Pradyumn Singh

WMST- 1080-41
Influence of Traditional Societal Expectations on gender responsibilities and family
planning.
While in the 10
th
grade and a couple of weeks before all India standardized board
examinations (10th grade is very important in Indian education system), I used to be told how
my elder sisters who are older than me have done on these exams and since I am the only boy
child of the family, I should be doing better than them. I was repeatedly told that since I am the
only boy child of the family, I would need to do better at studies since I have to take
responsibilities of my parents in future and take care of the family business.
I never understood why I would be given such importance in the family just because I
was a boy and was jealous till a certain extent that why would I have to have all the burden of
responsibilities in my family and not my siblings. Everyday talks in family would put me into
spotlight and I would be forced without me knowing due the cultural expectations to act like the
future head of the family.

Such comparisons between siblings on the basis of gender were the first time I had
realized that there is a difference among genders when it comes to responsibilities. Later on in
about 12
th
grade, even what I had to study in college was influenced by how much I can be successful in
monetary terms when compared to my siblings. My sisters are a gynecologist and software engineer and
societal and family expectations had influenced me going to engineering school in USA i.e. I can be
successful in monetary terms more than my siblings( Engineering and Medical Science are considered
money making industries in India). The opinions and values of the society tends to decide gender roles in
my family when it comes to things like responsibilities and money. Even when it comes to professions,
women, supposedly, have a set of professions that are well suited according to the physical and social
limitations imposed by culture. Women are generally not allowed to be part of the professions which
requires travelling, tiresome field work and entertainment related fields of professions. Pepper Schwartz
and Virginia Rutter suggest in their article Sexual Desire and Gender in Womens Voices and Feminist
Visions 4
th
edition talks about a school of thought which explains sexuality on the basis of biology.
Similarly there were restrictions imposed on my siblings with an excuse of biology on what professions
they can choose. Eventually they had to end up choosing the professions of a Software engineer and a
Gynecologist since these are the professions which do not require a lot of physical work and travelling
and are supposedly perfect for women. I am not arguing that these professions are somehow inferior to
others but what I am arguing is that these professions are considered well suited for women and are
forced upon women in higher middle class families like mine. This prevents women from high middle
class in India to chase their real dreams. Such presumptions based on biology forces women to take up
jobs which are considered well suited on the basis of their gender from the village paddy fields up until
the high rises of New Delhi.
The age difference between me and my sisters is 9 years and 12 years of age. The only
reason there was a third child in my family was due to an expectation of the boy child to carry the family
name. The practice of women marrying and taking up the family name of the family they are married into
is responsible for a necessity of a boy child to keep the family name going. As a part of the stratification
system, gender ranks men and women of the same class and race. Women and men could be different and
equal(Judith Lorber 143). The stratification system is very much responsible for such division of
responsibilities which also results in a special importance given to the boy child of the family. Such a
system is discriminatory and adversely affects the society when it comes to social justice and economics.
Such cultural expectations are directly responsible for the failure of family planning in India. The
Government of India gives huge tax benefits to families with only two children. But these monetary
incentives were not enough to prevent my family to have one more kid so that they can have a boy child.
The stratification system has direct implication on the economy and societal health of a country due to
failure of family planning goals. On the contrary, the stratification system has been very much destroyed
by forced family planning in China by one child policy. Since parents only have one child, the traditional
gender responsibilities have been destroyed as children are taught to be independent be it a girl child or a
boy and take up responsibilities of the family equally. I am not suggesting one child policy is the solution
to remove the stratification system from the society but merely giving an example. Such Stratification
system is an economic hurdle for not only India but all the developing countries around the world
struggling with the problem of overpopulation.
Learning genders in a diverse society in Womens voices and feminist visions mentions
that while biology may imply some basic physiological facts, culture gives meaning to these in
such a way that we must question whether biology can exist except within the society that gives
it meaning in the first place. Rigidity of professions culturally imposed due to an excuse of biology of
genders and the stratification system of gender responsibilities are a serious problem that inhibits and
undermine the societal and economic improvements of societies all around the developing world. Such
constrains are mostly cultural and the change has to come from the inside of the society. For developing
countries these issues have a special importance because it prevents diversification of specialized labor
for half of the labor force and undermines the efforts of population control. Solutions to these problems
can only come from education with an agenda of removing patriarchy and stratification system from
societies. However, education will take time to make change and this change usually takes a generation or
two. Another solution with more immediate effects can come through laws and promoting more
involvement of women in the economy. Since India is a developing country, families living in urban or
rural areas, a lot of times monetary issues to raise a family can be solved if both men and women involve
in economic activity to generate wealth. The traditional standpoint that women should stay home and take
care of the family has to be dismissed. New laws bringing quotas for women in parliament and
government institutions for jobs would be a good way to start. These quotas can go for a decade or so
until society starts to accept more and more role of women in the economy. Once the society sees the
benefits of more involvement of women for betterment of family units in general, the views about gender
responsibilities and stratification system will change to bring about a greater social change.