Are Youth Unorthodox, Egalitarian And Unprejudiced? No Says A Survey!

If we talk about the present era, we are doing possibly everything, to discard conservatism and orthodoxies from our world. We have recognised the third gender, we are consistently making efforts towards women empowerment and we are also doing our part to improve the living standards. But all this seems to be utopian isn’t it? To shake your belief further in the on-going process of cleansing of mind-sets, a new study by CSDS, says that Young Indians, the future of our country are homophobic, orthodox and misogynist. The important takeaways from the study are:

• The findings were based on views from around 6122 respondents aged 15-34 years from 19 states. The research was conducted by a social science research institute in Delhi. The institute named Centre for Study in Developing Societies collaborated with Berlin-based political think-tank, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS).
• CSDS took two studies to reflect on Indian Youth and their thinking. The study gauged their attitudes, behaviour, anxieties, aspirations and political participation across different geographic and social segments.

While 57 percent males were found to be of patriarchal views, around 40 percent of women were found to support patriarchy. Also, the urban youth was found to be less patriarchal than the rural youth.

• The first study was conducted in 2007-08 and looked at primarily at social issues like modernity, traditional family values, anxieties and aspirations. The second study was conducted in 2011 and examined political issues – particularly levels of political participation.
• The results were extremely shocking and opposite to what we think we are moving towards. Only one third of youth thinks that it is right for a woman to work post marriage whereas, only 16 percent of youth thinks that it is ‘somewhat’ right for her to work post marriage.
• Around 27 percent of Indians are of the view that wives should always listen to their husbands. Only 23 percent disagreed to the question.
• A whopping 20 percent of Indian youth believes that men are better than women. 23 percent ‘somewhat’ agreed to this. This shows the level of patriarchy in Indian Society. Half of Indian youth, around 48 percent agreed to the notion that girls shouldn’t wear jeans while only 19 percent of them approved girls doing so.
• The survey, hence concluded that the patriarchy is still high with 24 percent of youth being fully patriarchal whereas, 18 percent of them not being patriarchal at all.

Patriarchal mind-set not only limited to men

Around 27 percent of Indians are of the view that wives should always listen to their husbands. Only 23 percent disagreed to the question.

The report and its findings also reflected on the fact that not only men are of patriarchal views. There are women too who believe that men are better than women. “About one in every three young women was of the opinion that women should not work after marriage and over two out of every five of them favoured the idea of an obedient wife. This internalisation of patriarchal norms may explain their widespread persistence,” the surveyors said. While 57 percent males were found to be of patriarchal views, around 40 percent of women were found to support patriarchy. Also, the urban youth was found to be less patriarchal than the rural youth. “There are differences in young people’s patriarchal attitudes on the basis of locality. They decline with an increase in urbanity. Youth residing in villages were found to be more patriarchal (59%, if we combine the extreme and somewhat categories) in their mind-set than youth living in cities (52%) and big cities (37%),” the surveyors noted.

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