India today boasts of many women in key political positions. It was one of the first countries in the world to elect a woman as prime minister, and the country currently has several highly influential women politicians.
According to a recent Pew survey of nearly 30,000 adults throughout the country, most Indians say that “women and men make equally good political leaders,” and more than one-in-ten feel that women generally make better political leaders than men.
Only a quarter of Indian adults take the position that men make better political leaders than women.
9 in 10 Indians believe wives must obey husbands
However, the majority of Indians are still sticking to the notion of the superiority of husbands over their wives in the 21st century, when women are assuming equally important roles as men.
In domestic settings, Indians tend to say men should have more prominent roles than women.
About nine-in-ten Indians agree with the notion that a wife must always obey her husband, including nearly two-thirds who completely agree with this sentiment.
Indian women are only slightly less likely than Indian men to say they completely agree that wives should always obey their husbands (61% vs. 67%), according to the survey, which was conducted between late 2019 and early 2020 (mostly before the COVID-19 pandemic).
Many Indians express egalitarian views toward some gender roles in the home.
Key domestic roles are still highly gendered
Many Indians express egalitarian views toward some gender roles in the home.
For instance, 62 per cent of adults say both men and women should be responsible for taking care of children. But traditional gender norms still hold sway among large segments of the population: Roughly a third of adults (34%) feel that child care should be handled primarily by women.
Similarly, a slim majority (54%) says that both men and women in families should be responsible for earning money, but many Indians (43%) see this as mainly the obligation of men.
And Indian adults overwhelmingly say that when jobs are in short supply, men should have greater rights to employment than women, reflecting the continued prominence of men in the economic sphere.
Indians value having both sons and daughters: Nearly all Indians say it is very important for a family to have at least one son (94%) and, separately, to have at least one daughter (90%). And most Indians say that both sons and daughters should have equal rights to inheritance from parents (64%) and have the responsibility to care for parents as they age (58%).
But survey respondents are far more likely to say that sons, rather than daughters, should have greater rights and responsibilities in these areas.
These norms are part of a wider phenomenon in Indian society where, for a variety of historical, social, religious and economic reasons, families tend to place a higher value on sons rather than daughters – a custom broadly referred to as “son preference.”
