Exploring the Dynamics of Negotiating Everyday Sexism in India: A Daily Diary Study

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the negotiation of everyday sexism encountered by college going young adult women in India in an urban context. An open-ended daily diary form was constructed, and 185 such forms were filled by 58 women enrolled in various colleges of a central university located in Delhi, India. These were analysed by content analysis with the help of NVivo software with a focus on target and type of sexism reported as well as response to sexist incident faced. The findings of this study reveal that participants chose inaction (53%) more than confronting sexism (47%), and reasons were identified for both confronting and not confronting sexism. Of those who did engage in confronting sexism, most chose collective confrontation i.e. confronting prejudice on behalf of one’s group. Confronting sexism appeared to be more difficult in the family context than with strangers, while there were no confrontations by bystanders, or men allies.