Addressing gender equality in India

There is little doubt that India is witnessing a transformation when it comes to efforts to change widespread chauvinistic attitudes which see women as inferior to men.

The voracious nature of the media’s coverage of women’s issues, particularly after the high profile gang rape and murder of a woman on a Delhi bus more than two years ago, has spurred the conversation on gender equality.

An issue once confined to discussions between civil society groups, activists and academics has moved into the urban mainstream with everyone from Bollywood stars to big business taking up the battle to fight patriarchy.

There has been a steady stream of adverts and campaigns addressing everything from women’s empowerment, rape and molestation to domestic violence and female foeticide by companies and celebrities, the government and charities – all of them taking aim at conventional gender norms and promoting a more equitable society.

Yet while some have been praised for their effective messaging, others have attracted scathing criticism for sending out the wrong signals.

For example, a video produced as part of Vogue India’s social awareness initiative “Vogue Empower” has drawn ire for not only preaching to the converted, but of also alienating men.

The video “My Choice” starring Indian actress Deepika Padukone went viral on social media last week with many praising its bold messaging. In the clip, the beautiful actress is seen with billowing hair, narrating a woman’s choices regarding her body and sexuality.

But it was also slammed by commentators who said the idea of empowerment is more than the clothes a woman wears, who she sleeps with and what time she comes home at night.

“Where’s the woman who demands equal leadership opportunities at the work place? Where’s the woman who has had the guts to give up a well-paying job to bring up a child? Where are the women who have chosen to work, perhaps all day as domestic helps, because they want their sons and daughters to finish their education and have different lives?” wrote Piyasree Dasgupta in Firstpost.com.

“In fact, the Vogue video only speaks for a small group of women for whom education, healthcare, money are privileges they can take for granted as birthrights.”

Sudhir Srinivasan from the Hindu said the video was hostile and aggressive towards men – prompting men to produce countless parodies such as this one.

“The overall focus of the video, seemingly unintended, is more on alienation than liberation. This is never more evident than in the lines: ‘My songs, your noise. My order, your anarchy. Your sins, my virtues'” wrote Srinivasan.

“The theme is clear: me versus you, woman versus man. Well, how about woman AND man?” he concluded.

Good, bad and ugly

But “My choice” is just one of many well-intentioned videos that have backfired in recent years.

Another in the Vogue Empower series called “Boys don’t cry” starring another Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit refreshingly addressed the issue of how boys are taught at every stage in their life not to cry – but again it misses the mark.

Instead of showing that boys and men can be victims of patriarchy where they are socially conditioned to conform to the aggressive ideal of masculinity, it gives a message that men who do not cry are most likely to hurt women.

“From the beginning, we teach boys not to cry. Perhaps it time we taught them not to make others cry,” says Dixit at the end of the video which shows a man beating his wife/partner.

While another advert, by the telecoms company Airtel, disappoints when it attempts to reverse gender roles by making the female character the boss in an office where her husband works.

In the commercial, the woman is seen in her office giving her husband a deadline for which he has to work late for. It however then takes an unexpected turn when she leaves her office to go home to her kitchen to prepare a meal for husband.

“Not only is that Airtel wife/boss ad stupid, it’s deviously regressive. Lesson to women: You may be BOSS, yet must cook2please,” said one of many tweets which slammed the commercial.

But there have also been some incredibly effective adverts too, such as one by JSW Steel which features Geeta Phogat, who won India’s first ever gold medal in women’s wrestling in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Not only does it speak to women and girls from all parts of society – be it rural or urban, educated or illiterate, poor or wealthy – it does so in way which does not alienate men.

But while Padukone’s “My Choice” has received almost 8 million views, Phogat’s “Will of Steel” has attracted just over 300,000 hits. Check it out here and see which you feel more empowered by.

This article is published in collaboration with The Thomson Reuters Foundation. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Nita Bhalla covers disasters and conflicts, development, womens rights, climate change and governance.

Image: A couple take their wedding vows during their wedding ceremony in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad. REUTERS/Amit Dave.