Contemporary Vignettes of Tribal Life A Study on Gender Roles in Correlation with Interaction Rituals and Media Interactions

Abstract

Drawing on long-term ethnographic data, the study elucidates the impact of cultural newlinerituals and media rituals in the framing of gender roles. Based on ethnographic data, the newlineresearcher hypothesizes that cultural rituals and media rituals reinforce stereotypical gender roles, which act as a hindrance in flourishing the personal goals of individuals. In a cultural context, traditional rituals reinforce submissiveness and the concept of impurity among women. In a societal context, rituals, specifically marriage rituals dispirit passion and personal goals of both the genders and pressure parents to arrange dowry in the form of gold for their daughters to meet the gender role of getting them into nuptials. In an organizational context, rituals act in promoting discrimination of women and influence organizational choice and prosocial behavior towards each gender. In addition, media rituals also reinforce stereotypical gender messages and its heavy consumers are trapped in a submissive life similar to the life portrayed through media. The wide variance in the sanction of opportunities to pursue their passion and earning capacity of the genders widens the gap of inequality and empowerment of both genders. The researcher proposes that the mechanism underlying this phenomenon is that only the absence of external pressure and reinforcement of cultural values through interaction rituals and media interactions, can pave way for behavior and actions induced with personal goals. newline newline