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  1. Introduction: Indian Feminism and Intersectionality

Introduction: Indian Feminism and Intersectionality

Unlike the western Feminist movement, Indian feminism was initiated by men (Chaudhuri 2005). Social reformers2 stood for abolishing Sati3 , Purdah4 , polygamy, the custom of child marriage, abolishing the disfiguring of widows5 , introducing the remarriage of uppercaste widows, promoting women’s education, and the like. On the other hand, cultural and religious diversity in India made Indian feminism problematic as issues of Indian women diverge with their religious, cultural, and social backgrounds. Subsequently, in recent years literature related to gender and Indian feminist discourse has encompassed multiple strands where we can hear several voices emerging on gender issues bringing significant insight into

2 Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Mahatma Gandhi, Dwarkanath Gangopadhyay, Dhondo Keshav Karve along with others.

3 Sati or suttee is a historical Hindu practice, in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband’s funeral pyre.

4 The practice in certain Muslim and Hindu societies of screening women from men or strangers, especially by means of a curtain.

5 Many Brahman families required their windows to keep the head shaved and to sleep on the ground. She would be pressed to wear white clothing; avoid all ‘hot’, sweet, and non-vegetarian foods; eat rice only once a day, and other such practices.

the problems of women. These multiple voices, we can argue, are closely linked to their unique lived experiences because of their diverse cultural and gender roles.

Following the maxim, “Personal is political,” varied groups of women began representing their experiences. Subsequently, it became the moral duty of Dalit women to voice their invisible lived experiences as they are not represented by mainstream feminists and also are not embodied in Dalit literature, which has been largely patriarchal and discusses the Dalit man as the central figure of suffering. Thus, Dalit women remain in the category of ‘the outsiders within” (Sharma 2021). They are increasingly representing their unique narratives introducing the concept of ‘Intersectionality’ in Indian feminism. Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989), ‘Intersectionality’ provides an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of Dalit women’s social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and disadvantage.

Historically Dalits are former ‘untouchables’ who were excluded from the four varnas6 of the society. The Varna system gave rise to the Caste System, which is socio-political stratification in Indian society. The caste system is a division of people into hereditary social groups. Thus civil, cultural, political, and economic rights of each caste are pre-set and ascribed by birth. The assignment of rights among castes is unequal. The caste of the people defines their occupation and social status7 . The communities left out of the caste system are called the Outcastes. They are the former ‘Untouchables,’ who were deprived of basic rights such as the right to property, education, and civil and cultural rights and were restricted to marginalized locations. For their survival, they performed menial and unclean services to the upper-caste people. P. Sivakami states, “Even amongst the lower castes, hierarchies existed–Pallars were agricultural laborers, Parayas were drummers and menials, and the Chakkiliyars were cobblers” (2006: 63).

In the official government language, Dalits are referred to as Scheduled Castes (SCs), who along with Scheduled Tribes (STs) have been recognized as ‘historically deprived’ segments of the society by the constitution of India. The Indian Constitution carries certain safeguards in Article 341 to ensure the fundamental rights8 for the Scheduled Caste as Indian citizens, and the Directive Principles9 of State Policy authorize the state to protect this marginalized group from any further bigotry in modern Indian society based on their caste identity (Sabharwal and Sonalkar, 2015). Thereafter anti-discriminatory measures have been enforced and laws have been passed to eliminate discriminatory practices against the Scheduled Castes such as the Protection of Civil Rights (PCR), and the Prevention of Atrocities Act (POA) which aim to prevent crimes and atrocities stemming from discrimination and hatred toward Dalits. The Indian government also gives special relief to the ‘weaker sections’ of the society thus, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), women, and children. Permanent

6 Varna system is socio-religious Hindu stratification of society. Varna (meaning order/color/class) segregates the society into four basic categories: Brahmins (priests, teachers, intellectuals); Kshatriyas (kings and warriors); Vaishyas (merchants and agriculturists); Shudras (laborers and artisans). Communities that belong to one of the four varnas are called savarna.

7 The Hindu social order consists of a four-fold Varna division in the society, ‘The highest is that of the Brahmans or priests, below them the Kshatriyas or warriors, then the Vaishyas, in modern usage mainly merchants, and finally the Shudras, the servants or have- nots

8 Fundamental rights are those rights that are essential for the intellectual, moral, and spiritual development of citizens of India. There are six fundamental rights recognized by the Indian constitution: Right to equality, Right to freedom, Right against exploitation, Right to freedom of religion, Cultural and educational rights, and Right to constitutional remedies.

9 Directive Principles of State Policy aim to create social and economic conditions under which the citizens can lead a good life. They also aim to establish social and economic democracy through a welfare state

national commissions have been set up to safeguard the rights of both SCs and STs as well as for women.

However, the writings of Dalit women reveal a distinctive reality underlining the range of women’s issues such as labor and livelihoods, food and nutrition, violence against women, rape, sexual exploitation, and the rest. American-born Indian feminist, Gail Omvedt reflected on Dalit (ex-untouchable) women and argued in 1979 that these women were thrice oppressed: by caste, class, and gender. Dalit women in India are at the crossroads of gender, class, and caste (Sabharwal and Sonalkar 2015), Dalit women talk differently (Guru, 1995) as the social location of women belonging to the Dalit community raises unique problems in life, which are socially generated than being personal. Radhika Govinda (2022) in her article “Interrogating Intersectionality” provides a sense of the ongoing discursive debates in the emergent ‘field’ of intersectionality studies and brings into the conversation some Indian feminists, reflecting on intersectionality, especially in relation to caste-class-gender, as a discursive move to challenge the default assumption that the Global South does not participate in theory-making.

This paper presents an insight into the violent world of Dalit women. The study of select texts10 explicates that though the practice of untouchability has been banned in independent India, many of the associated behaviors, norms, and values socially persist. Today also the majority of Dalits are located at the bottom of the social and economic hierarchy and suffer from an antisocial spirit and exploitation by dominant castes.

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