Attitudes towards women among college students in urban India

Indian society is known to have deep-rooted forms of gender inequality built into its structure. In Indian society, women were looked down socially, economically and politically. The socio economic and religious practices prevalent in India over time have created a wide gap between the position of men and women in the society. In the name of culture, tradition and religion women are denied their rightful place in society. However slowly and gradually women in urban India are demanding equal treatment and storming one male bastion after another. This paper studies the attitudes of college students as a function gender and religious affiliation. The study covers a sample of 100 college students using a 2x2 factorial design having 4 cells with 25 subjects in each cell and uses the short version of the Attitudes towards Women Scale developed by Spence, Helmrich and Stapp (1978).Results indicate gender differences in attitudes towards women but no significant differences between the two religious groups. Results are discussed with reference to its implications for society.