Feminism & Psychology

This study sought to examine the processes of cultural and gender socialization within a sample of the Indian immigrant community in the United States. It examines the nature of the mother-daughter relationship, and the messages daughters receive about their Indian heritage and their roles as women in the family and community. Interview data were collected from 25 Indian-American women. The article argues that mothers are primarily responsible for the cultural and gender socialization of daughters; however, this transmission is based on a relatively essentialized view of Indian culture, which the daughters also endorse. This method may reflect a need on the part of parents in the Indian community to retain what they perceive as vital to their cultural heritage in the face of assimilation into mainstream US society through the behavior of women, who reflect the community’s standing. This process often elicits feelings of ambivalence in the younger generation, but, ultimately, these women create discourses around gender and culture that represent their own understanding of their place within their community.

Winnicott’s work has been both criticized and commended by feminists: it was attacked for normalizing women’s traditional role, but praised for conceptualizing relationships which are free of the I-other oppositions. In the picture painted by his advocates, Winnicott appears as a participationist who values the transformative qualities of social interaction and public deliberation. I argue that, while Winnicott does hold participation up as an ideal, he relegates other pursuits to subsidiary roles that are distanced from participation, and so divides the world into two realms that complement and exclude each other. His work is therefore at odds with feminism’s project of overcoming the sphere division.