She is no Sati or Durga: Indian woman unveiled

There are two dominant images of the modern Indian woman. The first image is that of the meek sati-savitri, an eternal victim who is yet to see the light of modern values. She may have donned modern clothes and started living in metropolis, yet she remains her conservative self, steeped in values of a male-dominated society. The other image is that of Durga, the irrepressible rebel, who cannot be contained or tamed.

Radicals and feminists often draw upon this imagery to script a story of the hidden modernity of Indian women. The tyranny of these two images often prevents us from listening to the voice of the modern Indian woman.

The findings of the CNN-IBN-CSDS-Indian Express survey of Indian women invite us to question both these images. To be sure, the survey has over-sampled urban women (56 per cent as compared to the national average of 28 per cent).

Yet it is not easy to fit in some of the findings with the sati-savitri image. Both urban and rural women reject some of the male-centric notions of gender roles:

-- There is an overwhelming support cutting across rural-urban and religious divide that parental property should be divided equally among daughters and sons. This sentiment is strongest among graduate, single women living in the metros. But even the younger generation of rural women clearly favour this.

-- The is a near consensus among women that their role should not be restricted to staying at home and looking after the family, as 77 of the urban and 69 of the rural support the proposition that there is nothing wrong in women going out and working. It is not just that practically every young graduate woman favours this idea. A majority of old and non-literate women too endorse the idea of working women.

-- Again, cutting across the rural-urban and class divide, our respondents reject the belief that too much education is not good for women. Even the uneducated do not favour this proposition.

-- If you thought all these opinions are about politically-correct subject, consider this: when asked to react to a proposition that there is nothing wrong for women to have sexual desires, the verdict is an abashed 3:1 in favour. The ratio is of course higher among the young metropolitan women, but no section displays a dominance of Victorian prudishness.

An incipient sexual revolution? The beginning of a much-delayed transition from a 'traditional' and 'conservative' mindset to a modern outlook?

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The findings of the survey do not support this reading either. A rejection of male-centric views on things that fall within their experience does not lead to a rejection of the male-female stereotypes:

-- The stereotype that men are generally more intelligent than women is accepted by a large number of our respondents, a shade more than those who reject it. Of course, the well-educated strongly reject this stereotype but this rejection does not have the force across various classes as in the case of rejection of gender roles.

-- Women as of course happy to embrace the more convenient stereotypes that they are more sensitive than men and that men tend to be disloyal. The image of a sensitive woman is prevalent across all sections of women and is strongest among young single women. The stereotype that men cannot be trusted as they are generally disloyal is also stronger among single women; married women tend to be a shade more generous.

-- Even though majority of them disagree with the idea of only men taking important family decisions two out of five women seem to be fine with the idea.

Nor does the rejection of gender roles lead the Indian women to question institutions such as marriage, family, caste and community.

-- If men and women are incompatible, should they seek divorce or continue to be together? This question draws a split verdict with more women favouring retention of marriage. No doubt the proportion of those who favour divorce in such a situation is much higher than it would have been in the past, but there is generally an unwillingness to do anything that would shake the institution of marriage.

-- The idea of a live-in relationship outside marriage finds little support. The highest endorsement comes from the young graduate women, one-sixth of whom support the idea.

-- The idea of pre-marital sex too finds few takers, though the urban educated women are a little more open to this idea.

It may be tempting to think of these attitudes as contradictory and to portray the modern Indian women as a split personality. Or perhaps, like their male counterparts, the modern Indian woman is trying to forge her own kind of modernity.

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