Gender Roles in South Asia Research Porposal 2022

Running head: GENDER ROLES IN SOUTH ASIA
Gender roles in South Asia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

GENDER ROLES IN SOUTH ASIA
1
Introduction
The human civilization includes all the human individuals living on the surface of the
earth. While their aspect of humanity binds them together, their cultural norms and traditional
values sets them apart (Chan et al., 2016). The main point of distinction among such individuals
is their personality which develops as a result of the cultural norms that they ascribe to. Within a
particular society, the individuals form a bond with each other based on their ancestral lineage,
the kind of language or dialect they speak, the objects or supernatural image that they worship
and the kind of food they consume. All of these form a significant part of the ‘culture’ of the
individual (Kabat, Stellman & Stellman, 2018). The purpose of this paper is to examine the
concept of culture and understand its prevalence in the lives of the people. More significantly,
this paper seeks to analyze the issue of gendered roles. In this regard, it makes reference to the
South Asian culture, where the issue of gendered spaces is sought to be understood.
Importance of culture
Culture is considered to be intrinsic to the living of an individual (Guhl, 2017). The kind
of social values that a person ascribes to, their economic well-being and standing in the society
and the political affiliations they show, all are seen to be stemming from such cultural
background. There are many different ways in which the culture of an individual is expressed.
This includes the stories and the fables they tell each other, the kind of songs they sing and their
unique form of dancing (Chan et al., 2016). Thus, in all these spheres of activity, the individuals
of the society are seen to be differentiated from each other.
One of the characteristic features of culture is that of religion (Kabat, Stellman &
Stellman, 2018). The religion that a person ascribes to during his or her lifetime, determines the

GENDER ROLES IN SOUTH ASIA
2
kind of cultural values and traditional norms which would play an influential role in their lives
(Singh, 2019).
I belong to South Asia and have ascribed to the religion of Hinduism. As a result, I am
mainly guided by the religious dictates of Hinduism and worship the Hindu deities. I follow the
diet as prescribed by my culture and also listen to and dance to the music of Hindu culture.
Meaning of gender
One of the concerning issues which is present in the human society is that of the roles of
gender. Traditionally, there are two genders that is of the male gender and the females of the
society (Singh, 2019). Since times immemorial, these two genders have been differentiated from
each other based on their biological differences. As a result of this, the male gender is considered
to be superior to the female gender because of their presumed ability to undertake more laborious
physical activity (Counihan, 2018).
Uniqueness of gender to human beings
In order to understand the concept of gender, there is first the necessity to differentiate it
from the term ‘sex’. Sex refers to the biological differences which are present in the individuals
of the society, even in the living beings other than the human species (Rogers & Meltzoff, 2017).
On the other hand, the term ‘gender’ is more complex to examine. Gender is multifaceted in
nature, meaning that the sociological and cultural roles which are ascribed to the human
individuals by the community, leads to the formation of gender (Kabat, Stellman & Stellman,
2018).
In this respect, it can be seen that the aspect of gender essentially refers to the behavior of
the individual beings, based on their sexes (Ferrant, 2016). Thus, there is a direct connection