Abstract
There has recently been a shift in the portrayal of women in Indian media, from a domestic background and docile image to a more professional and empowered representation. This study explores whether such changed portrayals in the media are also positively perceived and if there is an impact on the status of women in the social reality of India. The study examined gender perceptions through focus group discussions with participants from Gen X and Gen Z cohorts. Gen Z, conditioned in an age of technology and liberalisation, was expected to have different gender perceptions than Gen X, conditioned in a pre-liberalised traditional India. The discussions revealed the participants’ complexities, dilemmas and compromises regarding gender stereotypes and the modern versus traditional portrayal of women in Indian media. While Gen X participants were bound to old gender structures and equations, the iconoclastic Gen Z participants appeared to be onsetting a change in gender perceptions of India.
Introduction
Studying gender portrayals in Indian media has been of significant interest to many researchers (e.g., Behera, 1989; Bharadwaj & Mehta, 2017; Collins, 2011; Dwivedy et al., 2009; Mcmillin, 2002; Sandhu, 2018a). Scholars report women’s portrayal in Indian media as under-represented and of a docile, subdued and unemployed nature (e.g., Collins, 2011; Das, 2011, 2020; Sandhu, 2018a). The detrimental impact of such stereotyped portrayals perpetuating gender inequality in social reality is also underpinned in the research (Bandura, 2009; Bharadwaj & Mehta, 2017). However, some studies point to a recent shift in the narrative of gender role portrayals in Indian media (e.g., Das, 2000; Fowler & Thomas, 2015; Mukhopadhyay & Banerjee, 2021). The ‘stereotypical nature of women’s portrayal has diminished’, and this ‘change in the role portrayal of women’ has drawn considerable attention of researchers (Das & Sharma, 2021, p. 2).
One of the significant reasons cited for such a change in the portrayal of women in Indian media is India’s liberalisation of economic policies post-1991. Several cultural and lifestyle changes following the liberalisation of India’s economy (Daya, 2009; Kumar & Sarkar, 2008; Lysonski et al., 2012; Mathur, 2010; Oza, 2001) are believed to have impacted gender perceptions in social reality. Global media messages in print and television post-economic liberalisation changed the gender perceptions of India’s urban educated middle class (Thapan, 2001). Liberalisation offered employment opportunities to women and enabled them to enter the public sphere (Ganguly-Scrase, 2003; Singh, 2015), thus elevating the status of women (Daya, 2009). With the liberalisation of the Indian economy, women’s empowerment became a harbinger of modernity (Das, 2020). The increase in the number of working women with purchasing power made sense for advertisers to break the stereotypical skewed representation of men in automobile advertisements and feature women as central characters in the Tata Indica Xeta, 2005 and Datsun, 2016 ads (Sandhu & Singh, 2017). This changed portrayal of Indian women in the media gives rise to the notion of a ‘new woman’ who lives as per modern needs (Chatterjee, 2016, p. 4). The idea that women could work and have a different lifestyle than one in the confines of the home was put across to society. Not just in advertisements, but this distinct change in the portrayal of women is seen in other media products like films, web series and television programmes. This ‘new woman’ in movies, such as, for example, Queen (Bahl, 2013), Pink (Chowdhury, 2016) and web series on ‘Over-the-top’ (OTT), Masaba Masaba (Nair, 2020) and Bombay Begums (Shrivastava & Chatterjee, 2021) is seen revolting against stereotypical societal beliefs. The influence of movies and television shows on people’s mindsets is considerable (Mukhopadhyay & Banerjee, 2021). Just as stereotyped media portrayals reinforce inequality in people, by the same logic, the changed portrayal of women in media reinforces egalitarian ideals with gender role reversals as an actual practice.
The literature commenting on changes in consumer perceptions as a consequence of such a modern portrayal of women in media in the context of India is limited. This study explores whether the changed portrayal of women in the media can be construed as a perceptual transformation of women’s status in social reality. Another crucial aspect to consider is if the portrayals of men and women in media products can be assumed to project an accurate representation of social reality. Gendered portrayals in media do reinforce stereotypes and influence social reality (Das, 2011). Hence, media does act as a modelling vehicle to impact perceptions towards gender stereotypes. However, to infer changes in gender perceptions of people through media portrayal analysis alone may be tricky. Media messages like advertisements may reflect only a part of social reality as they need to be ‘identifiable by their audience’ but may still not accurately represent society as media portrayals are idealised to suit marketing strategy (Manstead & McCulloch, 1981, p. 171). Further, advertisers could be projecting stereotypes as standard practice where none exists in reality. Matthes et al. (2016) report that advertising stereotypes existed even in countries where gender equality existed as a social reality. Televised portrayals do impact the beliefs of viewers (Bandura, 2009), but at the same time, the media is not the sole factor in influencing societal realities, as other psychosocial factors impact gendered behaviour. For instance, media has always been a conditioning tool to love and marry with innuendos and biases towards gender-based attributes like fair complexion, age and so on. The reason perhaps why scholars often use the term ‘traditional’ (construed as an ‘age-old practice’) along with ‘stereotype’ when they discuss the practice of gender inequality in media or as a social reality. Due to this ancientness of cultural conditioning towards gender roles, people often do not even realise when practising gender biases in their daily lives and take it as a usual way of living. For instance, the ‘working women’ phenomenon is fine so long as women also fulfil their domestic responsibilities as per patriarchal norms of the Indian society (Chatterjee, 2016; Mcmillin, 2002).
Hence when socialising or entertaining guests, while the men sit and discuss national issues in the drawing room, the women are expected to look after the kitchen affairs and arrange for snacks or organise dinner. Even the lady guests are compelled out of formality to join their lady host in the kitchen to chat and give company. All such actual stereotypical gestures and manoeuvres are conditioned to such a level that they hardly even get noticed or discussed and are seen as very natural. For these very reasons, scholars consider the recent modern women portrayals as ‘cosmetic’ (Chatterjee, 2016, p. 4) and ‘neo feminism’ as a ‘masquerade to camouflage vintage chauvinism’ (Bharadwaj & Mehta, 2017, p. 188). However, while Chatterjee’s study was based on content analysis of the Bollywood film English Vinglish (2012), Bharadwaj’s study opines through focus group discussions (FGDs) analysis in 2016–2017 with 26–37 years old participants. There is a lack of data to comment on perceptions of the young Indians who were in the formative years of their conditioning when drastic changes had already happened to the socio-cultural environment of India as a result of liberalisation. Further, the fact remains that the portrayal of women in media has changed substantially and though ‘cosmetic’, it still has the power to impact perceptions since people ‘imitate’ media portrayals. Such media influences need to be introspected.
Finally, since gendered behaviour depends on the socio-cultural standing of a given society (Siddiqi, 2021), gender equality may have different perceptions and meanings across societies and generations. India is a geo-cultural nation, and Indians have different cultural constructions towards gender norms based on social, demographic, or geographical variables. Due to such attitudinal differences, advertisers are split over the stereotypical or modern portrayal of gender in advertisements (Dwivedy et al., 2009). For a particular segment, the connotation of gender equality can be the right to female education, but for some other cultures, it may mean sharing the responsibility of household chores and upbringing of children (Siddiqi, 2021). Such phenomenological cultural differences may also exist for generational segments conditioned in different socio-economic environments. Generational cohorts exposed to the same experiences and events lead to a commonality of value systems (Edmunds & Turner, 2005). Even advertisements with the same gender cues may have a different perceptual impact on different genders (Sandhu, 2018b).
The following questions are thus framed to explore the broad research perspective of examining gender perceptions across different age groups and gender in the Indian society:
RQ1: What is the perception of men and women across different age groups towards the traditional stereotypical portrayal of gender in Indian media?
RQ2: What is the perception of men and women across different age groups towards modern gender role reversal portrayals in Indian media?
Theoretical Framework
Many theories have been suggested to explain gendered behaviour in social reality, originating from biological, psychological, environmental and per- sonal factors. Vygotsky’s ‘socio-cultural theory’ emphasises the relationship of psychological with social interactions and instructions and imitations from cultural tools for constructing social reality (Daniels, 1996). Cultivation theory (Gerbner, 1967) suggests that media impacts social reality and supports imitation of behaviour by people based on media images. Gender differences are based on sociological constructions rather than biological differences, according to sociological theories (Bussey & Bandura, 1999, p. 683). People are enmeshed in a network of relationships where they exchange ideas, give mutual feedback, share information and understand each other’s views that enable the diffusion and adoption of social innovations (Bandura, 2009, p. 292). Diffusion of alien cultures, ideas and social interactions through new-age media and tools of communication happened extensively in a liberalised India. Social cognitive theory explains the ‘psychosocial functioning through the triadic reciprocal causation’, including personal, behavioural and environmental determinants (Bandura, 2009, p. 266). Such theoretical precepts help us understand the complex psycho-social mechanisms that have been quite active in the rapidly changing socio-economic environment of India.
As a result, the young Indians represented by Gen Z can be presumed to have different perceptions and aspirations in adopting new ideals and gender norms. However, Gen X, conditioned in the old patriarchal norms, may not be comfortable with such changes in gender equations and dislike such portrayals in media. These socio-cultural differences impact people’s relationship with media portrayals and even the brands in the case of advertisements.
Hirschman and Thompson (1997) suggested three interpretive strategies used by Fowler et al. (2014) as ‘self-reference theory’ to establish the media relationship with consumers. This study used the three strategy themes of Hirschman and Thompson (1997) to contextualise the individual perceptions of the media portrayals. The first theme is inspiring/aspiring, where the media image represents the ideal self towards which the consumer wishes to work (or aspires). Thus, some people may perceive gender role reversals or egalitarian portrayal of gender as an aspired or idolised form in social reality. Some may aspire to the status quo or desire a more gender-based society. Identifying/Individualising is the second theme and offers the audience a relationship between media images and personal life experiences where individuals identifies themselves as already possessing the image portrayed in the media. Hence, the individual may perceive and relate to the gender portrayals as real, existing and the same as experienced. The third theme, deconstructing/rejecting, records gender portrayals in media that are unacceptable or undesirable.
Method
Qualitative analysis and FGDs are apt to explore gender perceptions and cultural norms of society (Fam & Waller, 2006; Krueger & Casey, 2000; Onwuegbuzie et al., 2009; Siddiqi, 2021). Thus, this study used FGDs to explore gender perceptions. Participants for the focus groups were chosen using criteria-based purposive sampling technique. The study chose participants from Gen X (born between 1965 and 1977, Roberts & Manolis, 2000) and Gen Z (born between 1995 and 2005, Francis & Hoefel, 2018; Tysiac, 2017) to explore gender perception differences across generational cohorts. Participants for both the generational cohorts belonged to urban regions of north Indian states. Gen Z participants were first-year MBA students (age group 21–24 years at data collection) from different specialisation streams. Gen X participants were working professionals known to the author (age group 50–55 years at the time of data collection). Since focus groups work best when participants ‘are strangers to each other’ (Patton, 2002), all participants chosen were unknown to each other. The focus groups were first divided by generational cohort. The generational cohorts were then divided into two groups of five male and five female participants each to encourage a free flow of expression and beliefs. Thus, four FGDs were created with a total of 20 participants.
The author selected popular advertisements repeatedly broadcasted on TV channels as stimuli for the discussion. Three of these advertisements were themed on the need for change, and the modern portrayal of women (coded as MDN) and the remaining two depicted traditional stereotypical portrayals of women (coded as TRD) (Table 1). The advertisement links were sent to the participants before the FGDs. The author also asked open-ended questions relating to gender portrayals in the sample advertisements to stimulate discussion. Questions probed gender perceptions of the participation, for example, are boys and girls treated differently in society? If yes, how? Is it important for girls to be fair complexioned? If so, why? Is cooking the sole responsibility of the woman? FGDs were conducted between August and December 2019, and each discussion lasted for about an hour. Though FGDs were conducted in English, participants often used Hindi to express their feelings since Hindi was their first language. Participant responses were recorded, translated and analysed using the ATLAS.ti 8 software package (Friese, 2019). Memos were created to describe non-verbal gestures wherever necessary.
FGD Sample Advertisement Description.
MDN: modern; TRD: traditional.
Results and Findings
Comments and views of the four FGDs were collated into common themes and sub-themes and are presented in this section under the two research questions.
RQ1: What is the perception of men and women across different age groups towards the traditional stereotypical portrayal of gender in Indian media?
Participants from Gen X (both genders) expressed aspirational views to the skin-lightening cream advertisement (TRD-1), while none of the Gen Z participants aspired to become fair. Gen X men participants silently nodded in agreement to the relationship of fair skin with beauty and agreed that fairness is a criterion for marriage prospects of a girl and admitted to having preferred a fair-complexioned girl when they married. ‘My mother wanted a ‘gori chitti bahu’ (fair-complexioned daughter-in-law)’, a Gen X male participant exclaimed with a smile. ‘You are looked down upon if your skin is dark and referred to as ‘kaali kaluti’ (a black woman). Every Indian mother-in-law wants a fair bride. A girl feels superior and confident if she has a fair complexion’, added a Gen X female participant.
Some of the Gen Z participants (both genders) admitted to having used fairness cream products. Almost all female participants from Gen X (and some male participants from Gen X) admitted to having used fairness creams or adopted alternative means to look fair. However, Gen Z did not express that fairness cream is an aspirational product, unlike some Gen X participants who wanted others to use it for their good looks. All focus group participants agreed that a ‘fair complexion was still a criterion for matrimonial prospects’. A Gen Z male pointed out that ‘fair skin is appreciated in India, so most girls want to look fair’. Frustration about fighting the societal belief of equating fairness with beauty was clear in the following words of a Gen Z female participant ‘Even if people speak against such products, in Indian society fair-skinned people are the preferred ones. This is not right’.
Thus, the Gen Z participants, by and large, rejected the traditional belief that ‘fair is beautiful’ but at the same time acknowledged conflict of perceptions regarding colourism within Indian society.
All participants could identify with the themes of respect, love, and family bonding in the jewellery advertisement (TRD-2, Table 1). ‘It is auspicious to buy gold and denotes status. We have already bought gold jewellery for our daughter as the price of gold increases every day’, one female participant from Gen X explained. Gen X participants also justified the urgency of parents shown in the advertisement to get their daughters married. ‘Girls should marry soon as it gets difficult to get a good match for them later’, a female participant from Gen X commented. Participants across the generational groups largely agreed that boys have a wider scope of freedom for marriageable age. Though Gen Z female participants acknowledged the loving gesture of gifting jewellery by parents in marriage, they did not agree with the idea of marrying just for the sake of wearing jewellery. ‘I would like to have a career and be independent’, a female Gen Z participant asserted.
RQ2: What is the perception of men and women across different age groups towards modern gender role reversal portrayals in Indian media?
Female participants felt that they were now more empowered and independent than before. However, the connotation of ‘empowerment’ and ‘independence’ differed for participants of the two generations. Women participants from the Gen X group recalled how they faced stricter restrictions on their movements out of their houses when they were young, and generally, their brother or father accompanied them on a bike or scooter if they had to go out. ‘Always men would only ride on vehicles and show off, but now girls can also ride and get independent’, a female participant from Gen X comments. ‘My wife works, and so would my daughter. This was unthinkable for my mother and grandmother’, added a Gen X male participant. The new generation of scooters appeared to give aspirational ideas to young Indian girls. ‘I will work after my MBA, so I need to be independent’, a female Gen Z participant commented. Some female participants (from the Gen Z group) felt that gender bias still exists regarding privileges and restrictions. A Gen Z female participant complained, ‘When the son goes out of the home, parents don’t ask any questions, but a girl has to go through many questions.’
Gen Z participants favoured the rebellious tone of the Indian actress Anushka Sharma in the shampoo ad (MDN-3) that called for ending the insidious remarks of society on the looks and figure of women. Participants from Gen X (both genders) were uncomfortable with such a rebellious tone. Gen X males were quick to reject such bold portrayals of women. The themes of empowerment and independence of women were thus not palatable to the male participants of Gen X. ‘Girls must follow certain norms and must not adopt everything they see in movies and televisions’, a Gen X male participant commented after keeping silent for long. ‘A girl must be polite and soft-spoken; otherwise, she will have problems in “sasural” (home of her in-laws)’, a female Gen X participant added. Thus, even Gen X female participants were hesitant to support aggressive portrayals of women. Another male participant from Gen X said, ‘I agree that women should be given equal status, only to some extent. My wife works and takes care of the home’. Some male participants from Gen X also cited incidents of rape and molestation in India as a reason for not giving too much freedom to women. Other men agreed with this sentiment. Gen X male participants were seen to divert the discussion towards the functionality of vehicles or washing machines when they were expected to support the modern portrayals of women. One male participant from Gen X blurted scoffingly, ‘There is no relationship of sixth sense technology of the machine and the woman guessing the menu for dinner through cooking stains on a man’s shirt. I am not convinced of such a technology.’ Participants (both genders) from the Gen Z group expressed their support for the aggressive portrayal of women in the media. Gen Z agreed to the gender role reversal portrayed in the Whirlpool ad (MDN-1, Table 1) and called for ending gender bias in Indian homes. ‘I expect my spouse to help me perform household chores’, a female participant from Gen Z commented. Gen Z participants admitted to having discussed post-marital sharing of responsibilities. Overall, the modern portrayal of women in the ads made the Gen X participants uncomfortable, while the Gen Z participants were excited and aspirational towards the same portrayals.
During discussions, the participants exhibited confusion, diffidence, frustration and agreed to majority opinions or showed disagreement by being quiet or smiling. All such emotions were crucial to recording gender-based cultural beliefs. The qualitative approach allowed such nuances to be noted. The scepticism, confusion, fragments and compromises provided the essence of the theoretical framework. ‘Aspiring’ did not always mean practical, and ‘identifying’ did not necessarily mean acceptance or agreement. Similarly, ‘rejection’ sentiment was also expressed indirectly or obliquely. Media and global influences also seemed to impact mindsets and change gendered behaviour.
Discussion
Results indicate a difference in gender perceptions between the participants of Gen X and Gen Z. The views of Gen X participants indicate that the patriarchal nature of Indian society still holds a solid ground. Not a surprise thus that the Global gender index of India is 0.625 according to the World Economic Forum 2021 report, and the country is ranked 140th in 2021 out of 156 countries, just ahead of Pakistan and Afghanistan (Szmigiera, 2022). Previous research also brands Indian society as patriarchal and masculine (Ganesh & Ganesh, 2014; Hofstede et al., 1998, 2010). Theoretically, though Indians support equality and have egalitarian views, traditional gender norms and roles persist for large sections of Indian society (Evans et al., 2022). Gen X participants agreed to ideals of gender equality, but it appeared to be more in thought and much less in action.
Empowered women rebelling against societal bias were unpalatable to the male participants of Gen X. Despite having faced restrictions in their youth, even Gen X women participants were not comfortable encouraging the rebellious tone of women in media towards societal biases. Gender inequity develops at a young age (Landry et al., 2020) which appears to be the reason for the subdued response of the Gen X female participants towards women’s empowerment themes. Being a rebel against society over gender stereotypes was not an option that Gen X female participants even considered seriously. Disagreeing in practical life over societal norms can lead to conflict and poor relations within the family. The literature even cites violence (physical or emotional) against women as a method to protect patriarchy and maintain the subordinate status of women to prevent ‘disobeying the husband’ and ‘shirking household responsibilities’ (Purkayastha et al., 2003, p. 517). Thus, though people may ‘imitate’ media portrayals, they ‘are more likely to exhibit modelled behaviour only if it has rewarding outcomes than if it leads to punishing or unrewarding effects’ (Bandura, 2009, p. 274). Women’s liberation for Gen X participants means that women now work, drive by themselves and go shopping. Quite contrary to the life that Gen X participants had witnessed for their mothers and grandmothers who were housewives and stayed indoors for most of their lives.
However, it is still a long way for India to move anywhere close to an egalitarian society. Women face higher work–family conflict and interference than men (Joshi & Sastry, 1995). Even a recent survey revealed the feelings of Indians that men should have preference over women for employment opportunities, particularly when jobs are scarce, and women should always obey their husbands (Evans et al., 2022). Job scarcity during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a dip in women’s employment rate (Datta, 2020; Kanwal, 2022), testifying to such public opinions.
Though liberalisation did allow women to move outside their domestic setting, this modern working ‘new woman’ is, however, not expected to violate ‘spiritual’ and ‘national boundaries’ and is thus subjected to ‘new patriarchal equations’ (Chatterjee, 2016, p. 2). This new patriarchal equation is seen too well in the Airtel mobile advertisement in which the wife boss gives work to her husband (junior officer), but at the end of the ad, the woman boss turns into a good wife and cooks for her husband (Singh, 2015).
However, Gen X male participants voiced concerns over women’s safety as a genuine reason for curtailing their freedom. The crime rate against women in India has steadily increased (Kanwal, 2021). Reports of violence and sexual harassment against women during open defecation and in public toilets are common (Koonan, 2019). The internationally reported Delhi gang rape in 2012 shook the nation (Patil & Purkayastha, 2018), and consequently, an Indian parent prioritises their daughter’s safety over everything else. The consolation at most is that women are still ‘allowed’ and encouraged to work. The purchasing power of women increased as a result, and they are no more portrayed in the media as a ‘commodity’ or ‘sex symbols’ and are thus valued more in ‘professional and personal spaces’ (Singh, 2015, p. 174).
Ganesh and Ganesh (2014) point out a slow development of a balance between masculinity and femininity in urban segments. More and more women are now working (Bharadwaj & Mehta, 2017; Collins, 2011). Their portrayal in the media is also shifting to a professional setting (Das & Sharma, 2021). Patriarchal restrictions on women are thus expected to diminish. Cultivating egalitarian values through the media and positive changes in the status of women may thus move the gender equality continuum of at least the Indian urban society more towards a fairer index.
The possibility of such a change happening in social reality becomes high with evidence of fresh gender perspectives seen developing in the minds of young Indian citizens (represented by Gen Z).
The participants from the Gen Z group were all for a change in gender norms and the end of gender bias existing in the Indian society. While Gen X female participants were ‘allowed’ to work with compromises, Gen Z girls were seen as full of professional aspirations. The openness of male and female Gen Z participants to discuss post-marital responsibilities may lead to role reversals in Indian society. Even when it comes to matchmaking, the Gen Z participants have liberal thoughts and individual preferences, unlike the previous generation’s arranged marriage norm. Exposure to global media and opening modern channels of communication and employment opportunities are contributing factors to such independent thought processes. The Gen Z population grew up in the age of technology (Francis & Hoefel, 2018) and are used to online media content and interaction over social media digital platforms. Male and female portrayals in original digital videos in online advertising tend to be more egalitarian (Aramendia-Muneta et al., 2020). Voicing opinions towards women’s rights was also made easier with the advent of social media (Mukhopadhyay & Banerjee, 2021). Wide internet access saw India’s social media users at 518 million in 2020, which is expected to reach 1.5 billion by 2040 (Basuroy, 2022). Fast-speed internet also enabled easy access to Hollywood movies and series through OTT platforms which caught on fast with the routine entertainment mode of the Gen Z population. Exposure to global media through OTT has enabled global values and modern gender portrayals diffusion. Such influences are bound to impact the cultural configurations of Gen Z.
However, the preference for a liberal attitude by Gen Z participants is not out of disregard for parental love or traditional collectivist values like gifting jewellery in marriage. Emotions and family experiences are seen frequently in Indian advertisements (Srivastava et al., 2017). India has a collectivist culture (De Mooij & Hofstede, 2010; Deresky, 2003; Sinha et al., 2002), which is revealed in the Gen Z participant’s affiliation to family values but with modified nuances and changed meanings. For instance, giving jewellery as gifts is customary in Indian families (Robitaille, 2020), and the status-conscious Gen X (Francis & Hoefel, 2018) typically associates jewellery with the marriage of its children as a traditional collectivist practice and display of wealth. Gen Z female participants were unwilling to mix marital issues and choices with the whims of family or relatives while at the same time preferred family conformity and were not opposed to customary practices. Sinha et al. (2002) point to individualistic behaviour in Indians with a mixed collectivist intention. Gen Z female participants’ modified sentiments towards collectivism would enable them to fulfil their bold, individualistic aspirations.
Participants’ perceptions also reveal that skin colour complexes still exist in Indians. Gen X participants were obsessed with skin colour, which explains the success of the skin-whitening products. Such obsession with fair skin is perhaps the reason behind the high sales figures of Hindustan Unilever’s Fair and Lovely cream, which is also ranked as the second most trusted brand in India (Rehman, 2019). Perpetuating biased preference for fair skin is seen in the attitude of Gen X participants who expressed the desire for a fair daughter-in-law. Ironically, despite India’s majority population being dark-complexioned, the concept of feminine beauty centres around a fair complexion (Kukreja, 2021).
The association of white skin with being upper caste, reinforced by the concept of power and beauty through British colonialism, made Indian society highly conscious of skin colour (Glenn, 2008; Shevde, 2008). The roots of skin colourism are thus complex and woven deep in the Indian psyche. Indians are even conditioned to see their gods, deities, and demons in different skin colours, and the same depiction is found in comics and movies (Pattanaik, 2009). Dark-complexioned women live in shame and guilt due to the colour prejudices of Indian society (Kukreja, 2021). Consequently, grandparents and parents compare the complexions of children in a family and suggest home remedies for skin- lightening, making skin-whitening cream an aspirational product (Rehman, 2019). Such comparisons and practices are crucial cultural conditioning elements in the formative years of an individual.
Interestingly, though Gen Z members speak strongly against the obsession with fairness, the female members of the generation acknowledge the strong societal preference for fair skin. Thus, Gen Z members expressed cultural conditioning by their parents, who prefer the traditional ‘fair is beautiful’ approach, pressuring them to give in to the societal preference for fairness. However, Gen Z is known to be a generation searching for truth (Francis & Hoefel, 2018), and this generation may reject anything that does not seem realistic. Though Gen Z participants were very vocal against the traditional perception of linking the beauty of women with fairness, this study does not have strong conclusive evidence for a change in Gen Z’s perception of fairness and beauty. Gen Z participants appeared confused about their views and beliefs regarding skin colourism. If this generation shuns societal pressures and the bias of the family towards fairness, it could change the narrative of Indian colourism.
Conclusion and Scope
This study recognised changes in gender portrayals in Indian media and explored if such changes are also reflected in the perceptions of people from different age groups through FGDs. Participants for this study were from urban regions of north Indian states, and thus the understanding of gender perceptions in this study is limited to urban, educated middle-class North Indians. Studies focusing on other regions of India would add to a comprehensive understanding of the thinking processes of Indians. It would be interesting, for instance, to know the gender perspectives of South Indians, who have a darker complexion, or those of North-East Indians, where women have greater freedom than women from North Indian societies.
The study acknowledged the advent of new-age media and the impact of technology on sociological cognition and the cultivation of modern values in Indians. However, a deeper analysis of such cognitions and cultivations of gendered behaviour is needed. For instance, the Gen Z population is largely yet to experience marital issues, and much of their views are yet to be seen in practice. Also, fighting against the perception of fairness as superior skin colour is a complex battle for Gen Z. Though not aspiring to be fair, whether they go against the societal preference for fair skin and accept dark-complexioned brides themselves remains to be seen.
Future studies can also explore psychosocial factors, social cognitions and the bi-directional impact of new-age media on the gendered behaviours of Indians. The exponential technological advancement is ushering new-age society towards cyber-culture and possibilities of living life in a metaverse. Such rapid socio-techno-interventions and interactions hold exciting possibilities to modify, add or reject gendered norms in the Indian society.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.