What the Indian woman wants

NEW DELHI: One in nine women in urban India have had a ''love marriage''; nine per cent celebrate Valentine''s Day; a third live in a joint or extended family; 80 per cent observe fasts; 46 per cent disapprove the idea of boyfriends.
Two-thirds women believe simply being a housewife is no joy. At the same time they also hold that it is impossible for working parents to bring up children properly!
The household gadgets uppermost on the shopping list are a washing machine, refrigerator, colour TV and personal computer - in that order.
Sixteen percent use mascara; 42 per cent have no idea what mascara is. One in 20 use hair dye. The average woman would have tried two out of every 10 new brands introduced in the market.
These are some of the findings of The Millennium Woman, a study conducted in India recently by market research agency Research International.
The study involved over 4,600 interviews of women in 26 towns, supplemented by focus groups and in-depth interviews.
The basic report is a detailed analysis of the woman and her milieu, her own values and beliefs, appearance and beauty, household chores, shopping behaviour and what she likes to experiment with.
A wide range of subjects have been investigated – ranging from beauty and personal care to relaxation and entertainment, from the impact of western influences to the extent of male participation in household chores.
According to the report that assessed experimentalism – trial of new brands, it was found that the most experimental women are not necessarily the youngest.
One of the key findings of the study is the strong core of orthodoxy and conservatism that seems to bind most women.
Some so called "old fashioned" institutions such as arranged marriages are extremely resilient. Some taboos that are very strong: a woman who does not wear the outward marks of marriage, marriage outside the caste/community, men or women showing affection in public.
Surprisingly, it is more acceptable for women to wear short dresses – as compared with ''showing affection in public''.
According to the report, many women who live in "restricted environments" and are not strongly in favour of change. Even for the ''modern'' liberated woman, the attraction of tradition is quite strong: almost 90 per cent agreed that ''old fashioned dresses like saris suit Indian women best.''
Seventy two per cent believe that joint families are ''common'' in their community. But the study reveals that very few women actually live in the ''classic'' joint family, that is, married brothers living together.
On further probing, it emerges that many women pay tribute to the joint family ideal, but do not really believe that it is a practical alternative for themselves.
In fact, in public women like to present a positive spin even on somebody they rather not like – the mother-in-law.
It is only the young, unmarried girls who are completely frank: "I think she will be cruel only."
The report also throws light on some interesting facets of male participation in household chores.
The big question is: Do men actually help in the household tasks?
Unlike TV commercials, where the image of men has taken a new dimension of a sensitive, caring family man, who is not afraid to show his emotions, such a man exists only in fantasy.
Men are not evolving as fast as TV commercials. They are quite likely to take on shopping (any excuse to get out of the house) --- but participation in the ''indoor'' household tasks is confined to a small minority.
Women have to be grateful for small favours – if the husband can exert himself sufficiently to put the clothes inside the washing machine, it''s something to boast about in a focus group.
The report in the light of its findings comments why it isn''t really surprising that TV serials have stepped backwards in time.
"The Saavis and Taras of yesterday have given place to the Tulsis and Parvatis of today. The smart, western style suits of the presenters on Star News have been retired - salwar kameez is ''in'' once again. In the quest for higher ratings, it makes sense to appeal to the universal denominator. There is safety in tradition, for the viewers- and also for the TV channels," says the report.