Research pick: Motherly career paths in India - "Role of media in motivating career-oriented females in challenging the norms of patriarchy"

Marriage and motherhood are almost universal in India, writes a team from Amity University. They then ask in the International Journal of Gender Studies in Developing Societies, whether women have a choice in this matter or whether society so effectively defines their roles almost from birth that the majority do not recognise that there is a choice at all.

Priya Gupta of the Amity School of Fine Arts and Mili Sharma Amity School of Communication additionally ask whether those women who are in fact career-oriented can enjoy motherhood without marriage. They have studied the issues via focus group discussions, spread across four strata in the hope of answering some of the questions that face women in Indian society as it develops. They introduce the concept of “single mothers by choice” or what one might more colloquially call “choice moms” in a pseudo-American vernacular. Moreover, they argue the case of a choice for career women in India to use surrogacy and in vitro fertilisation for their aspirations of motherhood outside of marriage.

Those involved in the study were well aware that many women sacrifice their burgeoning careers to marry and have children. But, they were also aware of celebrity women who had taken unconventional routes to motherhood. Various advantages were perceived by the women in the study of unconventional approaches.

Most respondents believed that their feminine identity can remain intact, and they can retain their independence by side-stepping marriage in their lives, which challenges the patriarchy. However, many were torn on the idea of motherhood without marriage, or even a male partner, given society’s entrenched views on such matters. Indian society is changing, but there remain obstacles in the path of women hoping to have a career, avoid marriage, but still take the option of becoming a mother.

Gupta, P. and Sharma, M. (2020) ‘Role of media in motivating career-oriented females in challenging the norms of patriarchy’, Int. J. Gender Studies in Developing Societies, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp.243–255.