Gender, Religion and Caste

1. Overview — diversity and democracy

The existence of social diversity does not by itself threaten democracy. In fact, the political expression of social differences is possible and sometimes quite desirable in a democratic system. This chapter applies that idea to India by looking at three kinds of social differences that can take the form of social divisions and inequalities: gender, religion and caste.

For each, we ask the same two questions:

• What is the nature of this division in India, and how does it get expressed in politics?
• Is that expression healthy or harmful for democracy?

The verdict differs: gender expression is largely positive, religion-based (communal) expression is largely negative, and caste has both positive and negative aspects.

2. Gender division — what it is

Gender division is a form of hierarchical social division seen everywhere, but rarely recognised in the study of politics. The gender division tends to be understood as natural and unchangeable. In fact it is not based on biology but on social expectations and stereotypes about what men and women should do.

The root is the sexual division of labour — a system in which all work inside the home is either done by the women of the family, or organised by them through domestic helpers. Boys and girls are brought up to believe that the main responsibility of women is housework and bringing up children, while men do the work outside the home. It is not that men cannot cook or clean — they simply think it is "for women". (Notice: when these same jobs are paid, men readily take them — most cooks and tailors in hotels are men.)

The result: although women are half of humanity, their role in public life — especially politics — is minimal in most societies.

3. Public / private division & the feminist response

Earlier, only men were allowed to participate in public affairs, vote and contest for public office. Gradually the gender issue was raised in politics. Women in different countries organised and agitated for equal rights, including the extension of voting rights to women. These agitations demanded enhancing the political and legal status of women and improving their educational and career opportunities.

More radical women's movements aimed at equality in personal and family life as well. These movements are called feminist movements.

This political mobilisation improved women's role in public life. We now find women working as scientists, doctors, engineers, lawyers, managers and university teachers — jobs earlier "not considered suitable" for them. In some Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland) the participation of women in public life is very high.

4. India — a patriarchal society

In our country, women still lag much behind men. Ours is still a male-dominated, patriarchal society.

Women face disadvantage, discrimination and oppression in many ways — these are favourite "list" answers in the exam:

• Literacy: the literacy rate among women is only about 54% vs 76% among men; fewer girls go for higher studies.
• Education spending: girls perform as well as (or better than) boys in school, but drop out because parents prefer to spend on their sons' education.
• Pay: the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 says equal wages should be paid for equal work; yet in almost every field women are paid less than men for the same work.
• Sex-selective abortion: a preference for sons leads parents to have the girl child aborted before birth, pushing the child sex ratio down to about 919 (girls per 1000 boys) — below 850 or even 800 in some States.
• Violence: harassment, exploitation and domestic violence against women, even within their own homes; urban areas have become particularly unsafe.

5. Women's political representation

Issues of women's well-being are not given adequate attention. Many feminists conclude that unless women control power, their problems will not get attention — and one way to ensure this is to have more women as elected representatives.

• In the Lok Sabha, women's share touched 14.36% for the first time in 2019; in State Assemblies it is less than 5%. India is among the bottom group of nations on this count — behind several developing countries of Africa and Latin America.
• In governments, cabinets are largely all-male, even when a woman is Chief Minister or Prime Minister.
• Panchayati Raj solution: India has made it legally binding to reserve one-third of seats in local government bodies (panchayats and municipalities) for women. As a result there are now more than 10 lakh elected women in rural and urban local bodies.
• Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women's Reservation Act), 2023 provides 33% reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies and the Delhi Assembly.

6. Religion, communalism and politics — the line between right and wrong

Religious diversity is fairly widespread. Unlike gender differences, religious differences are often expressed in the field of politics. Some such expressions are not wrong:

• Gandhiji said religion can never be separated from politics — meaning not Hinduism or Islam, but the moral values that inform all religions; politics should be guided by ethics drawn from religion.
• Human rights groups have demanded that the government take steps to prevent communal riots and protect religious minorities.
• The women's movement argues that family laws of all religions discriminate against women, and asks the government to make them more equitable.

These acts are not wrong as long as they treat every religion equally. Ideals and values drawn from religion can — and perhaps should — play a role in politics. The problem begins only when religion is seen as the basis of the nation.

7. Communalism — meaning and forms

Communalism is based on the idea that religion is the principal basis of social community — that followers of one religion form one community, share the same fundamental interests, and that people of different religions cannot belong to the same social community (in the extreme, cannot live as equal citizens in one nation). This belief is fundamentally flawed: everyone has several other roles and identities, and there are many voices within every community.

Forms communalism takes in politics (a frequent 3-mark question):

• Communal in everyday beliefs: religious prejudices, stereotypes of other communities, and belief in the superiority of one's own religion. This is so common we often fail to notice it.
• Quest for political dominance: a communal mind seeks dominance for its own religion — majoritarian dominance for the majority community, or a separate political unit for a minority community.
• Political mobilisation on religious lines: using sacred symbols, religious leaders, emotional appeal and plain fear to bring followers of one religion together; in elections, a special appeal to the interests or emotions of one religion's voters.
• Communal violence: the ugliest form — riots and massacre. India and Pakistan suffered some of the worst communal riots at the time of Partition, and large-scale communal violence has occurred since Independence too.

8. Secularism and the secular state

Communalism was, and continues to be, one of the major challenges to democracy in India. The makers of our Constitution chose the model of a secular state. This is reflected in several constitutional provisions (a key 2-mark / 3-mark answer):

Understood this way, secularism is not merely the ideology of some parties or persons — it is one of the foundations of our country. A secular Constitution is necessary but not sufficient to combat communalism: communal prejudice must also be countered in everyday life, and religion-based mobilisation must be countered in the arena of politics.

9. Caste and politics — caste inequalities

Caste division is special to India. All societies have inequality and a division of labour; the caste system is an extreme form in which hereditary occupational division was sanctioned by rituals. Members of a caste were expected to form a community, follow the same occupation, marry within the caste, and not eat with other castes. The system rested on exclusion of and discrimination against "outcaste" groups subjected to the inhuman practice of untouchability.

Reformers and leaders like Jotiba Phule, Gandhiji, B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswami Naicker worked to build a society without caste inequalities. Partly due to their efforts and partly due to socio-economic change — urbanisation, spread of literacy and education, occupational mobility, and the weakening of landlords — the old notions of caste hierarchy are breaking down.

Yet caste has not disappeared: most people still marry within their caste, untouchability has not fully ended, and centuries of advantage/disadvantage are still felt. Caste continues to be closely linked to economic status — the average economic status still follows the old hierarchy, with Dalits and Adivasis worst off and upper castes best off.

10. Caste in politics

Casteism is rooted in the belief that caste is the sole basis of social community — that one's own caste-fellows are "natural" allies with the same interests. Like communalism, this belief is not borne out by experience: caste is one aspect of life, not the only or the most important one.

How caste enters politics:

• While choosing candidates, parties keep in mind the caste composition of the electorate to muster support.
• Parties and candidates make appeals to caste sentiment; some are seen as favouring particular castes.
• Universal adult franchise and one-person-one-vote compelled leaders to mobilise castes, which brought new consciousness among castes earlier treated as low.

But caste alone cannot determine elections (a classic 2-mark answer — give any two):

• No constituency has a clear majority of one single caste, so every candidate must win the confidence of more than one caste.
• No party wins the votes of all people of one caste — a "vote bank" only means a large proportion vote for that party.
• The ruling party and sitting MPs/MLAs often lose elections — impossible if castes were "frozen" in preference.
• Voters weigh other factors too: government performance, leaders' popularity, and economic interests (rich and poor of the same caste often vote differently).

11. Politics in caste — the two-way relation

It is not only that caste shapes politics; politics also shapes caste. "It is not politics that gets caste-ridden, it is caste that gets politicised." This takes several forms:

• Each caste group tries to become bigger by including neighbouring castes/sub-castes earlier excluded from it.
• Caste groups enter into coalitions, dialogue and negotiation with other castes and communities.
• New kinds of caste groups appear in politics — like "backward" and "forward" caste groups.

12. NCERT Exercises — fully answered

Q1. Different aspects in which women are discriminated or disadvantaged in India. Lower literacy (54% vs 76%) and fewer girls in higher studies; parents spend more on boys' education so girls drop out; unequal pay despite the Equal Remuneration Act 1976; sex-selective abortion lowering the child sex ratio (~919); harassment and domestic violence; very low political representation; and the burden of unpaid, invisible household work.

Q2. Different forms of communal politics, with one example each. (i) Everyday beliefs — religious prejudices and belief in one's own religion's superiority. (ii) Quest for dominance — majoritarian dominance, e.g. demands to make the nation reflect one religion. (iii) Political mobilisation on religious lines — using sacred symbols and emotional/fear appeals in elections. (iv) Communal violence — riots and massacre, e.g. the violence at the time of Partition.

Q3. How caste inequalities are still continuing in India. Most people still marry within their caste; untouchability has not fully ended; effects of past advantages/disadvantages persist; the caste once denied education still lags in modern education; economic status (NSSO data) still follows the old hierarchy with Dalits and Adivasis worst off; upper castes are over-represented among the rich and urban middle class.

Q4. Two reasons that caste alone cannot determine election results in India. (i) No constituency has a majority of a single caste, so a candidate must win several castes' confidence. (ii) No party gets all votes of one caste; ruling parties and sitting members often lose — and voters also weigh performance, leaders and economic interest.

Q5. Status of women's representation in India's legislative bodies. Very low — about 14.36% in the Lok Sabha (2019) and under 5% in State Assemblies; India is among the bottom group of nations. However, one-third of seats in local bodies are reserved for women (over 10 lakh elected women), and the 2023 Women's Reservation Act provides 33% reservation in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies.

Q6. Two constitutional provisions that make India a secular state. (i) There is no official State religion. (ii) The Constitution gives freedom to profess, practise and propagate any religion, or none, and prohibits discrimination on religious grounds. (The State may also intervene to ensure equality, e.g. banning untouchability.)

Q7. When we speak of gender divisions, we usually refer to: (b) Unequal roles assigned by society to men and women.

Q8. In India, seats are reserved for women in: (d) Panchayati Raj bodies.

Q9. Communal politics is based on the belief that: statements A (one religion is superior) and C (followers of a religion form one community) are correct ⇒ (c) A and C.

Q10. The wrong statement about India's Constitution is: (b) gives official status to one religion — false, India has no official religion.

Q11. Social divisions based on caste are peculiar to India.

Q12. Match the lists. 1 (believes in equal rights for women and men) → B Feminist; 2 (religion as principal basis of community) → A Communalist; 3 (caste as principal basis of community) → D Castiest; 4 (does not discriminate on the basis of religious belief) → C Secularist. So 1-B, 2-A, 3-D, 4-C ⇒ option (a) B, A, D, C.

13. Common confusions cleared

• Gender vs sex: sex is biological; gender division is social — based on stereotypes, hence changeable.
• Feminist means a believer in equality (man or woman) — not "against men".
• Religion in politics vs communalism: drawing moral values from religion or protecting minorities is fine; using religion for political dominance is communalism.
• Secular ≠ anti-religion. A secular state has no official religion and treats all faiths equally; it can still intervene to ensure equality (e.g. ban untouchability).
• Caste matters in politics, but caste does not decide elections; "vote bank" never means 100% of a caste.
• Sexual division of labour = work split inside vs outside the home; do not confuse with the Equal Remuneration Act (about equal pay).

14. Quick revision checklist

• Three divisions: gender (positive), religion/communalism (negative), caste (both).
• Gender: sexual division of labour → public/private split → feminist movements → reservation (1/3 local bodies; 33% Act 2023).
• Key gender data: literacy 54% vs 76%; child sex ratio ~919; Lok Sabha women ~14.36% (2019).
• Communalism = religion as basis of nation; four forms; cured by a secular state (4 provisions).
• Caste: special to India, ritual-sanctioned, untouchability; weakening but still linked to economy.
• Caste in politics two-way; caste alone never decides elections (four reasons).