astha bhatt

Marriage and motherhood in Indian society delineates what womanhood should ideally be. Women lacking such relationships beyond a certain age are therefore left out in a marginalized and stigmatized state and are perceived differently from those who are married. This qualitative study rooted in grounded theory methodology attempts to explore and understand two aspects: How women perceive their singlehood and how they experience and cope with society’s perception of their single identity. Using theory of social constructionism and singlism as theoretical framework, this thesis aims at explaining how a parallel status of single women is constructed socially in relation to ideal types and how it makes women experience stigmas and differential treatment from society which is distinct from their self-perception of singlehood. This study categorizes single women into four categories: widowed, divorced, never married and ‘abandoned’/separated women. Nine single women between the age group of 35-60 years were interviewed individually. From the data gathered it could be inferred that women have a very positive perception of their singlehood but despite of their social and financial independence and success they are still viewed as failure by society and treated as a deviant identity for which they have developed ways to cope with.