Lower Caste Women Research Articles

Rawls’ difference principle, self-help group, financial inclusion and social cohesion—lore or actuality? Experience of Central Assam

Microfinance is an alternative banking service available to low-income individuals or organizations for whom no institutional financial services are available. A widely accepted approach to assisting disadvantaged and excluded communities, especially in remote rural areas, is microcredit. The purpose of microfinance is to promote financial equality and inclusion by acting as a substitute for traditional lending methods for the marginalized. In India, Self-Help Groups (SHGs)—Bank Linkage Program that led microfinance—gained maximum popularity. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development architected this model. In this model, Grameen Banks are associated with SHGs. The model is familiar as the SHG-Bank Linkage Program (SBLP). A microfinance program’s theoretical foundation is the “Rawls’ Difference Principle” embedded in the “Theory of Justice.” The microcredit program, through the Self-Help Group-Bank Linkage Program (SBLP), gained maximum popularity in India. These SBLPs are registered with the “Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana—National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM)” under the scheme Aajeevika. In harmony with “Rawls’ Difference Principle,” the ultimate goal of Aajeevika is social cohesion for all. The current study aims to assess the effectiveness of the SBLP-driven microfinance program in promoting financial inclusion. Furthermore, unlike earlier studies, the present study also considers whether or not involvement in SBLP increases social cohesion, which is a crucial component of the Difference Principle. The empirical research is conducted using novel data collected through a field survey of 335 participants and 490 non-participants from Nagaon, Morigaon, and Hojai districts of Central Assam. The “Propensity Score Matching” method facilitates the impact analysis of SBLP. The participation decision in the SBLP is positively influenced by the level of education. Empirical results also indicate that Hindus and low-caste women are interested in participating in SBLP. Contrarily, distance from the bank and operational land holdings are negatively influencing the participation decision. The empirical findings support higher financial inclusion through SBLP involvement but do not support greater social cohesion. Based on the empirical results, we suggest that more SBLPs be enrolled with DAY-NRLP under “Aajeevika.” Simultaneously, social cohesion may be achieved only by guaranteeing participation for every deserving individual, irrespective of religion, caste, and class.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

Exploring the Potential of mHealth to Improve Maternal Health in Rural Bihar

In India women suffer from poor maternal health sometime leading to maternal death. The condition is severe in Empowered Action Group states like Bihar. Caste and gender-based biases are responsible for it. Health informatics tools like mHealth is essential for disseminating useful maternal health-related information among rural women since its affordable and portable. A household survey was conducted in Malpur village, Dalsinghsarai block, Samastipur district, Bihar. Purposive random sampling was conducted. Mixed method was used for data collection and analysis. Results show that rural women have severe dependence on their immediate family members for information related to maternal health. ASHAs/AWWs too fail to generate information to lower caste women. Thus, mHealth becomes instrumental in generating maternal health education. The study contends that mHealth is promising in propagating need-based information to women in their own language, thereby becoming a harbinger of health promotion.

Women's empowerment, extended families and male migration in Nepal: Insights from mixed methods analysis

•Combining qualitative and quantitative methods sheds new light on women's empowerment processes.•Upper caste Nepali women are disempowered by patriarchy; lower caste women by poverty and patriarchy.•Non-migrant husbands mediate the disempowering effects of living with in-laws.•Control over time, not just hours worked, is an important component of empowerment.

Lavani The Folk Dance Of Maharashtra: A Study In Aesthetic

Maharashtra is land of culture and history, its history reveals the great Maratha ruled this land and these great men had affinity with the arts and dance culture of Maharashtra. No other form of dance culture and literature remains limited to particular area or region. In the course of time art and culture becomes part of remaining part of world. Same is the case of Lavani it came from different part but becomes the popular and folk dance of Maharashtra. At the beginning it was performed by the lower caste women but time has changed its role it became very popular form of literature of social reforms. Beside sensuality, beauty and shringar it appealed the masses to change the attitude of caste and other issues. During the time of Peshwas Lavani came to the doorstep of palace and castle. Time has modified into two forms Fadachi and Baithkichi Lavani both are existed on today in the society and still enjoyed by the masses. The main purpose of this paper is to comment on the Lavani as folk dance of Maharashtra from the aesthetic point of view.

Reading Dalit Autobiographies in English: A Top Ten List

Dalit autobiography has joined protest poetry as a leading genre of Dalit Literature since the nineteen seventies. Finding their inspiration in the social and political activism of B. R. Ambedkar (1891-1956), leader of the India’s anti-caste movement and a founding father of the Republic, low caste men and women have documented their struggles and victories in the face of ongoing violence and deprivation. Surveying ten life narratives translated into English from Marathi, Hindi, and Kannada, the essay treats works by Ambedkar, Daya Pawar, Sharankumar Limbale, Baby Kamble, Laxman Gaikwad, Siddhalingaiah, Omprakash Valmiki, Urmila Pawar, Vasant Moon and Namdeo Nimgade. Tracing the origins of Dalit autobiography in the writings of Siddharth College and Milind College students in the 1950s, protest writers in the 1960s, and the Dalit Panthers and their followers in the 1970s, the survey identifies recurring themes of social exclusion, poverty, patriarchy, survival and assertion in the realms of politics, employment, education, and religion. These intimate testimonials share a radical vision of social transformation across caste, class, gender, linguistic and geographic boundaries and provide a needed corrective to mainstream portraits of modern Indian social history.

Lavani the Folk Dance of Maharashtra: A Study in Aesthetic

Maharashtra is land of culture and history, its history reveals the great Maratha ruled this land and these great men had affinity with the arts and dance culture of Maharashtra. No other form of dance culture and literature remains limited to particular area or region. In the course of time art and culture becomes part of remaining part of world. Same is the case of Lavani it came from different part but becomes the popular and folk dance of Maharashtra. At the beginning it was performed by the lower caste women but time has changed its role it became very popular form of literature of social reforms. Beside sensuality, beauty and shringar it appealed the masses to change the attitude of caste and other issues. During the time of Peshwas Lavani came to the doorstep of palace and castle. Time has modified into two forms Fadachi and Baithkichi Lavani both are existed on today in the society and still enjoyed by the masses. The main purpose of this paper is to comment on the Lavani as folk dance of Maharashtra from the aesthetic point of view.

Lavani the Folk Dance of Maharashtra: A Study in Aesthetic

Maharashtra is land of culture and history, its history reveals the great Maratha ruled this land and these great men had affinity with the arts and dance culture of Maharashtra. No other form of dance culture and literature remains limited to particular area or region. In the course of time art and culture becomes part of remaining part of world. Same is the case of Lavani it came from different part but becomes the popular and folk dance of Maharashtra. At the beginning it was performed by the lower caste women but time has changed its role it became very popular form of literature of social reforms. Beside sensuality, beauty and shringar it appealed the masses to change the attitude of caste and other issues. During the time of Peshwas Lavani came to the doorstep of palace and castle. Time has modified into two forms Fadachi and Baithkichi Lavani both are existed on today in the society and still enjoyed by the masses. The main purpose of this paper is to comment on the Lavani as folk dance of Maharashtra from the aesthetic point of view.

Exploring Gender and Caste Intersectionality among Muslims: A Sociological Study

Aim Caste studies conducted among Muslims in India generally focus on establishing the existence of caste system among Muslims but they seldom talk about different types of oppression and inequalities faced byMuslim women.This empirical study exploreshow gender and caste identities and their mutual intersectionality impact education,occupation and income choices and actual attainments of Muslim women. Methods This study is part of a larger study conducted among Muslims of Kashmir in India.Primary datawas collected from 704 eligible respondents (Male=392, Female=312) using mixed methods. Three layers of ‘caste like’ and ‘caste’ groups existing in the research area are identified and gender situation within these groups are comparatively examined. Results Each of the ‘caste like’ and ‘caste’ groupshas patriarchal caste capital.Higher professions within the government and private services are largely acquired by upper caste male Muslims or other male and female Muslims having rich cultural and social capital. There is preponderance of lower caste male Muslims in low income self-employment but lower caste Muslim females seldom find say in family based business and compelled to join low paid private jobs. More than fifty percent educated Muslim females are unemployed. Conclusion Although patriarchy is the general rule here, not all women face discrimination and inequality in the same way. Upper caste Muslim women often witness so called benevolent restriction of choices whereas lower caste women are the most excluded and marginalised section of the society who face double discrimination due to patriarchy and interwoven caste positions which severely impacts their educational as well as employment choices and attainments.

Social conflict on the front lines of reform: Institutional activism and girls' education in rural India

AbstractHow do states realize social reforms for marginalized groups in settings of entrenched inequality? This article argues that reform implementation is a conflict‐ridden process driven by the institutional activism of street‐level bureaucrats. Through an ethnographic case study of Mahila Samakhya, a novel government program for women's empowerment in Uttar Pradesh, India, I find that local fieldworkers committed to reform promoted girls' education by mobilizing marginalized citizens and mediating local conflicts. Organizational processes of gender‐based training and deliberation enabled fieldworkers to challenge village patriarchy and exclusion and forge programmatic ties with lower caste women. By altering rules to address the practical needs of households, fieldworkers effectively integrated disadvantaged girls into the education system. Institutional activism also engendered conflicts over rules within the bureaucracy, prompting senior officials to advocate for marginalized groups. The findings suggest that institutional commitment to activism is critical for agencies working on the front lines of reform.

Women, development, caste, and violence in rural Bihar, India

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the contradictions that exist between economic development and gender equity in India. It deploys concepts of cultural violence and symbolic hegemony to understand how gender and caste-based violence is normalized and institutionalized over time through cultural norms. It also uses an intersectional lens to examine the layers of marginalization and oppression. Based on field studies in rural Bihar, it shows that despite development gains, old forms of gender-based discrimination and violence such as son-preference, dowry, witch-hunting, and discriminatory practices associated with menstruation persist. It notes that there are new forms of violence used by the upper caste groups against the lower ones when the latter resist and refuse to continue performing traditional caste-based tasks. We argue that this refusal by lower caste women can be seen as symbolic resistance against historically defined norms of caste. The emerging patterns of violence discussed in the paper need a more concerted and nuanced exploration of reconfigurations of relations within and between caste groups, as well as the cultural and social contexts in which changes are taking place.

Mothers’ health knowledge for children with diarrhea: who you are or who you know?

This paper explores the relationship among Indian mothers’ health knowledge regarding proper treatment of diarrhea in children and caste, religion and other mediators, estimating causal impacts through a combination of instrumental variables and matching methods. The results indicate that both caste/religious affiliation and access to health networks (measured across three different dimensions) are important determinants of health knowledge. High caste and non-Muslim women are more likely to have correct health knowledge, but not when accounting for greater female education within these groups. Women with access to health networks are also more likely to have correct knowledge. Additionally, high caste women benefit more in terms of health knowledge from having health networks than women from other groups; except if the health worker is of the same caste/religion, in which case low caste and Muslim women sometimes benefit by twice as much or even more. If caste and religion-related differences in health knowledge are to be reduced it may not be enough to improve access to high quality health networks—such networks also have to be homophilous. Improved treatment from and confidence in the medical profession is found to be part of the mechanism linking health network access with improved health knowledge.

‘The Nirbhaya who lived’

This article examines representations of sexual violence in Femina, an Englishlanguage women’s lifestyle magazine aimed at middle-class Indian women. A story of rape, written from the perspective of the victim, a lower-caste Indian woman is analysed using feminist critical discourse analysis. The analytical interest here rests on tensions within the magazine, vis-à-vis Femina purportedly aims to empower all women, yet in its mediation of rape, this is achieved through a process of othering. The voices of the magazine’s text producers and the rape victim storyteller are compared to reveal conflicting differences and shifting ideologies in their framing of events. Through intertextual reference, the magazine distinguishes between endemic or ‘simple’ and ‘real’ rape cases in terms of caste-based inequalities claiming that endemic rape cases do not attract media attention because of the victim’s low social and economic status. This presents an issue since Femina appeals to high income, independent middle- class women to come to the rescue of lower-caste women, thus reinforcing a power dynamic between them.

\u201cOur fear is finished,\u201d but nothing changes: efforts of marginalized women to foment state accountability for maternal health care in a context of low state capacity

BackgroundWomen in India are often asked to make informal payments for maternal health care services that the government has mandated to be free. This paper is a descriptive case study of a social accountability project undertaken by SAHAYOG, a nongovernmental organization in Uttar Pradesh, India. SAHAYOG worked with community-based organizations and a grassroots forum comprised of low caste, Muslim, and tribal women to decrease the prevalence of health provider demands that women and their families make informal payments.MethodsThe study entailed document review; interviews and focus group discussions with program implementers, governmental stakeholders, and community activists; and participant observation in health facilities.ResultsThe study found that SAHAYOG adapted their strategy over time to engender greater empowerment and satisfaction among program participants, as well as greater impact on the health system. Participants gained knowledge resources and agency; they learned about their entitlements, had access to mechanisms for complaints, and, despite risk of retaliation, many felt capable of demanding their rights in a variety of fora. However, only program participants seemed successfully able to avoid making informal payments to the health sector; health providers still demanded that other women make payments. Several features of the micro and macro context shaped the trajectory of SAHAYOG’s efforts, including deeply rooted caste dynamics, low provider commitment to ending informal payments, the embeddedness of informal payments, human resources scarcity, and the overlapping private interests of pharmaceutical companies and providers.ConclusionThough changes were manifest in certain fora, providers have not necessarily embraced the notion of low caste, tribal, or Muslim women as citizens with entitlements, especially in the context of free government services for childbirth. Grassroots advocates, CBOs, and SAHAYOG assumed a supremely difficult task. Project strategy changes may have made the task somewhat less difficult, but given the population making the rights claims and the rights they were claiming, widespread changes in demands for informal payments may require a much larger and stronger coalition.

Factors Associated with Children Ever Born among Lower Caste Women in Some Selected Wards of Pokhara, Nepal

Fertility is the main components of population growth. Children ever born vary in different sub groups of the same population in terms of age at marriage, age of women, literacy, occupation, contraception user and mass media exposure. The objective of this study is to find out association between children ever born and selected socio-demographic characteristics in lower caste women. A descriptive study was conducted in some selected wards of Pokhara, Nepal during April 2018. Five wards were selected randomly out of 33 wards and 187 lower caste women were selected using convenience sampling technique. The data was collected by using semi-structured interview schedule. Chi-square test was applied to find out association between children ever born and selected socio-demographic characteristics.Higher children ever born were concentrated in the age at marriage from 21 to 25 as compared to other groups of age at marriage. Practice of contraceptive use is low among lower caste people although 66.31% lower caste women were exposed to mass media. The result shows that the factors age at marriage, contraceptive use and mass media exposure were highly associated with children ever born among lower caste women under study (P<0.05). Education on fertility is more powerful than urban residence. Concern authorities should play vital role to increase education level among lower caste people for increasing age at marriage, contraceptive use and practice of family planning to reduce children ever born.

Impact of MGNREGA on a Tightened Labour Market

The study discusses the impact of the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on an already tightened rural labour market through a field survey conducted in two villages of Rajasthan. The article argues that the impact of the programme in a constricted rural labour market has been marginal because of a low off-take of work because of already developed alternate livelihood strategies which reduced the incentive to work in this programme. Nevertheless, the scheme has been instrumental in two ways: first, it led to the withdrawal of lower caste women from agricultural work which signifies an escape from the exploitative production relations in the two villages under study; and second, it has resulted in the formation of an exclusive category of MGNREGA workers consisting of female workers from the middle castes who were previously were not participating in paid labour.

Caste and Cross-region Marriages in Haryana, India: Experience of Dalit cross-region brides in Jat households

AbstractThis article, based on original research in 75 villages in the North Indian state of Haryana, examines long-distance marriages of its dominant-peasant caste men with low-caste (Dalit) women from other parts of India. The male marriage squeeze caused by the female deficit in Haryana has led to this breach in the rules of caste endogamy in matrimony. These marriages and the gender status of such Dalit brides are situated within the context of polarized caste relations, caste contestations, and caste violence against local Dalits in Haryana. Long-distance alliances, through fabricated, high-caste identities of the brides, tactically circumvent prohibitions on local inter-caste marriages and provide legitimacy to continued, local, unequal hierarchies of caste relations. Intersecting oppressions of caste, gender, and patriarchy exacerbate gender subordination within both the home and community for Dalit cross-region brides. Caste-exclusionary behaviours and discriminations are strategically employed to assert caste supremacy and subdue women's resistance. The caste stigmatization of these brides carries over to their children who face inter-generational discrimination in daily interactions and marriage prospects because of their ‘diluted’ Jat identity and low-caste status. The article provides examples of Dalit brides’ agency through resistance strategies.