Caste Women Research Articles

Ambedkar’s Views on Social Justice

Social justice is an application of distributive justice to wealth, assets, privileges and advantages within a society or a state. The essence of justice is the attainment of common good for all. Social justice involves the creation of a just and fair social order and provides justice for every member of the community. Social justice in India is the product of social injustice of the caste system. Such social inequalities pose a serious threat not only to society but also to Indian democracy. Under the traditional Hindu caste hierarchy, backward communities and women have suffered for centuries because they were denied equality, education and other opportunities for advancement. For B. R. Ambedkar, the concept of social justice stood for liberty, equality and fraternity for all human beings. He advocated a social system based on equalization in society among individuals in all spheres of life. Being trained as a social scientist, he acquired deep knowledge in every field of human activity to become a founder of his own independent ideology. He understood social, political, religious and economic problems as associated with caste and the position of women in Indian society. His ideology and beliefs are important for social progress and stability of the Indian society. In this research paper have discuss Ambedkar’s views on social justice.

UJJWALA YOJANA'S ROLE IN TRANSFORMING THE LIVES OF SCHEDULE CASTE WOMEN IN GUJARAT

The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) is a flagship initiative launched by the Government of India in May 2016, aimed at providing clean cooking fuel to economically disadvantaged households. The primary objective of the scheme is to reduce the health hazards associated with the use of traditional cooking fuels such as firewood, coal, and cow dung, which produce harmful smoke and pollutants. By promoting the use of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), Ujjwala Yojana seeks to improve indoor air quality and reduce respiratory and other health issues, particularly among women and children. This study examines the transformative role of the Ujjwala Yojana in improving the lives of Scheduled Caste (SC) women in Gujarat. By targeting 200 SC women, the research aims to analyze their perceptions of the scheme and investigate the relationship between their demographic profiles and their views on Ujjwala Yojana. Findings indicate that the majority of SC women believe the scheme has significantly enhanced their overall quality of life, improved family health, and saved considerable time previously spent on traditional fuel collection. Additionally, the study identifies a significant association between demographic factors such as age, monthly income, and family size, and the perceived benefits of the Ujjwala Yojana. These insights underscore the importance of considering demographic variables to maximize the scheme's impact and highlight the need for continued support and expansion of such initiatives to promote health, empowerment, and socio-economic development among marginalized communities.

ECONOMIC AND LIVING CONDITIONS OF THE SELECTED SCHEDULED CASTE SHG’s WOMEN BENEFICIARY HOUSEHOLDS IN KURNOOL DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

The economic empowerment of Women is very essential for the development of vulnerable section of the society particularly Scheduled Caste women. Present study analyzed the economic and living condition of SC women members of SHGs participated and expressed their views from three selected revenue divisions of the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. The study found that, majority of the around 90 percent of SC women occupation is agriculture in nature, while 30 percent of SC women are landless, and 55 percent are only marginal landholder. Similarly, majority of women are acquiring skills such as leadership skills, occupation skills and group management skills. The low income, poor health and inadequate marketing skills are major problems exposed by the SC women in the selection region. KEY WORDS: Economic Conditions, Living conditions, SC women, SHGs and Kurnool district.

Gendering Inter-caste Marriages: A Sociological and Anthropological Inquiry of Endogamy

In Indian society, caste and gender are not mutually exclusive constructs. They coexist and are inseparable. India’s meteoric rise to becoming a nation least safe for women as Thomas Reuters reported in 2018, has its origins not only in patriarchy but also in casteism. This is most clearly visible with reference to the phenomenon of inter-caste marriages in India and the resulting perpetuation of atrocities on the inter-caste couple, and women have been the worst sufferers of this, since it is women’s bodies that has, since time immemorial, been the site of violence and discrimination. This can be corroborated by the fact that while Hindu scriptures has institutionalized inter-caste marriages, to a limited extent, by allowing anuloma marriages, it, in no way, allows for a pratiloma union. The anuloma marriages permit an alliance between a lower caste woman and a higher caste man, while the pratiloma form of marriage is an alliance between a higher caste woman and a lower caste man. The former is referred to as hypergamy and the latter as hypogamy. Thus, while caste discrimination and violence against women as distinct forms of oppression has garnered much attention, little sociological and anthropological research in the area of inter-caste marriage and its implications on women within the framework of religio-cultural, anthropological and sociological discourse, has come to the surface. The article focuses on fundamental prerequisites for a wholehearted acceptance of intermarriage.

Preoccupation and Absence of Desire: Voyeurism and Caste in Samskara and Kusumabale

The paper explores the different forms of desires in the novels Samskara (1976) and Kusumabale (2015). In Samskara, there is a preoccupation with the theme of desire and the form and narration of the novel imbibes a voyeuristic male gaze. The valorisation of inter-caste relations is performed through this voyeuristic male gaze where desires of upper caste men are manifested through women, they either become the objects of desire or disgust. Their wives, the upper caste women, are portrayed as unattractive while the lower caste women are objects of the upper caste men’s erotic fascination. Through the feminist lens of Laura Mulvey’s theory of male gaze, I analyse how women lack any conscious agency in the novel as they are limited to their bodies, and caste determines the desirability or the lack of it. In comparison, the portrayal of inter-caste relations in Kusumabale does not involve any explicit articulation of desire and the narrative does not cater to any form of voyeuristic gaze. Instead, the novel portrays the deadly consequences of inter-caste relations which often leads to violence. The novel becomes the exact inverse to everything that Samskara tries to achieve be it through form, thematic style, or narration.

Schedule caste women empowerment through SHGs in Mirzapur district of the Uttar Pradesh

Schedule caste women empowerment through SHGs in Mirzapur district of the Uttar Pradesh

Images of India in the Lithuanian press of Catholic missions, 1927–1940

The article presents the perception of Indian culture and everyday life, formed by the interwar Lithuanian press of the Catholic missions, which received little attention in historiography. Based on the articles published in the Jesuit magazine “Misijos” and the Salesian magazine “Saleziečių žinios” in 3rd and 4th decades of the 20th century, three main images that represented India in Lithuania are examined: Indian spirituality and religiosity, social problems of society, primarily the caste system and women’s rights, and finally the ferocious nature of the land. The analysis of periodicals revealed that the creation of images of India was influenced by the Christian tradition, the European orientalist attitude and the comparison of East-West civilizations.

Problems in Starting Business in Mysore District: A Study on Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Women Entrepreneurs

Women entrepreneurs encounter numerous challenges throughout the entire process of establishing and managing their businesses, starting from the inception stage. Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe women entrepreneurs often face social and cultural barriers that can make it difficult to start and run a business. These barriers include prejudice, lack of support from family and community, and limited mobility. This study is an attempt to identify and analyse the problems faced by scheduled caste and scheduled tribe women entrepreneurs in the process of starting their business in Mysore district. This study is based on primary data from forty SC/ST women entrepreneurs based on convenience sampling method and their problems were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics method. It is concluded that the SC/ST women entrepreneurs are facing problems at a moderate level in starting their business in Mysore district.

A tale of the city of Kolkata through the eyes of the “common women"

This paper focuses on working-class women from the informal settlements of Kolkata, India and their precarious relationships with the city. Their existence at the margins of society (socially, spatially, historically, and sometimes even geographically) tends to make them invisible actors in the production of contemporary urban spaces of Kolkata. This paper examines the role of class, caste, and gender in informing the spatial practices of these minoritized women that occur in the city’s liminal landscapes. These practices are quite distinct from those of women from middle- and upper-classes in Kolkata. Terms like “public women” or “bad women” or chhotolok (a common Bengali term used for people from lower classes or castes) have been used to represent and mark these working-class, lower caste women as deviant bodies in terms of their class, caste, and even sexualities. These labels are important to understand how these women have been represented historically in the urban history of Kolkata. By analyzing secondary literature, archival texts, songs, films, poems, and photographs, the paper investigates the following interrelated questions. First, how has the spatial organization of urban Kolkata historically determined the ways in which these women have navigated, engaged with, and attempted to overcome a wide array of structural and systemic constraints? And second, how have these women produced and applied various forms of situated spatial knowledge in the city’s liminal landscapes? In terms of the paper’s structure, I start by analyzing the existing literature on gender and urban space in India. Thereafter, I lay a theoretical groundwork to elucidate the importance of adopting an intersectional lens to understand overlapping regimes of power that affect the life-worlds of minoritized bodies; in this case, the working-class lower caste women of Kolkata. Finally, I use a chronological approach to examine the changes in Kolkata’s urban fabric and its material culture that have significantly added to the precarities faced by these minoritized and marginalized women. In other words, I trace an alternate urban history of Kolkata through the eyes of these “common women.”

The Beneficial Influence of Micro Financing in boosting up the Women's Empowerment and Poverty Alleviation in India-- A Conceptual Study.

Women's empowerment is a serious concern in developing nations. Since the empowerment of women is a fundamental factor in attaining the objectives of development and alleviating poverty, numerous initiatives have been undertaken to address this issue.. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have emerged as key tools during the past few decades to combat poverty in general and women's empowerment in particular. As a result, a vast array of studies concentrate on the connections between MFI and women's empowerment. The research is scarce, though, when it comes to India's rural areas. In order to help MFIs and policymakers develop the connection between MFIs and women's entrepreneurship, the goal of this study is to analyse the role of MFI in women's empowerment in India. The empirical findings shed important light on the efforts made by RCDP to promote women's entrepreneurship as a means of empowering women and eradicating poverty. As a result, this article not only analyses the empowerment that women receive from microfinance, but also helps MFIs understand how important they are to the growth of the economy. The study is important for MFI practitioners as they create policies to encourage women's entrepreneurship and support their current female clients with effective training and supervision. This article outlines an NGO project that aims to provide microfinance to scheduled caste women employed in India's silk-reeling industry in order to empower them. It details the long-term effects of the project on their social and economic standing and emphasizes the drawbacks of excluding male relatives from any significant roles. It recommends modifications that may have been made to the initiative to make it more inclusive of males while still benefiting women. At the same time, it admits that the women's microbusinesses were unlikely to have been financially successful even if the men's opposition to the scheme had been overcome. This is because the project required the women to work together in a high-risk economic sector without a clear plan for how their work might be supported.

Bleeding at the Margins: Understanding Period Poverty among SC and ST Women Using Decomposition Analysis

Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) women in India have relatively lower usage of period products than women of the General category. This paper attempts to understand and uncover the social factors explaining inequalities in the period product usage among these groups. This paper uses data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), conducted in 2019–21, for this study, with a sample of 49,136 SC, 44,392 ST, and 41,045 General caste women in the age group of 15 to 24 years. Using the Fairlie decomposition method, we explain the inequalities in the period product usage between SC, ST, and general categories. Differences in wealth index (SC-Gen: 49.54%; ST-Gen: 46.6%), respondent’s education level (SC-Gen: 22.85%; ST-Gen: 17.3%), watching television (SC-Gen: 09.44%; ST-Gen: 10.1%), reading newspaper (SC-Gen: 08.71%; ST-Gen: 05.09%), and toilet facility (SC-Gen: 06.36%; ST-Gen: 03.05%) account for a large portion of the gap in the period product usage among these groups. Government, policymakers, and NGOs should focus on creating comprehensive menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) programmes, including educational programmes and mass media campaigns, while increasing focus on disadvantaged communities, viz. SCs and STs to make the necessary nudge for girls and women to adopt hygienic menstrual practices.

Psychosocial Perspective of Honour Killing

The Indian constitution forbids untouchability and caste or religious discrimination. Caste, on the other hand, is extremely important among Indians. India’s social system is ruled by the Hindu caste system. Even though we live in the twenty-first century, we continue to use the caste system. Each caste had its own set of rituals, customs and values. As a result of increased education, employment, urban growth, modernization and technological innovation, inter-caste marriages have gradually gained widespread acceptance in India. According to the 2011 census, 5.8% of the population throughout India, inter-caste marriages account for one-quarter of all marriages. For many years, however, Indians might have a conservative attitude towards inter-caste marriages. ‘Upper castes’ have viciously maintained the generational purity of blood by imposing endogamy and denying upper caste women the agency to marry outside their own castes. People are culturally conformist, so when their daughters or sons marry outside their culture, religion or language, it can lead to honour-related violence or honour killing. A total of 145 honour killing incidents occurred in India between 2017 and 2019 (Government tells in Lok Sabha in 2021). Furthermore, the majority of honour killings are misidentified as suicides.

Caste and Gender: A Question on Women’s Sexuality in a Brahmanical Patriarchal System

In this paper the primary focus is given on the question of women’s sexuality. Women as a gendered category are never free; while the sexuality of the upper caste women is controlled by their male counterparts in the name of maintaining caste purity, the lower caste women are exploited sexually by the man of the upper caste. It has always been an existence of dominance on women’s sexuality whether she is in a position of upper strata in the caste system or in a lower position of the same. In a patriarchal society the domination on women’s sexuality is legitimized by the notion of ‘purity and pollution’ which is regarded as a central feature of the caste system. This paper is dealing with the primary concern on women’s sexuality; how being a woman (despite of their caste position) face subordination, discrimination throughout her life in a patriarchal society.

Empowering women across gender and caste in a women’s dairy cooperative in India

Mulukanoor Women’s Dairy Cooperative (Mulukanoor Dairy) in India has been run by women for women since 2002. From the beginning it created strategies to empower women members, including mixing milk provided by the marginalized caste with milk from other castes; paying women exclusively for milk; providing technical training to women; and seating women together in training and governance events. Caste norms are not observed in these interactions. This article examines the effectiveness of Mulukanoor Dairy’s strategies for overcoming gender and caste disadvantage through empirical research. We hypothesized that if women members of Mulukanoor Dairy had become empowered over the past 20 years we should be able to see evidence for this in the form of women’s empowerment in relation to dairy decision-making at intra-household level. And if caste divisions had been largely overcome we should observe collegial relationships among women of different castes, and similar levels of women’s empowerment at intra-household level regardless of caste. Research was carried out in four villages provisioning Mulukanoor Dairy through focus group discussions with women members of Mulukanoor Dairy, and men spouses of different women members. In total 21 women and 23 men participated. FGDs were sex-and caste disaggregated. The introduction of a new sorghum forage, CoFS-29, provided the entry point to start talking about gender and caste norms. The findings show a remarkable transition of the dairy industry from elite non-marginalized caste men to marginalized and non-marginalized women. Caste norms have changed within the safe space of Mulukanoor Dairy and to a limited extent in the community. A new norm has been instituted that marginalized caste women are dairy farmers. Women across caste experience considerable decision-making power over milk and dairy income. However, men remain primary decision-makers over whether forage is grown. Men engage with key dairy chain actors. Knowledge on new technologies is passed only within castes, and mostly between persons of the same gender. Over the process of knowledge transmission, knowledge networks become increasingly masculinized. Knowledge networks are stronger among non-marginalized men who are best able to make use of new technologies.

Digital Activism and Dalit Women

This paper attempts to understand that in the world of technology and its development, people are updated with social media, and they can connect with people around the world, gain information and acquire knowledge across borders. Digital media can also be used to provide platforms to share their thoughts and problem which can reach millions of people at their fingertips. It has also given a great opportunity for the people who are always kept away from the mainstream media and restricted from all their social, political, and economic rights. Such communities are like Dalit or Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, due to the roots of casteism in India. After much of struggles, pains, and hardships they are living an independent life by representing themselves through their works. But still, in many corners of the country, people of these communities are still suffering from the issues, and the painful part of the situation is that they could not make it heard with the threats of the society which is still been dominated by upper caste elites. The main sufferer of these communities are the Dalit women, who are marginalized and subordinated with triple colonization; from upper caste men, Dalit men and women are oppressed in society, mainstream social media, and other aspects of living. As society is comprised of higher caste elites in different powerful positions and patriarchal norms that have completely ruined the lives of these community women. Digital media is providing a platform, that every citizen of this country is heard and can be equivalent to share their problems in front of the world and live a life with equal respect and dignity. Dalit women activists are using both feminist media theory and social movement theory for reaching the heights of development which was always denied to them. The main concern of the study is to focus on the conditions of Dalit women and how this Digital Dalit media activism is paving the path, providing opportunities to change their lives and make themselves heard in society.

Deconstructing the Identity of Dalit Women and Brahmanism in U.R.Ananthmurthy's Samskara

This article talks about the theme of Understanding the Identity and deconstructing it of the low-caste women characters and their portrayal that is significant in the framework developed by upper-caste men in the novel, which engages with the issues of caste and gender in terms of the conflict between tradition and modernity. The paper attempts to discuss how Brahmanic structures are constructive to the identities and sexualities of the lower caste woman, and also reveal how the female body is constructed by the Brahmin patriarchy, and how the low caste women as objects of sexuality are being approached by the upper caste men, by questioning their identity as Other, which society looks from polluted minds. It is a work that defines the cultural aspects of Brahmanism that is being polluted by violating its norms, and tradition in the shade of other caste cultural practices. The main focus of the work that is being highlighted is how the strong cultural roots that Brahmanism follow is affected by the low-caste women's existence. The development that it takes, makes us understand that Brahmin patriarchy ideologies are hindered by the practices that make their culture, and tradition pave the path toward modernity.

Association between socio-demographic factors and acceptance of family planning methods among scheduled caste women of Jorhat district, Assam

Background: In spite of the high knowledge, the rate of contraceptive methods use is not so satisfactory in India. The main objective of the health and family welfare programme is to reduce the knowledge, attitude and practice gap among the people of different societies, castes, religions and regions. The objective of the study is to find the association between socio-demographic factors and acceptance of family planning methods among the women belong to scheduled caste community which is one of the backward communities of India. Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted among scheduled caste community of Jorhat district, Assam. 612 married women of reproductive age group were selected using multistage sampling technique. Data were collected by personal interview using pretested, predesigned proforma. Chi-square test was used to see the association and all the analysis were done using SPSS- version 23. Results: 98.2% knew the family planning methods and 87.5% had positive attitude but only 65.3% practiced the methods. 58.3% women did not use the family planning methods because they want more children. The major source of information was mass media (76.8%) and majority of women (47.1%) used oral contraceptive pill (OCP) following by condom (21.6%). Most of the socio-demographic factors had significant association with the practice of family planning methods. Conclusions: There is a need to understand the various factors which influence the practice of family planning methods so that the it would help in designing effective family planning programme.

'Dalit Feminist Theory: A Reader'

This reader is a compilation of eighteen essays written by academics, feminists and scholar-activists from a Dalit Feminist Perspective. The editors Sunaina Arya and Aakash Singh Rathore, introduces the book by theorizing Dalit feminism underpinning its ontology and epistemology. Critiquing the academic discourse of feminism which predominantly questions gender inequality on a single axis as a fight against patriarchy, Arya and Rathore pose the important question, ‘Why Dalit Feminist Theory?’. Although the dialogue on Dalit Feminist standpoints started during the 1990s, the core of the book lies in attempting to legitimize Dalit Feminist Theory due to the ubiquity of caste question in Indian society, which cannot be overlooked in any circumstances. Thus, the book revisits the Indian Feminist discourse for feminists to critique the gatekeeping that ‘upper caste’ privileged feminists did to represent the issues of all women by homogenizing the category of a woman based on a few percentages of upper caste women leaving out Dalit, Bahujan, Adivasi and minority women who forms a much larger percentage in comparison. The book is an important read due to its critical engagement and initiation of a dialogue with Indian feminists to argue the need for Dalit Feminist Theory in reshaping Indian feminist discourse.

THE DISSOLUTION OF DESCENDED CASTE MARRIAGE AND ITS IMPLICATION ON BALINESE WOMEN: HUMAN RIGHT PERSPECTIVES

This paper analysis the dissolution of inter-caste marriages, nyerod ‘descended caste’ marriages, and their implications for Balinese women in the perspective of human rights. The focus of this research is the position of Balinese triwangsa caste women (those who are from Brahmana, Ksatriya, and Wesya) whose nyerod marriages are dissolved. The method used was the empirical legal research method using a statutory approach, a conceptual approach, an analytical approach, a sociological approach and a human rights approach. As an analytical tool for the legal issues studied, the theory of Human Rights (HAM) was applied because factually the Balinese customary law community is still attached to the recognition of caste even though there has been a Bali DPRD decision Number 11 of 1951 which negates the implementation Patiwangi ceremony, the ceremony of neutralizing one's caste position. The data used were obtained through direct observation and interviews with informants based on purposive sampling technique. The result of the analysis shows that the existence of caste in the Balinese customary law community is actually a burden for triwangsa women whose marriages are dissolved, because the Balinese triwangsa women who have chosen the nyerod marriages are considered out of their original caste, so they can no longer be recognized as part of the triwangsa clan, even though from a human rights perspective the Balinese customary law community highly respects human rights. However, in the event that the marriage was dissolved, socio-culturally it turned out that the elderly people from Puri or Griya, those who belong to triwangsa did not re-recognize the caste of Balinese women who were returning to their home family, even though they were their own biological children. The strong attitude of the elderly people of the Puri or Griya palaces in refusing nyerod marriages bring implication that the triwangsa women were afraid and ashamed to return to their original homes/family because they feel they are no longer part of the triwangsa clan.

Factors associated with the CVD risk factors and body fat pattern of postmenopausal Hindu caste and Lodha tribal populations living in India: An exploratory study

BackgroundLoss in ovarian function during mid-life results in adverse changes in the cardiovascular profile of women. The association between CVD risk factors and menopause differ cross-culturally since several modifiable factors play significant roles in explaining CVD mortality in addition to differences in endogenous estrogen. Very few of the studies from the Indian subcontinent have been concerned with the menopause-specific CVD risk factors, particularly among the tribal groups. Thus, we intended to study the variations in body fat pattern and CVD risk factors between Hindu caste and Lodha tribal postmenopausal women and how these risk factors were associated with differential socio-economic, reproductive and menstrual characteristics and lifestyle variables. The Lodha tribal populations is considered a Particularly Vulnerable Group (PVTG) in this country.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted among the Bengali Hindu caste and Lodha tribal populations of the State of West Bengal, India covering three districts namely Howrah, Jhargram and East Midnapure. A total of 197 postmenopausal participants were recruited for this study (urban caste 69, rural caste 65 and rural Lodha 63). Data on blood glucose and total cholesterol levels, blood pressure, muscle mass, body fat distribution and sociodemographic, reproductive and menstrual history and lifestyle variables were collected following standard protocols. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to compare blood glucose, total cholesterol and blood pressure levels and body fat measures across the three populations. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was performed to find out the factors associated with CVD risk factors. The data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Science version 20.0(IBM corporation, 2011).ResultsThis cross-sectional comparison of women at midlife, though exploratory in nature showed significant differences in body fat pattern and CVD risk factors between caste and tribal groups owing to socioeconomic disparities and, differences in reproductive characteristics and lifestyle factors.ConclusionThe caste and tribal populations differed significantly in body fat pattern and CVD risk factors and in the factors associated with CVD risk suggesting interplay between menopause and modifiable factors in explaining CVD risk factors during mid-life.