9 in 10 Indians agree that 'wife must obey husband': Pew study
Most Indians completely or mostly agree that “a wife must always obey her husband” and support traditional gender roles. Paradoxically, at the same time, they want women and men to have equal rights but when push comes to shove, Indians feel men should receive preferential treatment.
These are the findings of a new report by American think-tank Pew Research Center, which was released on Wednesday (March 2). The report studies how Indians generally view gender roles at home and in society. The report is based on a face-to-face survey of 29,999 Indian adults interviewed between late 2019 and early 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
The survey, which was also the basis for a 2021 report on religion in India, was conducted by local interviewers in 17 languages and covered nearly all of Indian states and Union Territories.
The report stated that Indian adults nearly universally say it is important for women to have the same rights as men, including eight-in-ten who say this is “very important”.
At the same time, however, there are circumstances when Indians feel men should receive preferential treatment, added the report. Eighty per cent agree with the idea that when there are few jobs, men should have more rights to a job than women.
Nearly nine-in-ten Indians (87 per cent) completely or mostly agree with the notion that a wife must always obey her husband. This includes a majority of Indians (64 per cent), who completely agree with this sentiment.
“Women are only less likely than men to say that wives should obey their husbands in all situations, and most Indian women express total agreement with this sentiment (61 per cent vs. 67 per cent among men),” it said.
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However, when it came to key female political figures in Indian politics, including former prime minister Indira Gandhi, former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, the report said that Indians seem comfortable about accepting women as political leaders.
The survey results reflect this comfort with women in politics. Most adults say that women and men make equally good political leaders (55 per cent) or that women generally make better leaders than men (14 per cent). Only a quarter of Indian adults take the position that men tend to make better political leaders than women, the study noted.
The report also highlighted that even though most Indians say that men and women should share some family responsibilities, many still support traditional gender roles.
When it comes to children, Indians are united in the view that it is very important for a family to have at least one son (94 per cent) and, separately, a daughter (90 per cent).
Most Indians (63 per cent) say sons should be primarily responsible for the last rites of parents or burial rituals, although attitudes differ significantly across religious groups.
Most Muslims (74 per cent), Jains (67 per cent) and Hindus (63 per cent) say sons should be primarily responsible for funeral rituals, but far fewer Sikhs (29 per cent), Christians (44 per cent) and Buddhists (46 per cent) expect this from sons and are more likely to say that both sons and daughters should be responsible for their parents’ last rites.
Muslims are more likely than other Indians to support traditional gender roles in families, while Sikhs are often the least likely community to hold such views.
