Question

In India, birth defines your identity and your social status in a system that is referred to as the caste system. You can never change your caste in one lifetime and it is only by living well within one life that you may be reincarnated to a higher caste in another life.How is gender culturally constructed in India? What is the appropriate way for this gendered individual or group to act and why? Is gender identity operating to control the behavior of an individual or group and for what purposes? How do you feel about this particular gender identity and how does it relate to your own culture? Does this identity threaten our own cultural values? Why or why not?

Answer 1

• In a country like India,which has been plagued by caste system and patriarchy the gender dynamics is quite different from other cultures.The oppression of women is evident in India restricting their rights to freedom,education or even work outside homes especially in rural areas.
• Though times have changed today,and more and more women are being encouraged to step out and work and get education,the struggle still remains especially in societies which still follow the age old patriarchy system.
• Women and men in India have been raised in a certain way which has determined their gender roles very specifically.Families have always raised the boys to be the male head of the family and women to be home makers and child bearers.Thats how patriarchy has eaten into the Indian culture,which has made women the inferior gender to men.
• And this plague still exists,even in modern India,where men and women are educated and financially independent,women are still asked to behave in a certain way,they are still judged for their life choices,for wearing certain clothes,body shamed etc. more than men.
• Even after women becoming independent,they are still asked to married at the "right age" and bear children,unlike men.The societal pressures exists for both genders,but more for women.
• Women still have fight for their equality in the Indian society and in the world at large.
• I come from an Indian culture as well,and yes,the struggle to behave according to gender is real,even in 2019.The values for men and women are still different.A divorced man is judged less than a divorced woman.A man can marry even in his late 30s and still judged less compared to a woman who is only 30.
• Some families even want that the woman doesnt work late hours,which doesnt work for a man.These small little things still exist,since they are engrained in our mindsets,which determine behaviours according to one's gender identity.Women behaviours are still defined and they are expected to perform certain gender typical roles no matter whatever heights of success they have achieved.It would take a long time to get rid of them.
• Patriarchy and caste are two plagues of the otherwise rich and diverse Indian culture,which still exists and defines people.