Changing Nature of Gender Relations & Women Empowerment in India -An introspective approach

Changing Nature of Gender Relations in India - A Journey from Intra- Household Gender Dynamics to Social Participation through Government Interventions : An Introspective Approach Towards Women Empowerment
By
Niloy Biswas1

Introduction: Household - The root source for gender relations
One of the most important institutions in the lives of people is the household. Poverty interventions directly or indirectly affect and are affected by the household and gender relations, and hence there lies the importance of exploring intra-household gender dynamics. The household is a basic unit as well as a primary place of society in which individuals confront and reproduce societal norms, values, power, and privilege and where individuals both cooperate and compete for resources. Gender norms expressed within the household are reinforced and reflected in larger institutions of society. “Gender relations are not confined to the domestic arena — although households constitute an important institutional site on which not only gender relations are played out — but are made, remade and contested in a range of institutional arenas” (Kabeer 1997). In other words, this is not simply a story of the household and its members, but about the shaping of gender identities by larger institutions, and the ongoing participation of family members in creating new gender norms.
Traditional Gender Norms
A norm is a shared expectation of behaviour that expresses what is considered culturally desirable and appropriate, while a role is a set of norms attached to a social position (Marshall 1994). Social norms are reinforced through popular culture, radio, television, traditional art forms, proverbs and stories, customs, laws, and everyday practice. Akerlof and Kranton (1999) connect the psychology and sociology of identity to economic behaviour. “Stereotypical characteristics of men are competitive, acquisitive, autonomous, independent, confrontational, concerned about private

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