Hindu Men Talk about Controlling Women: Cultural Ideas as a Tool of the Powerful

Abstract

Hindu women's restrictions to the home and limited interactions with their husbands disadvantage Hindu women. These macro gender structures are constituted through microinteraction rituals. The article examines Hindu men's and women's microinteractions as a way of understanding Indian gender structure. Hindu men recognize their self-interest in these interaction rituals—they know that they benefit from women's subordination. Women's strategies of pursuing power and security in their husbands' families, moreover, often lead women into “bargains with patriarcy” that also contribute to the reconstitution of gender inequality in India.