The present analysis was carried out with the objective to explore the concept of gender equality in India, from an indigenous-cultural point of view. Four focus-group discussions with a total of 18 participants (both males and females) were carried out using a self-developed semi-structured interview schedule. Interpretative phenomenological analysis of the transcribed interviews led to the identification of three overarching themes. The first superordinate theme, Social construction and accentuation of differences, represents the idea of biological determinism and the accentuation of anatomical differences which, as per participants' responses, lays a strong foundation for gender roles and stereotypes. This superordinate theme encompasses the role of early socialization, conformity, societal norms and expectations as well as social institutions in facilitating and perpetuating gender discrimination. The next theme, viz. Tunnel vision view of gender equality, highlights the perceived lacunas in existing policies and laws that curtail parity instead of enhancing it. It also represents participants' belief that men and women in India lack a holistic understanding of gender equality and tend to define it in a very restricted and narrow sense. Finally, the last theme i.e. Holistic and multi-level reforms, offers a culture-appropriate plan of action that, according to research participants, can help achieve holistic and sustainable gender equality in India. The present qualitative analysis provides important insights into the complex nexus of socio-cultural factors that shape collective culture-specific beliefs about gender equality. The study also offers an action-oriented framework to alleviate gender discrimination.

进行本分析的目的是从土著文化的角度探讨印度的性别平等概念。使用自行制定的半结构化访谈时间表，进行了总共18位参与者（男性和女性）的四次焦点小组讨论。转录访谈的解释性现象学分析导致​​确定了三个总体主题。第一个上位主题，社会建设与差异的凸显代表生物决定论和强调解剖学差异的概念，根据参与者的反应，这些差异为性别角色和定型观念奠定了坚实的基础。上级主题包括早期社会化，整合，社会规范和期望以及社会机构在促进和延续性别歧视方面的作用。下一个主题，即。隧道关于性别平等的观点，强调了现有政策和法律中人们认为存在的空白，这些空白限制了平等而不是加强了平等。这也代表了参与者的信念，即印度的男人和女人对性别平等缺乏全面的了解，并且倾向于在非常狭and和狭义的意义上对其进行定义。最后，最后一个主题，即整体和多层次的改革，据研究参与者称，该计划提供了适合文化的行动计划，可以帮助实现印度整体和可持续的性别平等。当前的定性分析提供了重要的见解，可深入了解社会文化因素的复杂联系，这些因素塑造了集体文化特定的性别平等观念。该研究还提供了一个以行动为导向的框架，以减轻性别歧视。