The feminism that developed in the 1970s gave rise to the concept of ‘Universal Sisterhood’. Thus statements such as ‘all women are niggers’ and ‘all women are dalits’ became common during this period. Since the white women’s experiences came to be universalised as the universal experience of womanhood, there was thus a masculinisation of dalithood and a savarnisation of womanhood, leading to a classical exclusion of dalit womanhood.
While organisations like Shramik Mukti Sanghatana, Satyashodhak Communist Party, Shramik Mukti Dal and Yuvak Kranti Dal accorded a central role to dalit women, the Dalit Panthers encapsulated dalit women in the roles of the ‘mother’ and ‘the victimized sexual being’. For the Left Party based women’s organisations, ‘caste’ was contained in class.
However, nobody addressed the issue of Brahmanism. In the Brahmanical social order, the higher caste status was equated with the increased domestification of women. Since due to religious and economic reasons, dalit women have to engage in religious prostitution and participate in the social labour, Brahmanism locates this as a failure of lower caste men to control the sexuality of their women and underlines it as a justification of their impurity.
In the 1990s, a number of Dalit Feminist Organisations came up. Ruth Manorama founded the National Federation of Dalit Women in 1993. Other organisations that were formed are All India Dalit Women’s Forum, Maharashtra Dalit Mahila Sanghatana in 1995, Bahujan Mahila Parishad, Vikas Vanchit Dalit Mahila Parishad in Chandrapur, 1996 and Christi Mahila Sangharsh Sanghatana in 1997. All these organisations addressed dalit feminism at the national and international levels. They differed in various points but were united in the support of the celebration of ‘Bharatiya Stree Mukti Divas’ and the reservation of seats for OBCs in the parliamentary bodies.
Gopal Guru in his essay ‘Dalit women talk differently’ states that the social location determines the perception of reality. Therefore the representation of dalit women’s issues by non-dalit women were considered to be less valid and less authentic. However, Sharmila Rege doesnot agree completely with him. According to her, Dalit Feminist Standpoint cannot flourish if it is isolated from the experiences and ideas of other groups.
Dalit women justified the case of talking differently on the basis that they suffered from dual forms of oppression of caste which is an external factor and sexuality which is an internal factor. Dalit women, however could challenge the state and state-mediated dalit patriarchy. They didnot approve of the ultimate subordination of the dalit voice to the dominant voice of the Shetkari Sanghatana in Maharashtra and the Rayat Sangha in Karnataka. Dalit men and women from Kannad Taluka of Aurangabad district uprooted saplings planted by the social forestry department because the dalits donot have equal access to common property resources of the village. The contradictions took a violent form as when the Shiv Sena women attacked dalit women in Sawali village of Chandrapur district in 1988. Dalit women of Bodh Gaya in Bihar opposed the state’s decision to hand over land in the names of dalit men since it would further marginalise them. They also fought against privatisation and globalisation. The anti-Hindutva campaign was organised by Women’s Voice of Bangalore, which is a major component of NFDW. Thus dalit women consider the feminist theory developed by non-dalit women as inauthentic since it doesnot capture their reality. This comprehension gets clearly reflected in the 12 point agenda adopted by the NFDW and in several papers presented by the dalit women at the Maharashtra Dalit Women’s Conference held in Pune in May 1995.
Gabriele Dietrich and Kancha Ilaiah observes that the patriarchy of the dalit castes differs from that of the upper castes and dalit women suffer ‘weaker forms’ of the patriarchy and thus dalit women live in a more egalitarian family structure. There is a scope for dalit women to fight back the oppression in the families. He observes the absence of padapuja, sati and existence of right to divorce in the dalit community which gives rise to ‘democratic patriarchy’. Dalit women are more likely to face the collective and public threat of rape, sexual assault and physical violence at the work place and in public.
But some of their theories could be contradicted on the basis of the inference drawn from the Dalit Feminist Autobiographies.
Baby Kondiba Kamble(1929); Our Lives(1986)
Although her grandfather was educated, there was a belief in superstitions and godmen in her community which is evident in the story of her own birth and her mother being possessed in the month of Aakhadh. Her father was a contractor and a reputed man in the society. Thus he had internalised the upper caste patriarchal norms which restricted the mobility of her mother. Kumkum was the only jewel of a married woman. Both boys and girls were given clothes made of stitched pieces upon the attainment of puberty, following which the eldest son of the family had to go for begging to earn their livelihood. The ideal age of marriage for both boys and girls were between 7 to 10 years. Dowry was given by the bridegroom’s father to the bride’s father to bear the expenses of the wedding. The Brahmans would accept only kachcha food in the weddings. Leftover bread and tea were the usual morning breakfast. When there was absolutely no food, mothers would ask the fathers to get atleast berries for their children. Beef eating was not their culture by choice but imposed upon them by the upper castes. The daughter-in-laws would be severely tortured by their mother-in-laws. After giving birth, the women even consumed raw grains to fulfil their hunger. Since infant mortality rates were so high, women gave birth until menopause.The mahars had to live in maharwada, bow to the upper caste and bear the news of the death and also collect firewood for the funeral.
Shantabai Krishnaji Kamble(1923); The Kaleidoscopic Story of My Life(1988)
Her mother taught her the importance of education to eradicate poverty early in childhood. She studied up to the 7th standard after which she couldn’t continue due to economic reasons. Patil Master helped her a lot in pursuing her studies. Here also we get a hint of belief in superstitions when she talks about her possessed mother during Taralki. Although she was married to Kamble Master, she returned back to her Mahmud village after her husband married a second time. Once, her mother-in-law even lodged a police complaint stating that she had stolen money and jewels and fled away. However, later on in life things improved for her. Women had once only groundnuts to satisfy their hunger. The bhakri was supposed to be prepared by the daughter-in-laws. She always faces the issue of untouchability even after she became a teacher and later an education officer, especially in the locaties where she resided. She states how her own marriage procession was not allowed to go up to the village temple.
Kumud Pawade(1938); Thoughtful outburst(1981)
Her grandmother taught religious texts in her childhood. She belonged to an affluent family. In her early life she was inspired by Savitri’s story and herself worshipped the peepal tree for almost fifteen years. Later she started decoding all the texts and got disillusioned by their caste based and gender hierarchy. Gokhale Guruji inspired her to take up Sanskrit for higher studies. She mentions about how class was inevitable even among the dalits in the Convention at Delhi. She also mentions Kaushyalaya’s story whose mother disapproved of her marriage alliance to a boy from the dhobi caste. This proves that there are differences within the mahar caste itself. She married Motiram Pawade who was a Kunbi Maratha. She faced untouchability both in the public and private spheres. In the public sphere, she was denied a job in spite of being the topper in her category. In the private sphere, she was not accepted by her in laws even after giving birth to a male child. Lastly, she points out to Valmiki’s Ramayana where a hunter was cursed because he killed a lovelorn pair of bird while on the other hand Rama’s hunt of the golden deer was potrayed as an act of bravery. This clearly hints to the caste differences.
Caste Based Atrocities-
- The Mathura Rape Case was an incident of custodial rape in India on 26 March,1972. Mathura, a young dalit girl was allegedly raped by two policemen on the compound of Desai Ganj Police Station in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. Following the protests by the general public, amendments in the Indian Rape Law were made via The Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act 1983.
- In the Anti-Mandal agitations in the 1990s, young women proudly asserted that if reservations would be given to the unmeritorious groups like OBCs now, they would be deprived of employed husbands. This statement proves that they still believe in caste endogamy, caste prejudice and would be economically dependent on their husbands.
- In the Chunduru incident in 1991, upper caste women claimed that they were sexually molested by dalit men which resulted in the atrocity of dalit men being brutally killed by upper caste men.
- In the Khairlanji incident in 2006, a dalit women along with her sons and daughters was sexually abused and killed by upper caste men and women of the village on the context of a sort of moral policing as she was having an illicit affair with her cousin.
CONCLUSION
Most of the Dalit Feminists were followers of the Ambedkarite movement. Ambedkar’s western education and deep understanding of the western philosophies helped him to evolve as a visionary who had developed clear ideas for the emancipation of dalit women. He found their emancipation in Buddhist values which promotes equality, self respect and education. Destruction of the varna system would be the first step towards abolishment of caste system. In January 1928, a woman’s association was founded in Bombay with Ramabai, Ambedkar’s wife, as it’s President. Along with the Depressed Classes Conference in Nagpur in 1930, women also had their separate conference. In the Kalram Temple Entry Satyagraha at Nashik in 1930, five hundred women participated and many of them were arrested along with men and ill treated in jails. To face tortures along with their men, women also organised their Samata Sainik Dal. When Ambedkar returned to India after attending the round table conference in 1932, hundreds of women were present for the committee meetings.
Quotes-
‘History of India is nothing but the battle between Buddhism and Brahmanism.’
‘I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.’