Psychosocial dynamics of male dominance and status of women

Rising levels of education has improved women's role at home with greater involvement in many of the activities -- household chores, helping children with education, paying bills, banking, and many more. But be it employed or unemployed, educated or uneducated, research on the status of women in India revealed unexpected trends. Several research studies have shown that higher educational and income levels have certainly not resulted in a decrease of male dominance. The employed women's work has become even more complicated due to lack of support by the husband. As a result women have developed dual role conflicts. It is interesting to analyze the reasons for lack of help by the husband. In this paper, an attempt is made to understand the psychosocial dynamics of male dominance and also the resultant status of women. Review of current research revealed that there is no decrease in husband dominance in spite of the changing social, cultural and economic conditions of women. That people continue to hold traditional beliefs, in spite of changes in psycho social frontiers might be a pointer to the root cause of continued male dominance in the society.