“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
India is home to many diversities. We speak different languages, celebrate different festivals, and follow different religions. However, eventually, we are doing the same thing in different manners. Many things define us, like the language we speak, what we eat and wear, our lifestyles, and the festivals we celebrate. These things are largely influenced by the geography and history of the place where we reside. In this diverse nature, some social evils are deteriorating the integrity of the country, which majorly includes prejudices and stereotypes.
If we observe closely, we’ll realize that we feel safer with people who dress, speak and behave like us than the other community people who are different from us and we tend to form certain opinions and attitudes towards them. Here comes into play the psychological aspects of prejudices and stereotypes.
Prejudice means judging other people or a social group negatively and seeing them as inferior. We may be prejudiced based on our skin color, region, and religion. Prejudice and discrimination against disabled people are called "Ableism". Non-disabled people look upon the disabled with pity eyes. Is this conception real? No, when we see history we have great achievers like Stephen Hawking, Sudha Chandran, and many more like them.
Stereotype means a fixed mindset towards a certain community or an individual, which might be positive or negative. It is refraining people from looking at the uniqueness of an individual. There is a general conception that women are weaker than men physically. Such stereotypes are feeding gender discrimination. These are visible in society but some are invisible even though they are living in the society due to strong and blinded belief in religion.
"Name Stereotype" means that by looking at one's name people are judging their gender and religion. They are fixing their mindsets towards names by labeling them as girly and boyish. What will happen if there is a unisex or gender-neutral name to a person? For example: If a boy was named Pushpa, so by hearing this name what comes to our mind? We feel awestruck right? We may form various opinions about him by just hearing his name. Pushpa is a name more constituted to a female rather than a male. This type of opinion creates stereotypes and causes discrimination. A few years ago, in a Facebook post that is now offline, poet and activist ‘Meena Kandasamy’ encouraged upper-caste Indians to drop their surnames. These surnames, she said that considerable caste capital loaded onto them, symbolizing the holder’s privilege, and thereby reinforcing generations of inequality. Ms. Kandasamy wasn’t off the mark. Many surnames, like Sharma, Iyer, Gupta, etc, are strong markers of (upper) caste identity. She argued that if upper-caste Indians truly cared about equality, they would drop their surnames.
As we know that India is a caste-based society so everybody has a caste here. These castes are classified into four varnas namely Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras (in descending order of hierarchy). In villages, everyone knows everybody’s castes too. With the surname, a person’s caste was recognized by villagers that he stayed in, as people of the same caste tend to gather in the same area. However, matters get complicated when it comes to cities, as people migrate to cities from different villages, hence there's a mix of different communities in the same locality, therefore it's not easy to identify a person's “roots” by looking at their surname or name. Most of the women in India, change their second name after they get married, with their husband's first name or surname. If we observe in Muslim and Christian communities children get their father’s name as their last name. These traditions are feeding the patriarchal society.
Do women have to change their surname after marriage? Old traditions in India made it almost mandatory for women to change their surname so that they are respectable members of society. It is always believed that women’s identity is part of men by taking up the surname of the husband. Society and families believe that when a woman changes her surname to that of her husband’s, the marriage is completely sealed. It acts as the sacred tie that makes the woman and her husband one. This type of blind belief are strengthening stereotypes. As times are changing women are choosing to retain their surname rather than changing it. Some men are taking their wife’s surname after getting married to fight against this traditional stereotype. It’s difficult for an Indian man to change their surname if in case they take their wife’s surname they are looked down on critically by society.
Kerala High court says “Right to choose one’s name is a part of Fundamental Right of a Citizen under Article 19 (1) (a) {Right to freedom of speech and expression} and Article 21 {Right to Liberty} of the Indian Constitution. There might be a chance of showing favoritism against certain persons at the interview, hence by keeping this in mind, the government commissioned a report suggesting that caste surnames or details giving out the religious or social background of the candidate should not be revealed at the time of the interview stage in civil services or any other services as it increases chances of discrimination.
People are socialized to adopt stereotypes from an early age with the influence of parents, teachers, and friends. It is always believed that one’s religion, caste, language are higher; they respect only their sections rather than treating everyone equally. The blind belief in religion causes clashes between different people. Due to the patriarchal society gender stereotypes are increasing although women are fighting against stereotypes the mindset of the society has not changed yet. Khasi tribes in Meghalaya are the perfect example of a matrilineal society. The children get the surname of the mother’s family. Gender Fair Language (GFL) aims at reducing stereotypes and discrimination. GFL is achieved through neutralization and feminization. Neutralization is achieved through removing male masculine forms (policemen) with gender-neutral words like (police officer). Recently the BCCI made changes from batsmen to batter to achieve gender equality. I think through the example of GFL, we can take inspiration to achieve greater change in society and by respecting other cultures and traditions.
“Dr. BR. Ambedkar said, as long as there are castes, there is an outcast”
REFERENCES:
SCROLL
TOI
FRONTIERS
INDIATIMES
THE HINDU
TOI
NCERT VI
ANNIHILATION OF CASTE BY DR. BR. AMBEDKAR
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