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Abstract(s)
This essay looks at the subtle ways in which gender identities are constructed
and reinforced in India through social norms of language use. Language itself
becomes a medium for perpetuating gender stereotypes, forcing its speakers to
confirm to socially defined gender roles. Using examples from a classroom discussion
about a film, this essay will highlight the underlying rigid male-female stereotypes in
Indian society with their more obvious expressions in language. For the urban woman
in India globalisation meant increased economic equality and exposure to changed
lifestyles. On an individual level it also meant redefining gender relations and
changing the hierarchy in man-woman relationships. With the economic
independence there is a heightened sense of liberation in all spheres of social life, a
confidence to fuzz the rigid boundaries of gender roles. With the new films and media
celebrating this liberated woman, who is ready to assert her sexual needs, who is
ready to explode those long held notions of morality, one would expect that the
changes are not just superficial. But as it soon became obvious in the course of a
classroom discussion about relationships and stereotypes related to age, the surface
changes can not become part of the common vocabulary, for the obvious reason that
there is still a vast gap between the screen image of this new woman and the ground
reality. Social considerations define the limits of this assertiveness of women, whereas
men are happy to be liberal within the larger frame of social sanctions. The educated
urban woman in India speaks in favour of change and the educated urban male
supports her, but one just needs to scratch the surface to see the time tested formulae
of gender roles firmly in place. The way the urban woman happily balances this
emerging promise of independence with her gendered social identity, makes it
necessary to rethink some aspects of looking at gender in a gradually changing,
traditional society like India.
Description
Keywords
Língua Sala de aula Índia Género Estereótipo Language Classroom Gender Stereotype
Citation
Publisher
Instituto Politécnico do Porto. Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto