Typically the one who is the breadwinner is also the one to make the rules in the family. If there is only one breadwinner in the family people do defer to him or her, though not completely. But usually in our culture people also defer to the elders, so if a guy/girl earns for a large family, and their retired parents are still alive, usually the parents have a lot of input in the running of the family even if they don't earn. So its not exactly true that girls who earn rule over their parents. As to why boys are expected to be earning and girls are not, its the old-fashioned idea that girls are paraya dhan, will get married and leave, while the boy will stay forever. Hence the expectation that the boy would take care of the family while the girl would take care of her in-laws family. In todays world these ideas are changing, especially families with the single girl child, many girls also take care of their maika with their jobs now, and they do it as their duty just like a son would, not expecting gratitude.👏
In the serial regarding Indira ruling the house, well you can see how much respect she gets there, her mother reminds her that its not her own house, everyone insults her all the time. If she had been a normal girl in a normal family, the dynamics would have been different. First, in a normal family Munna should have also earned, not because he is the son, but because he is older. Secondly, if there were no elder brother in the picture and she were the only earner, probably even then more respect would have been given to the mother as the elder of the family, and she would have made the rules. Here Indira's brother is a good-for-nothing gambler and thief. Her mum has voluntarily relinquished her responsibilities to the family in order to dream about her husband, her bhabi is a fool, and her younger sister is a flake. If Indira didn't take charge this family would be destroyed. Indira's family is not normal, hence she HAS to rule the house with an iron fist, its not something she enjoys.
Edited by atria - 13 years ago