'Wife Must Always Obey Husband': How Indians View Gender Roles Within Families

The survey revealed that Indians favour traditional gender roles in family life – from inheritance to last rites.

The survey revealed that the general population favours traditional gender roles in family life, and is a son-preferring nation.

(Photo: The Quint)

About nine in 10 Indians agree with the notion that a wife must always obey her husband, revealed the latest Pew Research Center survey, which studies how Indians view gender roles in families and society. Nearly two-thirds of the 29,999 people surveyed 'completely agreed' with this sentiment.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/TheQuint)

The survey was conducted late 2019-2020, in pre-pandemic India, and released on Wednesday, 2 March.

It further reveals that while Indians 'accept' women as political leaders, the general population favours traditional gender roles in family life. It also throws light on India still leaning towards being a son-preferring nation.

The survey noted that Indian women "typically are not much more likely than Indian men to express egalitarian views" on both son preference and gender roles.

Women – in A Family System

Indian women are only marginally less likely to say that they 'completely agree' that wives should always obey their husbands, as compared to men (61 percent vs 67 percent). College-educated Indians are less likely to say wives must obey husbands, although overwhelming majority still hold this view, the survey revealed.

When it comes to taking care of children – the respondents take a slightly more egalitarian view with 62 percent stating that both men and women should be responsible. However, at least 10,000 of the nearly 30,000 (34 percent) felt that child care is a woman's responsibility.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/TheQuint)

Who Brings the Money Home?

A slim majority of Indians – 54 percent – feel that both husband and wife should be responsible for earning money. But 43 percent see it as a primary obligation for men. For instance, given the instance of shortage of jobs, respondents feel that men should have 'greater right' for employment than women.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/TheQuint)

Of the 29,999 surveyed by RTI International, for Pew Research – eight out of 10 agree with the sentiment that men should have 'greater' rights on jobs, in case of scarcity.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/TheQuint)

This revelation also comes at a time when multiple studies show that more women ended up losing jobs during the pandemic, in comparison to their male counterparts.

A Son Preferring Nation – From Final Rites to Inheritance

Most Indians also say that both sons and daughters should have equal rights to inheritance from parents (64 percent) and have the responsibility to care for parents as they age (58 percent). But while about four in 10 Indian adults say that sons should have the primary responsibility to care for ageing parents, just 2 percent say the same about daughters.

As many as 63 percent Indians see sons – not daughters – as being primarily responsible for parents’ last rites and burial rituals. This also highlights the historical, religious and economic reasons that the families place on 'son preference.'

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/TheQuint)

India has had one of the most skewed sex ration at birth in the world. According to the 2011 census, while India had 111 boys for every 100 girls born in India. While recent studies show that this is narrowing, sex ratio at birth remains a major concern in the country – despite the illegality of ultrasounds that lead to sex-selective abortions.

Four in 10 Indians say it is either “completely acceptable” or “somewhat acceptable” to “get a checkup using modern methods to balance the number of girls and boys in the family,” all phrases that imply sex-selective abortion.

A similar share – 42 percent – says balancing the number of girls and boys in a family via modern methods is completely unacceptable, while one in 10 describe the practice as “somewhat” unacceptable.

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/TheQuint)

Women Discriminated More than Religious Minorities

Almost a quarter of Indians – 23 percent of those surveyed say that there is “a lot of discrimination” against women in their country, slightly more than the shares who say some religious groups or lower castes face a lot of discrimination.

Far more adults see violence against women as a major national issue. As described in the earlier Pew Research Center report, three-quarters of Indians say violence against women is a “very big problem” – greater than those who say communal violence and corruption is a very big problem (65 percent and 76 percent).

The same survey also revealed that Indians say that “women and men make equally good political leaders,” and more than one in 10 feel that women generally make better political leaders than men.