Single Women: Changing Perceptions in India

The study explores the life experiences of working single women–the never married, in the social context of the city, Banaras. The study investigates the central issues of their lives i.e. marriage, career and education and tries to unravel their problems and articulations as well as their perception and their pattern of adjustment with the new role. Being a working single women in a city like Banaras is even more fraught with problems than being the same in a metropolitan city. It has found that the working single women of Banaras have evolved nature responses to being labelled deviant by the wider society and that they have largely a healthy self image and a full realization of their valuable contribution to the socio-economic milieu of the society. The study being a subjective and fualitative assessment about the issue, has also questioned many pre-conceived assumptions about the life of working single women and has brought forth the realities. The work is based on extensive field work, involving interviews and discussions.