Psychology of Gender Identity and Roles

Team members : Manasa Veena, Priya Apte, Preeti Singh and Anamika Sinha

In earlier days, men hunted and fought in war, while women raised kids and cooked. With improvements in civilization, the status of men and women has gradually changed as per their social identity and roles. The magnitude of this change has been drastic in last few decades with more number of women started to work and holding high positions. A comprehensive analysis of psychological change of opinion in society would help us understand the change in gender roles.

In a land where 80% of its population considered killing widows as a compulsory and sacred act and another 15% demanded women to wear Burka, gender equality is something which was unthinkable. Thanks to western influence, after 67 years of independence, women make certain contribution outside their house. In past few decades, quantitative variables like Female Literacy rates and Gender ratio have showed a healthy trend, but several qualitative aspects are not considered by us. By understanding the perception on Gender Identity and Roles, would throw some light on that.

An Online questionnaire was floated to over hundreds of respondents from different background to get their opinion and perception on Gender Identity and Roles. Few set of situations were given for which respondents were asked to give their personal opinion and their opinion on what society would think. This would give insights on the Roles of Women in society. To understand the gender identity, respondents were asked for their reactions on various situations.

Few Clusters/groups were formed based on respondent’s Gender, education and if their mother/sister is working. Perception on Gender Identity and Roles are studied for different groups separately to identify if there are any similarities. Then the overall perceptions of different groups are compared to check the effect of socio-political factors.

Results:

·         Responses among different groups are very much similar, which means the factors like Gender, Education Level and having a close women relative working, play a significant role in influencing one’s perception on Gender Roles and Identity

·         Among groups, there is a significant difference in Gender Roles, but the gender identity has not shown significant change.

·         Respondents with women relatives working have provided more evolved opinion

The above results indicate the perception on gender status is from socio-political factors affecting the person. This means a person’s social environment would decide his opinion on Gender Status.

While having different opinion on women’s role in society, the identity of women has not changed where women are expected to conform to certain type of behavior. This indicates the society is ready to accept women’s new roles like getting educated or going to job, while they’re still constrained with several norms which they’re expected to follow.

Being an issue which is deeply imbibed in our mind, a mere push via education or other programmes might not be that effective to change the perception. It would require society to see/experience the change to make even small alterations in their perception. A holistic way to address the issue

The quantitative developments in various gender related aspects is required to be complemented with qualitative improvements in women’s social positions. This requires women to be free of several political constraints which would improve their social identity and in turn provides a holistic Gender Equality. 

Answering a sensitive issue, many respondents might take safe and diplomatic stand, which might not give true response. The study does not have responses from rural people and different Socio-Economic Class, which would have given new perspectives.