Women's Role Expectations and Identity Development in India

Abstract

Women's education, employment, and family roles and the interrelations between them have attracted increasing attention during the last few years. Feminists have dispelled long held notions about “women's place” and the accepted myths about their nature and function (Goldstien, 1972). Over the last few decades there has been a tremendous change in laws, attitudes, and norms affecting women's status, roles, and development in society in India. As a result of which women have ventured beyond the traditional role of wife and mother, and have sought employment and careers outside the home, and have actively participated in the economic and social development of the nation (Liddle & Joshi, 1986). There is a restructuring and reorientation of women's roles in contemporary society. However, not much empirical knowledge is available about these changes and the impact they have on women's behaviour, values, or attitudes and identities (Johnson, 1992). Rapid social changes in women's career and family roles are accompanied by a significant transition in their attitude towards career and family. Research in the last decade highlighted the complex relationships between a woman's objective roles and her subjective attitudes regarding these roles, which affect her overall life satisfaction and sense of identity in society (Phillips & Imhoff, 1997). This study examines the role expectation and satisfaction, fears, dreams, aspirations, sense of competence, or lack of it, among college women in contemporary Indian society.