What in culture determines which genders are allowed to ask someone to marry them? (details inside)

When I asked my wife to marry me she said…

Didn’t we already agree on that? ...

Oh no… OK… Oh well… I discussed it with my mother.

She and I already decided we will get married.
so… ehmm yes.

Then she called her mother:

mum… we are getting married
yeah… I know… we already decided on that, didn’t we?
No, mum, I mean… really married… with a party!

I don’t personally know any women who’ve proposed, but I’ve seen several videos of women proposing (to both men and women) online. I say, why not?

Huh? Which culture?

It is still not the done thing in this culture.

I didn’t propose exactly but when we were dating he said somewhere in the conversation, “we’ll, I never want to get married again and you never want to get married again…..”
I stopped him in his tracks and said “Hold up there cowboy. I like being married. I think marriage is a GOOD thing and I WILL be married again to you or somebody else!”
He proposed within 6 months. That was 23 years ago.

I was the one who initiated the conversation about becoming engaged. From a commitment perspective, we have been as good as married since the first month. We were friends first and knew the bond and comparability was strong, and discussed what we wanted from a relationship before we even started it. Since I have a child from a previous marriage, he has deferred to me for setting the pace of the relationship; plus I am the more pragmatic and he’s the more romantic. Since we’re in our 40s, I felt odd referring to him as “my boyfriend” so I suggested that we get engaged. We put out feelers for the perfect ring and it was found about a month later, and we made our ‘announcement’ then.

Like @Judi, my husband was okay with waiting a while longer, but I didn’t feel comfortable living together outside the bond of marriage, he pretty much took it from there (After three years together total.)

India…contracts by the father who decides. caste system.
apparently the amount of security that person can supply to the girl (dowry) etc.