New Delhi, July 18 (IANS): A majority of men believe in treating women as equals, reveals a survey conducted by an online matchmaking survey.

The Shaadi.com survey received over 9,800 responses from a mix of single as well as married Indian men (4,265) and women (5,604) ranging from 24 to 38 years of age.

With the festival season in mind, the survey was conducted to understand what Indian men and women think about equal responsibility in a marriage.

When men were asked 'If they treat women as equals’, 86.3 percent said ‘Yes’, and when women were question ‘If they are treated as equals’, 64.3 percent said ‘Yes’.

Also, Women were asked ‘Do you think it is only a woman’s responsibility to cook for the family’. To that, 79.3 percent of them said ‘No’, followed by 13.6 percent who said ‘Maybe’ and 7.1 percent said ‘Yes’. When men were asked about the same, 44.6 percent of respondents said ‘No’, followed by 17.1 percent who said ‘Maybe’, while 38.3 percent of them said ‘Yes’.

On the other hand, when women were asked ‘Especially during festival, should men indulge in cooking and other household activities?’, 84.5 percent said ‘Yes’, 12.4 percent said ‘Maybe’ and 3.1 percent said ‘No’.

As far as men are concerned, 10.1 percent said ‘Yes’, 58.7 percent said ‘Maybe’ and 31.2 percent said ‘No’ to the same question.

Gourav Rakshit, CEO, Shaadi.com, said in a statement: “As leaders in the online matchmaking industry, we, at Shaadi.com believe that marriage is an equal platform and it is equality in marriage that leads to a happy marital life. It is very encouraging to see the positive shift in mindset of today’s youth.”