by various studies, rates of hypertension and heart attack among men increase with the suppression of emotions and the perpetuation of this toxic notion of masculinity.

Conclusion

It’s time to challenge these stereotypes and foster different beliefs among people in Indian society. Gender stereotypes distort our views of both ourselves and others—and buying into those stereotypes creates a bleak self-image that sets people back in life. We must focus on being more sensitive, and acknowledge the fact that gender stereotypes are preventing India’s women (and men) from reaching their full potential, and making meaningful contributions in their personal and community lives.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)