Gendering Caste

UNIT 1 GENDERING CASTE

Bibhulakshmi P.
Structure

1.1 Introduction
1.2 Objectives
1.3 Understanding the Intersections of Gender and Caste
1.4 Thoughts of Key Thinkers in Shaping the Discourse on Caste and Gender
in India
1.4.1 Mahatma Phule and Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar
1.4.2 Periyar’s Thoughts on Gender Equality
1.4.3 Pandita Ramabai, Tarabai Shinde and Savitribai Phule

1.5 Gendering Caste in Contemporary India

1.6 Let Us Sum Up
1.7 Unit End Questions
1.8 References
1.9 Suggested Readings

1.1 INTRODUCTION
The caste system in India has been one of the most significant factors of
social stratifications. Many aspects of the human condition are deeply
affected by the stratified patterns of caste system. Along with gender
stratifications that defines many social relations, caste system is deeply
rooted in many aspects of human life. It defines the socio-cultural norms
of different communities and often women bear the multiple burden of
oppression based on caste, class and work hierarchies. Caste hierarchies
prescribe different roles and assign different duties, especially for women.
It is understood by now that caste and gender hierarchy cannot be analysed
as independent entities; rather the complex interplay between these
hierarchical systems of power need to be analysed intersectionally. This
unit tries to give an understanding of the intersections of gender and caste
from both historical and contemporary perspectives.

1.2 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:

• Understand the intersections of gender and caste;

• Engage with key debates and concepts in articulating the gender and
caste question; and

• Analyse how caste ideologies shape the lives of men and women in India.

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1.3 UNDERSTANDING THE INTERSECTIONS OF
GENDER AND CASTE
Caste, class and gender are inextricably linked, they interact with and
shape each other. The structure of marriage, sexuality and reproduction is
the fundamental basis of the caste system. It is also fundamental to the
way inequality is sustained. The structure of marraige reproduces both.
Louis Dumont (1972) defines caste system as a system of consensual values;
a set of values accepted by both dominant and dominated. Historian Uma
Chakravarti argues that this definition is popular because it is convenient
for the upper castes as it erases their own location within the hierarchical
structure (Chakravarti, 2003). Ambedkar’s formulation of caste system is a
system of ‘graded inequality’ in which castes are arranged according to an
ascending scale of reverence and descending scale of contempt. This
definition by Ambedkar provide an analysis of the power hierarchies vested
on the ideology of caste system. This definition as ‘graded inequality’ also
helps to understand how caste ideologies provide a base for the cultural
oppressions in the lives of men and women, especially Dalit women. Caste
in that sense is very far from a mere economic exploitation. Gail Omvedt
talks about caste as a material reality with a material base (Chakraborty,
2003, p.12). Inequality based on assumed ritual purity and economic
inequality both exist together to perpetuate the caste system. To understand
the relationship between caste and class, it is important to recognize the
two hierarchies which are operative in Indian context, one based upon the
ritual purity with the Brahmana on top and the other based upon the
political and economic status with the landlord at the top.

Sharmila Rege (2013) cites three instances to explain the distinct relationship
between caste and gender. These instances are disparate in time and space
but bring out the complex connection between caste and gender. The first
is the ‘Brahman Parishad’ in 1950 which spelt out the code of conduct for
upper caste women. The second instance is the dialogue between dalit and
non-dalit feminist activists in the context of the Khairlanji massacre. The
third instance in which caste and gender appear in opposition refers to
media and civil society responses to the politics of rape and compensation
of Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh. We will try to understand further the
complex relationship between caste and gender relationship in India in the
sections that follow.

Let us now look at the key concepts and debates with regard to the
interconnections between gender and caste.

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Endogamy as Caste Violence Gendering Caste

There are two significant features to understand the intersection between

gender and caste. One of the intersections is brahminical patriarchy which
you are going to read in the next unit on Dalit Feminism of this block. Let
us now look at another intersection of gender and caste, i.e., endogamy.
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within the same caste, one of the
significant ways in which caste hierarchies are maintained and practiced.
Enforcing cultural codes through the strict practice of endogamy led to
much gendered violence in India. Analyzing the widespread phenomenon of
gendered violence, Prem Chowdhry (1997) notes that inter-caste and
intermarriages which violate cultural norms and customary practices of the
society invariably lead to direct violence upon the couples and the community
who infringe those norms or prescriptions. Ambedkar’s discussion of endogamy
also defines an important shift in social relations. It effectively superimposed
the existing practices of exogamy which was the elemental law of primitive
societies. It was an issue of parity between marriageable units, men and
women, or how to maintain it. By thus framing caste and suplus woman,
Ambedkar was laying the base for what was, properly speaking, a feminist
take on caste (Rege, 2013, p. 61).

The ideology of honour i.e. Izzat is a gendered notion which often complicates
the ideology of caste. Men and women embody the notion of honour in
different ways. The inextricable link between caste endogamy and violence
can be seen in various deliberations of Khap panchayats perpetuating violence
against young couples who transgress the strict boundaries of caste system.
Death of a young Dalit man ‘Ilavarasan’ in Tamil Nadu in the year 2013 also
points towards the way in which ideology of honour and strict endogamy
becomes the strong link between many caste based violence in India.

As Chakravarti (1993) points out women are considered as the gateway of

caste system. Being a repository of caste honour she is subjected to
patriarchal protection and violence at the same time. Violence against
women is justified by this very nature of community honour. Chowdhary
(2007) notes that violence against women in the public is always committed
in response to the cultural expressions of the larger community.

Box 1.1: Khap Panchayats

The Khap Panchayats- an extra- judicial body- target couples who

transgress the boundaries of traditional norms of marriage, by daring
to marry outside the caste. The Khap panchayat seems to deal with
violation of cultural norms strictly, handing out punishment such as
expulsion from the caste, honour killing. Women usually bear the
brunt of the violence. Chowdhry analyses this aggression as crisis of

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masculinity in the era of globalization. Through this public show of
masculine collectivity, aggression and solidarity- dominated and dictated
by a core group of elderly men- these Khap panchayats legitimize and
sustain masculine hierarchy. In the era of globalization these
masculinities go though complexities and this collective aggression
becomes a tool to get legitimacy to masculine power which is already
under crisis (Chowdhry, 2005).

Check Your Progress:

What is endogamy? Explain with an example from contemporary India.

1.4 THOUGHTS OF KEY THINKERS IN SHAPING THE

DISCOURSE ON CASTE AND GENDER IN INDIA
Now we will understand the intersection between gender and caste from
a theoretical perspective. You have already read about some of the
theoretical discourses on caste in the course MWG 002: Gender and Power.

1.4.1 Mahatma Phule and Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule, also known as Mahatma Jyotiba Phule was an
activist, thinker, social reformer and revolutionary from Maharashtra in the
nineteenth century. He had a remarkable influence in the field of education,
especially education of women and lower castes. He educated his wife and
opened the first school for girls in India. Jyotirao, along with his followers,
formed the Satya Shodhak Samaj (Society of Seekers of Truth). The main
objective of the organization was to liberate the Shudras and Ati- Shudras
and to prevent their ‘exploitation’ by the Brahmins. For his fight to attain
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equal rights for peasants and the lower caste and his contribution to the Gendering Caste

field of education he is regarded as one of the most important figure in

Social Reform Movement in Maharashtra.

Ambedkar’s early writing on ‘Brahminical’ or ‘graded patriarchy’ has helped

the later writers to develop an understanding of the formation of gender
and caste in India. Rege (2013) notes, “Ambedkar fashioned a notion of
modern that combined new western ideas and emancipatory materialist
traditions like Buddhism from Indian society. He did so by underlining the
historical character of caste-based exploitation, rejecting the varna order,
and advocating the annihilation of caste as the only path to egalitarian
society” (Rege, 2013, p. 26). The formation of anti-caste modernity, as an
emancipatory tool to women in Ambedkarite movement was written about
writers like Urmila Pawar and Meenakshi Moon in their documentation of
women’s participation in Ambedkarite movement.

1.4.2 Periyar’s Thoughts on Gender Equality

Periyar E.V. Ramaswami spearheaded the self-respect movement in South
India. It was considered as one of the important non-brahmin movements
in India. Periyar’s ideology developed to analyse inequality, oppression and
subordination. Self-respect movement gave attention to the practices of
discrimination, humiliation and negation suffered by lower castes account
of their ‘lowly’ birth, and came to articulate a philosophy and practice of
rights which would help them combat inequality and humiliation. Self respect
movement emerged in the wake of nationalist movement and countered
Brahmin ideology of nationalism in various ways. Periyar’s radical ideas of
gender and sexuality were revolutionary. Periyar argued against male sexual
ethics and had a radical vision of marriage and family (Rajdurai and Geeta,
1998).

1.4.3 Pandita Ramabai, Tarabai Shinde and Savitri Phule

Women like Pandita Ramabai and Tarabai Shinde effectively articulated
the question of Brahmanical patriarchy. Tarabai Shinde, an influential name
among the social reformers worked closely with Jyotiba Phule. She was a
member of the Satyashodak Samaj (Truth Finding Community). Shinde wrote
‘Stree Purush Tulana’ (a comparison between men and women) in response
to the unfair treatment of women in the nineteenth century. Written in
Marathi, this was one of the early texts which brought out the double
standards of separate conduct for men and women in society. In 1881, an
incident of female infanticide was reported in Gujarat, where Vijayalakshmi,
a widow, had killed her child due to societal pressure. The district court
at Surat sentenced her to be hanged while the high court converted the
sentence to transportation for life. The Bombay government, as an act of
clemency, reduced the sentence to five years imprisonment. In the debate

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Caste that followed, almost all men were concerned about female immorality and
treated women’s conduct as the central and crucial barometer of the moral
health of the society.

These writings provoked Tarabai to make a frontal attack on the patriarchal

stereotypes about women in her book Stri Purush Tulana in 1882. Since no
man came forward to protect women from this kind of defamation or to
fight the cause of widows by attacking the prohibition on their remarriage,
she felt compelled to assume the role of protector herself. Tarabai criticized
the one-sided, partisan code of conduct of pativratya by questioning ‘if the
husband is really to be like a god to his wife, then shouldn’t he behave like
one’? She criticized the Dharmashastra’s view that the ‘woman is only the
axe that cuts down trees of virtue’, by listing the crimes committed by
men, from taking bribes to murder, and raised the question as to how many
prisons were filled with women.

Pandita Ramabai was prominent among the nineteenth century social and
religious reformers and used education as a major tool to reform Indian
women. She led a very unconventional life and refused to adhere to the
dominant patterns of society and converted to Christianity. She provided a
new meaning to the women’s question in India, especially in the nineteenth
century India. Like many 19th century reformers, Ramabai believed in
education as an emancipatory tool for women.

Pandita Ramabai entered the public arena in 1882. She established the Arya
Mahila Samaj and advised women to be self-reliant. She denounced the
Dharmashastras for their partisan and opportunistic prescriptions against
women, which were based on negative images of women as being full of
malice, misadventure and guile. In her book Stri Dharma Niti, she argued
that the denial of the right to education was at the root of the anaemic
health of Indian women and the consequent degradation of childcare and
children’s health. She gave lectures at various places on issues of social
reform. Men could attend her lectures only if accompanied by women of
their families. The nationalists violently opposed her activities. Rabindranath
Tagore attending one such lecture wrote that ‘men turned rowdy as soon
as she got up to speak and that she had to sit down without finishing her
speech.

Pandita Ramabai’s activities were not limited to the mere intellectual

criticism of patriarchy. She called for a meeting of the Arya Mahila Samaj
on 18 July 1884, which was attended by one hundred women. The meeting
decided to start a high school for girls and drafted a memorandum requesting
the government to give liberal grant-in-aid for it. The next day Ranade and
Bhandarkar addressed a massive public meeting, which passed a resolution
to support the memorandum drafted by Ramabai’s meeting. In addition to
the establishment of a girls’ high school, Ranade’s meeting also proposed
to start a female teachers’ training college at Poona.
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Savitribai Phule was another social reformer who along with her husband Gendering Caste

Mahatma Phule played a crucial role in improving women’s right in India

during the British Raj. Savitribai was the first female teacher of the first
women’s school in India. She is also considered as the pioneer of modern
Marathi poetry. Under the influence of Jyotiba Phule, Savitribai had taken
women’s education and their liberation from the cultural patterns of the
male-dominated society as mission of her life. She worked towards tackling
some of the major social problems including women’s liberation, widow
remarriages, removal of untouchability and the caste system

1.5 GENDERING CASTE IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA

Ambedkar as the main architect of the Constitution of India, sought to
build provisions to include caste questions. Untouchability was abolished, so
was the practice of discrimination in any form from public spaces. But in
practice untouchability and caste discrimination continue to persist in public
and private spheres of everyday life.

Changes in the socio-political structure following independence,

transformation in the land holding pattern through land reform and the
emergence of new class structure have shifted the caste-gender dynamics
of post independent India. New caste equations have been witnessed during
this period. Under Nehruvian vision of modernity, India was busy with the
nation making project. The caste and gender question become submerged
under the project of nation making and modernity.

Post independent India has also witnessed the emergence of caste

organizations, new forms of assertions (e.g. Dalit Panther Movement) and
the emergence of feminist collectives (autonomous women’s movement).
The intersections of gender and caste which Periyar and Ambedkar had
addressed in their work did not get adequate attention during this period
of new forms of gender and caste assertions. Dalit women’s engagement
with feminism in the 1990’s and academic engagement with feminist scholars
like Uma Chakravarty and Sharmila Rege brought these intersections of
gender and caste back into the discourse. Post Mandal debate became
another crucial marker where the discourse of gender and caste got analysed
and articulated. Emergence of caste based parties was another significant
shift in the debate of caste and gender.

The articulations of gender and caste in contemporary in India are both

complex and often contradictory. We have witnessed women’s compliance
to Brahminical social order by subjecting themselves to the control of
brahmanical patriarchy. The anti-Mandal slogans of women students are not
independent incidents of women’s compliance to patriarchal-brahminical
order. To quote Chakravarti (2003), If we look at women today their lives
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Caste are located at the intersection of class, caste and patriarchy/ies. These
structures can wor all work to oppress them, as in the case of dalit women,
but most other women are located in a way that they can be both
subordinated and also wield a degree of power. This is so especially if
women belong to an upper caste and have access, through their menfolk,
to economic resources and social power (p. 144). It has much wider reference
to the relationship between caste and patriarchy, as well as women’s material
location in a complex structure which expects compliance from women and
also grants them some degree of power.

This complex relationship of gender and caste where upper caste women’s
compliance with patriarchal order is evident in the Tsunduru killing of 22
dalits where women from socially dominent communities participated in
the act of violence. The complicity of upper caste and upper class women
in violence perpetuated by their menfolk against lower caste is disguised
by their own class/caste interest but also deeply internalized by codes of
‘honour’ and ‘Izzat’. Within the dominant upper caste ideology ‘Izzat’ is a
feudal patriarchal concept closely linked to women’ sexuality and ownership
of patriarchy. It has been invoked in various instances to controls women’s
sexuality in various contexts. As women are considered as the gateways of
caste systems and upholding the family honour, any transgression from the
patriarchal boundaries results in by violent backlashes and increased violence
against women. The ‘compliance of women’ is a significant dimension of
understanding gendering caste. The compliance of women reflects aspect
of upholding/enforcing the cultural codes which are invisible structures of
our society. Women are responsible for upholding the culture or tradition
by conforming to the structures; on the other men uphold tradition by
enforcing codes or structures on the women.

Uma Chakravarti (2003) argues that the manifestations of upholding/

enforcing cultural codes is visible in arenas of marriage and reproduction.
For instance, if you look at the Matrimonial Columns, we can analyse how
the institution of marriage is still governed by caste. If you recall the units
on ‘Reproductive Technology’ and ‘Surrogacy’ in MWG 004, you will be able
to analyse the inter-linkages between caste and reproduction and can see
how caste and race are governing the sphere of reproduction even with the
help of reproductive technologies. Another area is food which plays an
important role in maintaining caste purity and boundaries. Leela Dube, a
feminist anthropologist argued that women are the key actors in maintaining
caste boundaries through preparation of food and upholding its purity.
“Women, key players in the process of socialisation……………………………the
task of safeguarding food, averting danger and in a broad sense, attending
to the grammatical rules which govern the relational idiom of food falls
upon women. The concerns of purity and pollution centering on food begin
at home” (c.f. Chakravarti, 2003, p. 147). Women those who conform to
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the rules pertain to food preparation and maintaining food purity is respected Gendering Caste

and by doing so they perpetuate/reinforce caste restrictions at home.

Marriage, reproduction, and food are different internal structures of the
household under which the caste system gets reproduced. Apart from internal
organisation of the household, the intersection of caste and gender has
reference to the public domain as well.

The complex relationship between gender and caste in contemporary India

helps us to question the myth of patriarchy as a monolithic concept and
also challenges the category ‘women’ as a monolithic entity. As we have
seen in the above examples upper caste women’s compliance in maintaining
Brahmanical social order informs us of the necessity to address the question
of ‘difference’ articulated by many third world feminists and Dalit feminists.
The second wave feminist slogan of ‘sisterhood is universal’ is dismantled
by the articulations of ‘difference’ by many Dalit feminists. Dalit feminists’
critique of mainstream feminist appropriations of women’s issues also
contributed to this articulation of difference. These debates are important
milestones in the articulations of the complex relationship between gender
and caste in contemporary India. The emergence of women’s organizations
in the 1980s and their reconstitution of feminist politics in India also paved
the way for re-articulation gender and caste questions in contemporary
India. As Ambedkar (1990) has commented “the real remedy for breaking
caste is inter-marriage Nothing else will serve as the solvent for caste” (c.f.
Chakravarti, 2003, pp. 145-146). Thus, the problem of the bounded nature
of the circulation of women is explicitly tied to the formation of caste
(Chakravarti 2003). Caste exists at a fundamental level as a system of
hierarchy along with other hierarchical systems such as patriarchy and
often, one is indistinguishable from the other.

Check Your Progress:

How is gender-based violence perpetuated through the institution of

caste? Give one example drawing from contemporary India.

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1.6 LET US SUM UP
This unit tries to give an overview of gender and caste and their intersections
in India. It focuses on of Brahmanical partriarchy and endogamy, two
important systems which perpetuate caste and gendered violence even in
contemporary India. Factors such as unequal control over property, unequal
performance of labour and the endogamous marriage system etc. still keep
the caste system alive and its worst manifestations are seen in the
contemporary context. This unit has used different examples and case
studies from India to explain the intimate connection between gender and
caste. It is emphasized that both gender and caste reproduce each other
as social institutions.

1.7 UNIT END QUESTIONS

1) Explain briefly the relationship between gender and caste with some
specific examples from contemporary India.

2) Women are considered as gateways of caste system. Explain

3) What is Brahmanical patriarchy? Discuss with the help of example.

4) What is endogamy? How does it perpetuate caste system?

5) Explain the role of Dr. Ambedkar, Periyar, Jyotiba Phule, Savitri Phule,
Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai in articulating gender in caste
question.

1.8 REFERENCES
Chakravarti, Uma. (1993). ‘Conceptualizing brahmanical patriarchy in early
India: Gender, caste, class and state’. Economic and Political Weekly. 28(14).

Chakravarti, Uma. (2003). Gendering Caste through Feminist Lens. Stree:

Calcutta

Chowdhri, Prem. (2005). ‘Crisis of masculinity in Haryana: The unmarried,

the unemployed and the aged’. Economic and Political Weekly. 40 (49).

Chowdhry, Prem. (1997). ‘Enforcing cultural codes: Gender and violence in

north india’. Economic and Political Weekly. 32(19).

Dumant. L. (1972). Home Hierarchicus. London: The University of Chicago

Press.

Omvedt. G. (1996). Dalit Visions: The Anti-caste Movement and the

Construction of Indian Identity. New Delhi: Orient Longman.

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Rajdurai, and Geeta V. (1998). Towards a Non-Brahmnin Millenium: From Gendering Caste

Iyothee Thass to Periyar.

Rao, Anupama. (2003). Gender and Caste. New Delhi: Kali for Women.

Sharmila, Rege. (2013). Against the Madness of Manu: B.R Ambedkar’s

writing on Brahmanical Patriarchy. New Delhi: Navyana.

1.9 SUGGESTED READINGS

Chakravarti, Uma. (1993). Conceptualizing brahmanical patriarchy in early
India: Gender, caste, class and state’. Economic and Political Weekly. 28
(14).

Chakravarti, Uma. (2003). Gendering Caste through Feminist Lens. Calcutta:

Stree.

Chowdhry, Prem. (1997). ‘Enforcing cultural codes: Gender and violence in

north india’. Economic and Political Weekly. 32 (19).

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