Source: Pew Research Center

Pew Research Center has asked a couple of the questions on this survey in many countries around the world, allowing a glimpse of where Indians fit globally when it comes to public opinion on these issues.

Across 47 countries and territories, a global median of 70% say it is very important for women to have the same rights as men, according to data from two recent waves of the Center’s Global Attitudes survey. This is similar to the share of Indians who feel gender equality is very important (72%).³

Indians are less likely than people in North America (92% median), Western Europe (90%) and Latin America (82%) to place high importance on women and men having the same rights. But they are more likely than those living in sub-Saharan Africa (48% median) and the Middle East-North Africa region (44%) to say this. Adults in Central and Eastern Europe (69% median) are roughly similar to Indians on this question.

Within South Asia, Indians are somewhat more likely than Pakistanis to say it is very important for men and women to have equal rights (72% vs. 64%).

Despite broadly aligning with global public opinion on equal rights for women, Indians tend to be more conservative than people in most other countries surveyed when it comes to gender dynamics in the home and in the economy.

For instance, across 61 countries surveyed from 2013 to 2019, a median of 17% completely agree with the statement “When jobs are scarce, men should have more rights to a job than women,” but roughly three times as many Indians say the same (55%).⁴ In fact, only one surveyed country – Tunisia (64%) – has a higher share who completely agree with the notion that men should have greater rights to jobs in times of high unemployment.