Hostile and Benevolent Sexism in India: Analysis Across Cultures

Abstract

Society often fails to acknowledge that gender inequality, or the disparity in status and power between men and women, continues to exist today. However, rising incidents of crime against women and victim blaming by politicians and higher officials in Indian society make it important to acknowledge the rampant prevalence of hostile and benevolent sexism. The present research focuses on benevolent sexism as displayed by participants from India. It aims to assess the prevalence and consequences of Benevolent sexism in India. Cross-cultural studies by Glick et al. (2000) are based on Ambivalent Sexism theory and provide the means of such comparison. In the present study, 500 participants (both sexes, M = 35 years old) residing in sub-urban regions of Northern India responded to Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) (Glick & Fiske, 1996) and Ambivalence towards Men Inventory (AMI) (Glick & Fiske, 1999). The study revealed high levels of Hostile and Benevolent sexist attitudes held by Indian men and contrary to many other countries, Indian women neither endorsed the system-justifying ideology of Benevolent sexism nor expressed hostility against men

    Similar works