You would think that with the onset of the millennials, would come acceptance and awareness. After all, social media and the internet seems to be what they thrive on the most. Yet, a rather surprising survey that was conducted recently by the Centre for the Study in Developing Societies (CSDS) and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), indicated otherwise. The News Minute stated that the survey was meant to study how young Indians thought, only to find out that apparently, India’s future still has their minds stuck in the past.
Patriarchal mannerisms, intolerance and orthodox thought patterns came out to be a strong contester, as opposed to our supposed ‘progressive’ and ‘non-discriminatory’ stance. Spanning 19 states, with 6122 respondents between the age group of 15 - 34 years, perhaps the most disappointing discovery the survey touched upon was that the patriarchal mindset wasn’t just limited to men.
When it comes to the patriarchy, it turns out only 33% believe that it is right for a woman to work after marriage, while 27% of Indians fully agreed that wives should always listen to their husbands. Additionally, 24% ‘somewhat’ agreed to the latter, while only a mere 23% fully disagreed. In regards to deciding what women wear, a whopping 48%, or rather, half of India’s youth deemed it inappropriate for girls to wear jeans, in comparison to a sad percentage of 19%, who approved of the same. Not that men or for that matter, other women, can decide what an individual wears, the disparity between the opposers is far too large to ignore. Yet another shocking example of the current patriarchal train of thought, is that in conclusion, only 18% (one in six!) were identified as not being patriarchal at all.
Surveyors were quoted as saying, “About one in every three young women were of the opinion that women should not work after marriage and over two out of every five of them favoured the idea of an obedient wife. This internalisation of patriarchal norms may explain their widespread persistence.” The percentage of females with patriarchal views (40%), wasn’t too far behind the percentage of males — 57%, or rather, six out of ten males.
Urban youth were said to be less patriarchal than those from the rural areas, as this mindset was not noticed as often in larger cities. Yet, the tables surprisingly turned when it came to the percentage of urban youth who approved of homosexuality, in comparison to the non-urban youth. Younger individuals were more accepting, making age a huge factor in this survey. Big cities had a comparatively lower percentage of acceptance (21%), against smaller cities (27%) and villages (29%).
The survey also goes on to cover the roles religion plays in the grand scheme of things, as well as the Indian youth’s take on marriage, discrimination, and vegetarians versus non-vegetarians. Read about the survey in detail, here.
Feature Image Credit — Patrika