LONDON: A new academic study has found that the “pervasive problem of violence against women in India” will not be solved by men protecting women, as such patriarchal sexist beliefs can also be harmful. The first large-scale analysis of associations between sexism and tolerance of violence against women in India, written by academics in the UK, New Zealand and US, has found that patronising beliefs about women that are framed in protective terms can make them more vulnerable to violence as they create a power dynamic in which women are subordinate to their male partners. “Prescriptions that women should be protected from outsiders can simultaneously legitimise men’s dominance within relationships, thus reinforcing the very inequalities that make women more vulnerable to violence,” the paper said.
The research paper, titled “Ambivalent Sexism and Tolerance of Violence Against Women in India”, has been published by Psychological Science , a top empirical journal in psychology and the flagship journal of the US-based Association for Psychological Science. The paper referred to high-profile sexual assaults in India as well as the “less conspicuous violence” some Indian women face, such as sexual harassment in public and domestic violence. “This public and private violence occurs in a societal context in which sexist beliefs are relatively prevalent,” it said.
The study, which examined the sexist beliefs of a cross-section of India, found that hostile sexism .