India – Dalit Women in India

Background Information on Dalit Women in India

The Dalits

In India and other countries in South Asia, people have been systematically
discriminated against on the basis of their work and descent for centuries. Over
200 million people are Dalits, also known as untouchables or outcasts. They
experience violence, discrimination, and social exclusion on a daily basis.
Economic growth in India has been strong over the past decade. However, the
caste disparities are increasing.

Dalit women

The situation of Dalit women in India needs special attention. They are one
of the largest socially segregated groups anywhere in the world, and make up 2%
of the world’s total population. Dalit women are discriminated against three
times over: they are poor, they are women, and they are Dalits. Dalit women
constitute half of the ca. 200 million Dalit population, and 16.3 of the total
Indian female population. The traditional taboos are the same for Dalit men and
Dalit women. However, Dalit women have to deal with them more often. Dalit women
are discriminated against not only by people of higher castes, but also within
their own communities. Men are dominant in Dalit communities. Dalit women also
have less power within the Dalit movement itself. Women are active in large
numbers in the movement but most leadership positions in the organisations,
local bodies and associations have until now been held by men.

Human rights of Dalit women

India is a democracy and is a Party to most of the major human rights
treaties. These treaties provide the same rights for men and for women. Because
India is also a Party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Government has an extra obligation to
make sure that women can realise their rights. It is generally accepted in
international law that governments have to do more than just pass legislation to
protect human rights. The Government of India has an obligation to take all
measures, including policy and budgetary measures, to make sure that women can
fulfil their rights. It also has an obligation to punish those who engage in
caste-based violence and discrimination. The government of India, as a modern
country with a growing economy, has the means to fulfil its obligations.

Civil and political rights

India is a Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Based on this treaty, the Government of India has an obligation to make sure
that Dalit women can enjoy a whole range of human rights, such as the right to
life, freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment, freedom from slavery, the right to be equal before the court, the
right to recognition as a person before the law, the right to privacy, the right
to marry only with free and full consent, and the right to take part in public
affairs. The life and dignity of Dalit women depends on the realisation of these
human rights. However, they are breached systematically.

An essential precondition for the realisation of civil and political rights
of Dalit women is registration. Article 24 (2) of the Covenant provides that
every child shall be registered immediately after birth. In India, 46 % of all
children are not registered. There is also no system of registration of
marriages. This is not only a barrier for the realisation of civil and political
rights; it also prevents the protection of Dalit girls from sexual exploitation
and trafficking, child labour and forced and early marriages.

Economic, social, and cultural rights

India is also a Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This treaty not only identifies a range of economic,
social and cultural rights, but it also requires that all people have these
rights, without discrimination. The treaty also discusses the ways in which
states must work to realise the rights. The rights outlined in the ICESCR
include the right to work and to just and favourable conditions of work, and to
form trade unions, the right to social security, protection of the family, the
right to an adequate standard of living, including food, housing and clothing,
and the right to health. Dalit women hardly enjoy any of these human rights.

Millennium Development Goals and Dalit women

In 2000, 189 countries accepted the Millennium Declaration and agreed to take
the necessary action in order to attain eight specific goals: the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). The realisation of human rights of Dalit women will
have a major positive effect on the realisation of the MDGs. Dalit women are
extremely poor, and make up 2% of the world’s population. In India, 60 million
children do not attend primary school; the majority of these children are Dalit
girls. India’s child mortality rate is one of the highest in the world and with
its vast population and a rate of 540 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births,
India accounts for more than 20 % of all global maternal deaths. A greater
availability and accessibility of healthcare for women, including Dalit women,
is needed.

Violence against Dalit women – impunity

Certain kinds of violence are traditionally reserved for Dalit women: extreme
filthy verbal abuse and sexual epithets, naked parading, dismemberment, being
forced to drink urine and eat faeces, branding, pulling out of teeth, tongue and
nails, and violence including murder after proclaiming witchcraft, are only
experienced by Dalit women. Dalit women are threatened by rape as part of
collective violence by the higher castes. However, sexual assault and rape of
Dalit women and girls also occur within their own communities. For Dalit men,
the suppression and rape of women could be a way to compensate for their own
lack of power in society. The Devadasi system of temple prostitution is the most
extreme form of exploitation of Dalit women. Dalit girl children are forced to
prostitution. The majority of cases of violence against Dalit women are not
registered. The lack of law enforcement leaves many Dalit women unable to
approach the legal system to seek redress. Women are often also unaware of the
laws and their ignorance is exploited by their opponents, by the police, and by
the judiciary system. Even when cases are registered, the lack of appropriate
investigation, or the judge’s own caste and gender biases, can lead to
acquittal.

Action by Dalit women

Dalit women have been active throughout history, though often this has not
been recorded. They were actively involved in the anti-caste and
anti-untouchability movements in the 1920s. Today they are the strongholds of
the Dalit movements in thousands of Indian villages. They continue to play a
critical role in the movements for land rights. They are making their mark as
independent thinkers and writers in the literary world and visionary leaders in
the Panchayati Raj institutions. However, they are unable to put an end to the
structural discrimination and exclusion. Violence and impunity are used to keep
them in their place.

Getting organised as Dalit women

Since the late 1980s, therefore, Dalit women have increasingly felt and
articulated the need for a separate platform – created, developed and controlled
by themselves – through which they could forge their own identity, fight for
their rights and find solutions to their particular problems as Dalits and as
women. Conscious that the call for a separate platform could be interpreted as a
divisive move by both Dalit men and non-Dalit women, the proponents of such a
special forum emphasise that their initiative must not be mistaken for a
separatist movement. Rather they assert that there is need for strong alliances
between the Dalit movement, the women’s movement and the Dalit women’s movement
if their common vision of social, economic and political equality and justice
for all is to be realised.

The National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW) was launched by Dalit women
themselves and committed itself to undertake several tasks to bring about
positive changes in the lives of Dalit women, such as legal action against caste
based atrocities, political empowerment of Dalit women, economic empowerment
against growing pauperisation, building self-confidence and leadership.

[ Ruth
Manorama Biography
]