I wonder if it's a seasonal thing? While India/Middle East flight do tend to be a bit different, I haven't noticed the huge gender disparity in my limited experience - it's been mostly families traveling with a LOTS of luggage. I can assure a previous poster that FAs still struggle to keep passengers seated during landings on some domestic flights though, at least as of a few years ago.

It could be worse. I flew JFK-LHR on Air India and my friend's seat bottom was wet (with who knows what) and covered in plastic for the duration of the flight. Another friend of mine woke up in his window seat on a Continental EWR-BOM flight and confused by his damp feeling feet discovered that the passenger in front of him had vomited against the wall, which had run down into his shoes. He arrived in BOM with one pair fewer socks that he started with.