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Aathi Thamilar Peravai women's empowerment conference in Salem, Tamil Nadu, 2009.
Aathi Thamilar Peravai women's empowerment conference in Salem, Tamil Nadu, 2009.

Dalit feminism is a feminist perspective that includes questioning caste and gender roles among the Dalit population and within feminism and the larger women's movement. Dalit women primarily live in South Asia, mainly in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Dalit women face different challenges than women in oppressor castes in these countries. They are more likely to be poor, uneducated and socially marginalized. Dalit feminists advocate and have advocated for equal rights for Dalit women based on gender, caste and other issues. They have addressed conferences, created organizations and helped elect other Dalit women into political office.

Background

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Dalit women are part of a marginalized group of people who make up part of what are officially known as Scheduled Castes in India, though there are also Dalit women in Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka.[1][2] In Nepal, Dalit women are 13.2% of the population.[3] Most of the Dalit women in Pakistan live in the Punjab region, according to a 1998 census.[4] Overall, Dalit women make up the "largest socially segregated" group of people in the world at 2% of the world's population.[5] Dalit women also tend to live in poverty, and many are illiterate.[6][7] Dalit women face oppression not only from men belonging to oppressor castes, but also from other Dalit men.[8] In addition, there is a hierarchy among Dalit groups, with some Dalits being higher up on the social scale than others.[9]

Dalit women face violence at higher rates, including types of violence that are specifically done to Dalit women.[5] Certain types of forced prostitution such as the devadasi or jogini system are reserved specifically for Dalit women.[10] In addition, Dalit victims of violence and their families often do not know their rights or are not informed of their rights.[11] The police may show up when a Dalit women reports a violent attack, but they may not investigate or take action to hold the perpetrator responsible.[12] Sexual violence against Dalit women is considered "a regular and routine phenomenon of oppression," according to Kiran Kumar Boddu and Siva Nagaiah Bolleddu, writing in the English Studies International Research Journal.[13] Dalit sexuality has long been "constructed as deviant" by higher castes due to Dalit women's lower caste status.[14] Their bodies were considered "sexually available" by British colonists.[15] In Nepal, a study conducted in 2013 found that 50.6% of Dalit women faced daily forms of violence, including physical and sexual abuse.[16] In addition, many Nepali Dalit women must adhere to the practice of Chhaupadi.[17] In Pakistan, Dalit women face kidnappings and forced conversion to Islam.[18]

Historically, the Dalit rights movement has focused more heavily on Dalit men and Dalit women's issues have often been ignored by mainstream Indian feminism.[8][1] The larger Indian women's movement, largely run by middle and upper-class women, has been criticized by Dalit women for ignoring issues that they uniquely faced.[19] Feminist academics in India have also ignored the caste issues that Dalit women faced.[citation needed] As expressed by Swaroopa Rani, Indian feminists saw all women as being the same, and therefore having the same problems.[20] Dalit feminists challenge this idea.[20] Dalit feminism claims that 'caste' and 'gender', instead of being seen as two mutually exclusive categories, should be envisioned as intersectional.[21]

History

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India

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Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar with Women delegates of the Scheduled Caste Federation during the Conference of the Federation on July 8, 1942, at Nagpur.

In the 1920s, Dalit women were active in anti-caste and anti-untouchability movements.[5] Dalit women were involved in the Non-Brahman movement in the 1930s.[22] These early organizations helped pass resolutions against issues such as child marriage, dowries and enforced widowhood.[23]

In 1942, 25,000 Dalit women attended the All India Depressed Classes Women Conference in Nagpur.[24] President of the conference, Sulochanabai Dongre, advocated for birth control.[25] During the conference, resolutions were passed which advocated for a women's right to divorce, denounced polygamy, improved labor conditions, improved women's involvement in politics and better education for women in lower classes.[25]

Dalit women were also involved in social movements of the 1970s and early 80s.[23] In the 1970s, autobiographies of Dalit women's lives and experiences began to be published.[24] Many of these women were inspired by Babasaheb Ambedkar.[24] Mainstream feminist thought in India during the 1980s and 1990s began to recognize issues surrounding caste.[26] This was a marked change from the various feminist movements in the 70s and 80s which did not address caste issues.[19]

The first national meeting of Dalit women took place in Bangalore in 1987.[27] In the 1990s, several organizations created by Dalit women were formed, such as the National Federation of Dalit Women and the All India Dalit Women's Forum along with several state-level groups.[28] Dalit women were careful to express that these kinds of organizations for Dalit women were not meant to be divisive or separatist, and that there existed a need for continued alliances with Dalit men and non-Dalit women.[5] However, Dalit women also felt that they needed to speak for themselves.[29]

Dalit women sent delegates to the 1993 World Conference against Racism and the 1995 World Conference on Women.[30] Leading up to the World Conference on Women in Beijing, Dalit women had held a national conference in Delhi.[31] For the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, Dalit women advocated that discrimination based on caste be added to language against racism.[32] Adding this type of language would put global pressure on the Indian government.[32] However, in coalition with the United States, the clause to prevent discrimination against Dalit women was dropped in 2001.[33] Despite the clause being dropped, international coverage meant that discrimination based on caste was finally globally recognized.[33]

In 2002, Khabar Lahariya (News Waves), the first newspaper written by and for Dalit women was created.[34] Khabar Lahariya focuses on issues in the Dalit community in their own languages.[34] The newspaper won a UNESCO literacy prize in 2009.[34]

Dalit women participated in critiques of New Economic Policy (NEP) at the 2003 Asian Social Forum and the 2004 World Social Forum (WSF).[35] In 2007, a panel made up of women from Africa and South Asia called "Combatting Caste and Descent and Descent Based Discrimination in Africa and Asia" was discussed at the WSF.[36]

In March 2006, the first National Conference on Violence Against Dalit Women took place in New Delhi.[37] This conference passed the "Delhi Declaration," which laid out how Dalit women faced "disparities in the prevalence of violence, poverty, and sickness" and described the way that dominant castes were responsible for these disparities.[38] In November 2006, there was an International Conference on the Human Rights of Dalit Women held at the Hague.[37] The Hague conference not only addressed violence against Dalit women, but also discussed their own identities and created a sense of group solidarity.[37] Dalit women recognized that they had an identity "forged in 'multiple struggles.'"[37] The Hague conference not only called for the creation of laws to protect human rights for Dalit women, but also that these laws be duly enforced or implemented.[39] Also in 2006, the idea of "Dalit womanism" was created.[8]

Nepal

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Dalit women in Nepal face many of the same issues as Dalit women in India.[7] Throughout post-1990 Nepal, the woman's movement was affected by turbulent politics.[40] A Nepali feminist, Durga Sob, created the Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO) in 1994.[7] By 2010, FEDO had around 40,000 members and worked to send Dalit children to school and provide training and classes for adults.[7] Women's political parties, while marginalized, have helped push women's rights issues in Nepal.[41] However, these parties are dominated by higher-caste women.[42] Lower-caste women have criticized the party's efforts and pointed out that not all Nepali women face the same problems.[42] FEDO has been involved in helping Dalit women in Nepal become more involved in politics.[43] In 2014, a conference organized by FEDO and held in Kathmandu drew hundreds of Dalit women and included speakers from the United Nations, such as Ziad Sheikh, the Resident Coordinator on Dalit Rights.[44]

Pakistan

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Dalit women in Pakistan are less subject to caste issues, but because most are part of a minority religion in the country, they are persecuted because of their religious backgrounds.[45] However, this doesn't mean there isn't still caste-based discrimination.[46] The first Dalit woman senator in Pakistan, Krishna Kumari Kohli, was elected in 2018.[47]

Today

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In the present day, activists such as Ruth Manorama work on legal and political actions to empower Dalit women.[48] Manorama has spoken out about how laws that are meant to protect women in Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are poorly implemented.[48] Often complaints and reports filed by Dalit women are ignored.[49] In addition, Asha Kowtal of the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) says that India is "stonewalling any discussion on caste."[50] AIDMAM, in conjunction with the Krantijyoti Savitribai Phule Women's Studies Center (KSPWSC), held a 2017 conference called "Dalit Women Speak Out" which attracted around 450 delegates and participants.[51] AIDMAM presented testimonies of gender and caste-based violence at the 38th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2018.[52] The report, called Voices Against Caste Impunity: Narratives of Dalit Women in India and presented to the United Nations (UN), was the first report on caste-based violence against women to be given to the UN.[53]

Literature

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Dalit women's writing brings issues of caste identity to feminist literature.[54] Similarly, valid depictions of Dalit women's experiences have been overlooked in the writing of Dalit men.[citation needed] Translations of Dalit literature into English has largely been done by individuals outside of the Dalit experience, and author and translator, Meena Kandasamy, has identified this as a problem, since important nuances in language are often overlooked.[55] Kandasamy has also discussed how, since many of these works deal with politics, they are not seen as true literature.[56]

Prominent women writers of Dalit literature in the Telugu language include Challapalli Swaroopa Rani, Joopaka Subhadra, Jajula Gowri, Swathy Margaret and Gogu Shyamala.[57] These writers have primarily used poetry, short stories, essays and more to challenge the intersectional forms of oppression they faced.[58] Dalit women's literature reveal that systems of caste and gender are connected and particular disadvantages for Dalit women result in experiences of oppression that are distinct from that of upper caste women and Dalit men.[59] Dalit women's autobiographies, such as Baby Kamble's The Prisons We Broke (2008)[60] and P. Sivakami's The Grip of Change[61] can be viewed as protest narratives against the exploitation of Dalit women by upper caste people, as well as the internal gender hierarchies within Dalit families.[59] By establishing Dalit women's identity as that which is affected by mutual and intersecting structures of caste and gender, Dalit women's autobiographies reinforce the Dalit feminism as an intersectional category.

See also

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References

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Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Dalit feminism

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Dalit feminism is a theoretical and activist framework in that addresses the intersectional oppression faced by women, who endure discrimination arising from their low status compounded by gender-based subjugation within both upper- dominated society and patriarchal elements in communities. It critiques mainstream Indian feminism for its frequent oversight of hierarchies, which renders upper- women's experiences as normative, and seeks to foreground women's agency through literature, scholarship, and mobilization against systemic violence and exclusion. Emerging prominently in the late , Dalit feminism draws intellectual roots from anti-caste reformers like and Jotirao Phule, who highlighted the dual burdens of caste and gender, though it formalized as a distinct discourse in the 1990s amid growing women's writings and critiques of Brahmanical patriarchy. Key contributions include exposing empirical patterns of heightened vulnerability, such as Dalit women comprising a disproportionate share of gender-based violence victims—evidenced by data showing elevated atrocity rates against them—and advocating for policies targeting this triple marginalization of caste, class, and gender. While achieving visibility for suppressed narratives through anthologies and academic works, Dalit feminism has sparked debates over its scope, with some scholarly critiques noting its primary articulation by urban, educated women, potentially limiting broader representation, and tensions with Dalit male-led movements resistant to internal critiques. These discussions underscore ongoing efforts to integrate Dalit women's perspectives into wider struggles, emphasizing causal links between entrenched endogamy and gendered exploitation over ideologically driven narratives.

Definition and Core Concepts

Intersectional Oppressions

Dalit feminism identifies the compounded oppressions faced by women as arising from the interplay of -based discrimination, patriarchal norms, and economic marginalization rooted in class hierarchies. Unlike mainstream Indian , which often centers upper- experiences, Dalit theorists argue that functions as a primary axis of subordination that amplifies -based harms, rendering Dalit women vulnerable to forms of violence and exclusion not adequately explained by class or alone. This perspective draws on observations of where birth-ascribed status enforces ritual pollution norms, limiting Dalit access to resources and mobility, while roles within castes assign women disproportionate burdens in labor and reproduction. Empirical data underscore the disproportionate targeting of women in atrocities, with (NCRB) reports documenting elevated rates of against them compared to non- women. For instance, between 2014 and 2020, crimes against women, including rape and assault to outrage modesty, consistently outnumbered those against other groups relative to population share, reflecting -enforced where upper-caste perpetrators exploit hierarchical power dynamics. These patterns persist due to causal mechanisms in systems, such as and purity taboos, which deter inter-caste alliances and enable unchecked predation on lower-caste women as a means of reinforcing dominance, beyond mere economic deprivation. A stark manifestation occurs in manual scavenging, a caste-assigned occupation involving manual handling of human excreta, where 95-98% of India's estimated 1.2 million practitioners are women, overwhelmingly . This labor persists in rural and semi-urban areas due to entrenched norms that deem such work polluting and unfit for higher castes, forcing families into hereditary roles while expectations confine women to the most hazardous, unmechanized tasks without protective gear. The resulting health crises, including respiratory diseases and deaths from asphyxiation, exemplify how hierarchies intersect with to perpetuate exclusion from dignified , independent of class mobility opportunities available to non- women.

Distinction from Mainstream Feminism

Dalit feminists contend that mainstream Indian feminism, predominantly shaped by upper-caste women, universalizes gender oppression while sidelining as a constitutive factor, thereby replicating Brahmanical hierarchies within feminist discourse. This oversight manifests in analyses that conflate with class or subsumes experiences under a homogenized "womanhood," effectively excluding Dalit women's unique subjugation under caste-gender intersections, such as routine violence tied to and labor exploitation. Such critiques highlight Dalit women's marginalization from urban-centric feminist spaces, where , savarna-led movements prioritize issues like or reproductive rights that resonate more with privileged women's realities, ignoring Dalit women's disproportionate exposure to public atrocities, including as a tool of . For instance, Dalit women, comprising a significant portion of rural and informal sector laborers, encounter barriers to participation in metropolitan feminist forums due to geographic, economic, and cultural alienation, rendering mainstream campaigns inattentive to their compounded vulnerabilities. In response, Dalit feminists advocate autonomous organizing to confront these divergences, exemplified by the establishment of groups like the National Federation of Dalit Women in 1995, which sought to foreground triple oppressions of , class, and absent in savarna-dominated alliances. These initiatives arose from perceptions of , where mainstream feminists invoked Dalit issues rhetorically—such as in anti-violence campaigns—without dismantling internal privileges or addressing how upper-caste women benefit from Dalit subjugation.

Historical Development

Pre-Independence Roots (19th-20th Century)

The roots of Dalit feminism trace to 19th-century social reformers who challenged the intertwined oppressions of caste hierarchy and patriarchal norms through education as a primary tool for emancipation. Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule, operating in colonial Maharashtra, established India's first school for girls on January 1, 1848, at Bhide Wada in Pune, initially enrolling nine students from various lower castes including Shudras and Atishudras. This initiative directly confronted illiteracy, which reformers identified as a mechanism perpetuating women's subjugation within caste-bound families, with Savitribai Phule serving as the inaugural female teacher despite facing violent opposition from upper-caste groups. By 1851, the Phules had expanded to three schools serving over 150 girls, emphasizing practical knowledge over rote scriptural learning to foster self-reliance among marginalized communities. Building on this foundation, extended the critique in the early 20th century by linking untouchability's scriptural sanctions in texts like the to the compounded exploitation of women, who endured -based violence alongside gender-specific disabilities such as enforced widowhood and lack of inheritance rights. From the 1920s, Ambedkar prioritized education for women through organizations like the founded in 1924, which promoted literacy to enable resistance against both exclusion and intra-community patriarchal controls. His 1927 launch of temple-entry and public resource access campaigns increasingly involved women, as seen in the where female participation highlighted demands for water rights denied to untouchables, framing gender equity as integral to annihilating . Pre-independence Dalit women's emerging agency manifested in critiques tying anti-colonial resistance to caste-gender reform, often through Phule-inspired groups like the established in 1873, which advocated widow remarriage and opposed child marriages disproportionately affecting lower-caste girls. By the 1940s, Ambedkar's Scheduled Castes Federation convened conferences, such as the July 8, 1942, event in , where women delegates voiced intersections of and , asserting and legal reforms as antidotes without reliance on imported Western models. These efforts underscored an indigenous framework prioritizing empirical upliftment over abstract ideology, evidenced by rising Dalit female enrollment in mission schools and reformist institutions by the 1930s.

Post-Independence Evolution in India

The Indian Constitution, effective from January 26, 1950, enshrined for , including reservations of 15% in central government jobs, , and legislative seats, aimed at redressing historical caste-based exclusion. These measures enabled incremental entry of women into and spheres during the 1950s-1980s, particularly in urban areas, though rural implementation lagged due to entrenched social barriers and inadequate infrastructure. By providing quotas in universities and civil services, reservations disrupted absolute denial of access, fostering a small but growing cadre of educated women who began articulating gender-specific grievances within caste movements. Empirical gains were evident in literacy metrics: Scheduled Caste female rates rose from 8.1% in 1961 to 14.0% in 1981 and 21.7% in 1991, per data, a tripling over three decades partly attributable to reserved seats in primary and higher education, which countered familial and societal resistance to girls' schooling. Political participation also advanced via SC-reserved constituencies in legislatures and, post-1993, the 73rd mandating one-third seats for women in panchayats, leading to over 100,000 women elected to local bodies by the early 2000s, though many faced proxy control by male relatives or upper-caste interference. These developments highlighted causal links between policy quotas and upward mobility, yet disparities persisted, with Dalit female trailing the national female average (39.3% in 1991) due to persistent and economic precarity. The 1990s marked an organizational surge, with women forming autonomous platforms to challenge state inaction on atrocities and internal community patriarchies, distinct from upper-caste-led . The All India Dalit Women's Forum, established in 1990, networked regional groups to address violence and land rights, while the National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW), founded on August 11, 1995, by activist Ruth Manorama, prioritized triple discrimination (caste, gender, class) and influenced global Dalit advocacy at the 1995 Beijing Conference. These bodies critiqued mainstream movements for ignoring Dalit-specific oppressions, such as exploitation and honor killings, and pushed for sub-quotas within SC reservations for women. Institutional evolution culminated in the , established February 19, 2004, via the 89th Constitutional Amendment, separating SC oversight from Scheduled Tribes to focus on enforcement of the 1989 Prevention of Atrocities Act, including gender-based crimes against women. The commission's mandate to investigate complaints and recommend policies addressed systemic failures, such as underreporting of rapes (over 3,500 SC women cases annually by 2010 per NCRB), amid ongoing critiques of within politics that marginalized women's leadership. This period underscored feminism's shift from reliance on general reservations to demanding intersectional reforms, though empirical outcomes remained constrained by judicial delays and cultural inertia.

Extensions to Nepal and Pakistan

In , Dalit feminist activism has emerged as an adaptation of Indian frameworks, emphasizing the intersection of , , and economic marginalization, though with sparser organizational structures and less doctrinal depth due to the country's smaller Dalit population of approximately 3.5 million and historical focus on over -specific mobilization. Post-2006, following the abolition of the and the end of the Maoist insurgency, Dalit women's groups like the Feminist Dalit Organisation (FEDO), established in 1994 but gaining traction amid democratic transitions, campaigned against practices analogous to dedication, particularly targeting the exploitation of Badi Dalit women who face hereditary sexual servitude and trafficking vulnerabilities. Empirical data from the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) indicate that Dalit women constitute a disproportionate share of trafficking survivors, with Badi girls often forced into sex work due to entrenched prejudices, exacerbating their exclusion from and formal where Dalit female hovers around 3.2% compared to national averages exceeding 50%. These efforts have yielded limited legal reforms, such as inclusions in the 2015 Constitution prohibiting discrimination, but enforcement remains weak, as evidenced by persistent barriers to justice for Dalit women victims of violence. In , where Dalit-equivalent communities (primarily Scheduled Caste numbering about 2.5 million) operate under feudal systems intertwined with Islamic-majority norms, feminist addressing caste-gender oppressions manifests less as formalized "Dalit feminism" and more through against bonded labor and honor killings, often framed within rather than explicit anti-caste theory. women endure hereditary in and brick kilns, with reports documenting forced conversions and sexual exploitation as tools of control, compounded by honor killings that claim hundreds annually, disproportionately affecting lower-caste females perceived to violate family or community codes. Pioneering figures like Krishna Kumari Kohli, elected in as Pakistan's first woman senator from a former bonded labor background, have prioritized anti-trafficking and reforms, highlighting how Islamic overlays dilute caste-specific critiques in favor of broader appeals. Organizational efforts, such as those by the Scheduled Caste , remain fragmented, lacking the intellectual output or mass movements seen in , partly due to that reframes as a subset of minority vulnerability rather than a primary axis of analysis. Comparatively, affirmative action in and lags behind India's reservation system, contributing to empirically slower socioeconomic progress for women as tracked in assessments. 's 45% quota for marginalized groups in includes slots but suffers from underutilization and , with representation in federal roles below 10% despite constitutional mandates. In , minority quotas (5% for Hindus) exist but rarely disaggregate by , leaving women reliant on interventions amid pervasive bonded labor affecting over 2 million, per UN estimates. indices, including International's documentation of unprosecuted violence and U.S. State Department reports on 's extrajudicial barriers, reveal higher vulnerability metrics—such as women's overrepresentation in forced labor and trafficking—than in India, where robust quotas have correlated with modest gains in female literacy and political participation, underscoring causal gaps in policy enforcement and cultural entrenchment.

Key Figures and Intellectual Foundations

Early Pioneers

(1831–1897), collaborating with her husband , initiated empirical efforts to combat the intertwined oppressions of caste and gender by establishing India's first girls' school in on January 1, 1848, which admitted and other lower-caste students despite upper-caste violence, including stone-throwing and social ostracism. In the 1850s, she led campaigns against widow immolation (sati) and —practices rooted in Brahmanical norms that devastated communities—while opening a widows' shelter in 1851 to provide refuge and rehabilitation, directly addressing the causal vulnerabilities of Dalit women to patriarchal violence and economic dependence. These actions prioritized and social reform as mechanisms for agency, predating organized feminist discourse by demonstrating tangible resistance to systemic exclusion. Mukta Salve, a 14-year-old () girl and student in Phule's school, authored the essay "Mang Maharachya Dukha Vishayi Vichar" ("Thoughts on the Grievances of the Mahars and Mangs") in 1855, one of the earliest documented expressions of Dalit women's critique against caste-based brutality and Brahmanical superiority. In the piece, she enumerated specific atrocities, such as forced labor, ritual humiliations, and denial of basic dignity, attributing them to upper-caste dominance rather than inherent inferiority, thereby asserting collective Dalit humanity and calling for equitable treatment. This literary act, published under Phule's auspices, evidenced early self-assertion by Dalit girls, challenging narratives of passivity and laying groundwork for intersectional awareness of caste-gender exploitation. Bama Faustina Soosairaj (born 1938), a Tamil , drew from mid-20th-century experiences of caste discrimination within the church to pioneer critiques of religious institutions' role in perpetuating women's subordination. Entering life in 1958, she encountered segregation and upper-caste privileges among Christian clergy and , despite conversion's promise of equality, which fueled her resistance to these hierarchies through teaching and community work in the and . Her narratives highlighted causal links between casteism and women's marginalization, such as restricted leadership roles and , exposing how faith communities replicated broader societal biases absent empirical reform.

Contemporary Thinkers and Activists

, a Tamil , , and translator born in 1984, has emerged as a prominent voice in Dalit feminism through her literary works published after 2010, which interrogate caste-endogamous marriages, honor-based violence, and gendered caste oppression in modern urban . Her 2017 novel When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife draws on autobiographical elements to depict and psychological coercion within an inter-caste union, highlighting how Brahmanical norms perpetuate domestic control over women. Kandasamy's poetry collections, including expansions from Ms Militancy (2010) into broader critiques, employ mythic retellings to challenge patriarchal structures, emphasizing resistance against alienation faced by women in spaces. Her activism extends to public commentary on caste atrocities, positioning as a tool for dismantling upper-caste feminist elisions of Dalit specificity. Thenmozhi Soundararajan, a activist and media artist born in , has advanced in the by linking trauma to global abolitionist movements, particularly through her founding of Equality Labs in 2015 and her 2022 book The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, , and Abolition. The organization has documented among South Asian communities in the , revealing patterns of workplace exclusion and disproportionately affecting women, with surveys showing 1 in 2 respondents experiencing such bias. Soundararajan's framework critiques as an intergenerational wound akin to racial trauma, advocating practices rooted in survivorship while challenging tech industry's complicity in importing hierarchies. Her work extends to , including petitions for in civil laws, underscoring feminism's transnational scope. Ruth Manorama, a Bangalore-based social activist awarded the Padma Shri in 2021, leads grassroots efforts through the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, focusing on Dalit women's labor rights and urban slum conditions since the early 2000s. Her campaigns have addressed manual scavenging and domestic work exploitation, where Dalit women constitute over 90% of the workforce, pushing for enforcement of the 2013 Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers Act. Manorama's advocacy highlights intersections of caste and migration, documenting evictions and violence in informal economies, and has influenced local policies like Karnataka's domestic workers' welfare boards. The National Federation of Dalit Women, established in 1995, continues 21st-century advocacy against gendered caste violence, including witch-hunting accusations that claimed over 2,500 lives in from 2000 to 2021, with women comprising a majority of victims due to land disputes and patriarchal control. Their efforts include legal interventions and awareness drives in states like and , where such practices persist as tools of social , contributing to broader demands for anti-atrocities enforcement under the 1989 Scheduled Castes and Tribes Act. These campaigns intersect with empirical gains, as All India Survey on Higher Education data for 2021-22 shows Scheduled Caste female enrollment rising to 14.5% of total women students, up from 12.8% in 2014-15, attributable in part to reservation policies amplified by activist pressures.

Theoretical Critiques and Frameworks

Challenges to Brahmanical Patriarchy

Dalit feminism theorizes Brahmanical patriarchy as an ideological framework intertwining hierarchy with patriarchal control, originating in Hindu scriptural traditions that subordinate women to preserve varna and ritual purity. Texts like the prescribe women's lifelong dependence on male kin, linking their subservience to duties and deeming their sexuality a vector for pollution if unregulated, thereby justifying subjugation as essential to . This analysis builds on B.R. Ambedkar's foundational critique, who identified as 's core mechanism, enforced through vigilant control over women's reproductive choices to block intermixture and sustain hereditary inequality. Ambedkar rejected these norms by burning copies of the on December 25, 1927, during the , symbolizing opposition to its codification of graded inequalities in and ; he later led approximately 500,000 followers in converting to on October 14, 1956, explicitly to escape Hinduism's scriptural endorsement of such fused oppressions. Social patterns reflect this causal persistence: inter-caste marriages constitute only about 5% of unions in , amid widespread opposition, with 79% of a nationally representative sample in affirming the importance of preventing them to uphold boundaries. Dalit women attempting exogamy encounter amplified violence, including assaults tied to perceived threats to endogamy, as norms treat female autonomy in partnering as a direct challenge to purity hierarchies. From causal reasoning, caste diverges from class-based preferences by embedding gender control in hereditary pollution taboos, rendering women's bodies the frontline of enforcement: violations risk lineage dilution, imposing stricter surveillance and penalties than economic stratification, which permits cross-class alliances without rupture. This rigidity explains disproportionate targeting of lower-caste women in resistance to boundary-crossing, perpetuating subjugation beyond material deprivation.

Critiques of Dalit Internal Dynamics

Dalit feminists have highlighted patriarchal structures within Dalit communities, emphasizing the need to address gender-based oppression alongside caste discrimination. data indicate elevated rates of among Scheduled Caste (SC) women, with approximately 37.3% to 40% reporting physical, sexual, or emotional violence from husbands, compared to 24.4% among general category women. These figures, drawn from NFHS-3 (2005-2006) and subsequent analyses, reflect patterns where SC women face higher IPV prevalence, often compounded by socioeconomic marginalization. Alcohol consumption among Dalit men emerges as a significant factor in these dynamics, correlating with increased domestic violence incidents. Studies link spousal alcohol use to heightened IPV odds, particularly in low-income households, where prevalence reaches up to 20.9% in certain regions like southern . Dalit women writers and theorists in the 2000s, building on earlier narratives, have critiqued these issues by demanding male accountability, portraying internal as a reproduction of oppressive norms that Dalit men internalize from broader societal influences yet perpetuate within families. Figures like Gopal Guru argued for confronting such practices within lower- groups, distinguishing them from upper-caste ritualized while urging community introspection. From a causal perspective, and historical exclusion intensify these internal tensions—amplifying conflict through resource scarcity and —but do not solely originate patriarchal behaviors, which manifest universally across castes albeit in varied forms. In Dalit contexts, this results in more overt tied to economic , contrasting with upper-caste dynamics often masked by institutional power. Dalit feminists balance these critiques by noting cultural resilience, where communities sustain , kinship networks, and resistance narratives that foster endurance amid adversity, preventing total familial disintegration. This duality underscores calls for targeted interventions, such as awareness campaigns against , without externalizing responsibility.

Achievements and Empirical Impacts

Socioeconomic Progress via Reservations

The implementation of reservations for Scheduled Castes (SCs) following India's in 1950 has facilitated measurable gains in Dalit women's access to education and public sector employment, contributing to socioeconomic mobility. By 2011, female literacy rates among SCs had risen to 56.5%, up from approximately 8-10% in 1961, reflecting the impact of reserved quotas in educational institutions that prioritized access for historically marginalized groups. This educational uplift correlates with a decline in reliance on hereditary occupations like manual scavenging, where SC women previously predominated; government surveys indicate a reduction in such practices from over 1 million practitioners in the to fewer than 1,000 officially identified by 2018, attributed partly to increased schooling enabling alternative livelihoods. In local governance, the 73rd Constitutional Amendment of 1993 mandated one-third reservation of seats for women in panchayats, intersecting with SC quotas to elevate women into leadership roles. This has resulted in over 300,000 SC women serving as elected representatives in rural local bodies by the early 2000s, fostering decision-making on community resources and reducing traditional exclusion from public spheres. Empirical studies document improved infrastructure provisioning in reserved panchayats led by SC women, such as higher investments in water and sanitation, which directly benefit their communities. While critics argue that reservations foster dependency by prioritizing quotas over merit, leading to underutilization of seats in higher education (e.g., only 50-60% fill rates in some SC-reserved medical seats as of 2020), evidence of self-sustained progress counters this. Urban women have leveraged initial reservation-enabled skills into , with surveys of 50-100 such ventures in cities like and Hyderabad showing monthly incomes averaging ₹5,000-10,000 ($60-120) by 2011, often in tailoring, , and small retail—sectors enabling economic without ongoing state support. High-profile cases, such as Kamani Tubes' turnaround under SC woman into a ₹1,000 enterprise by 2018, illustrate how seeds broader agency amid market opportunities. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, established criminal penalties for offenses including the assault or use of force against Scheduled Caste or Tribe women with intent to dishonor or outrage modesty, reflecting broader Dalit advocacy against compounded caste-gender violence. Dalit women's groups, emerging from movements like the Dalit Mahila Samiti, pressed for such gender-sensitive provisions to counter systemic exploitation in rural and urban settings. Subsequent 2015 amendments to the Act expanded punishable offenses to include sexual exploitation, trafficking, and village expulsion of women, alongside mandatory special courts for expedited trials, in response to documented failures in addressing atrocities like and . These changes aimed to close loopholes in the original framework, influenced by feminist critiques of inadequate deterrence against upper-caste perpetrators. The of Women at (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, mandated internal committees and redress mechanisms for complaints, offering indirect safeguards for women in informal labor sectors prone to caste-based , though lacking explicit caste intersections. feminist networks highlighted its relevance for agricultural and domestic workers, where 90% of women are employed, but noted exemptions for small establishments undermine coverage. Empirical assessments reveal persistent implementation deficits: data indicate conviction rates under the SC/ST Act below 30% for cases involving Scheduled Castes from 2020 to 2022, with women-specific offenses like showing even lower outcomes due to evidentiary barriers and prosecutorial lapses. Enforcement case studies, such as prolonged delays in investigating caste-motivated assaults documented in and , underscore causal factors including police reluctance to register and judicial deference to dominant-caste influences, perpetuating .

Criticisms and Controversies

Fragmentation of Broader Feminist Solidarity

In the 1990s, Dalit feminists increasingly dissented from mainstream Indian women's movements, citing their frequent oversight of caste-specific oppressions in favor of gender-centric analyses that homogenized women's experiences across caste lines. This critique culminated in the formation of autonomous Dalit women's organizations, such as the National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW), established on August 11, 1995, by activist Ruth Manorama in , just weeks before the Fourth World Conference on Women in . These groups emerged as Dalit women sought platforms unmediated by upper-caste-dominated forums, leading to parallel events and reduced participation in national feminist gatherings perceived as caste-blind. Proponents of this argue it amplified the visibility of women's unique vulnerabilities, such as caste-based and economic exclusion, which mainstream movements had marginalized; the NFDW's independent advocacy, for instance, highlighted issues like exploitation and , fostering targeted policy interventions absent in broader coalitions. However, critics contend that such fragmentation diluted power against shared patriarchal structures and state policies, as splintered efforts scattered resources and diminished the leverage of a unified feminist bloc in negotiations with governments or institutions. This tension persists, with parallel organizing—evident in separate women's conferences since the late 1990s—limiting cross-caste alliances while enabling niche mobilizations but at the cost of broader solidarity against gender-based legal and socioeconomic barriers.

Overemphasis on Caste Victimhood

Critics of certain strands within Dalit feminism contend that an undue emphasis on perpetual -based victimhood for women marginalizes evidence of tangible , framing as immutable rather than addressing causal factors amenable to and economic change. This , while rooted in historical injustices, risks reinforcing a static view of women's agency, prioritizing collective grievance over individual and community-driven advancement. Such critiques highlight how discourses imported from Western frameworks, like , often fail to integrate India's unique mechanisms, which have demonstrably elevated socioeconomic positions without equivalent reliance on identity-based coalitions elsewhere. Empirical data underscore Dalit mobility gains, particularly post-1991 , where poverty among Dalits fell by 9.6% compared to the national 8.5% decline, driven by expanded opportunities and that reservations alone could not achieve. Urbanization has further eroded rigid enforcements by fostering anonymous, merit-oriented environments, enabling Dalit migration to cities and reducing rural interpersonal conflicts tied to traditional hierarchies. Education levels have risen, with Dalit literacy rates improving from 10.2% in 1961 to 66.1% in 2011, correlating with diminished overt caste violence in urban settings through diluted social scrutiny. From perspectives prioritizing causal realism and , this victimhood emphasis may inadvertently foster dependency on state interventions, diverting attention from liberalization's role in spawning millionaires and business networks that promote economic over perpetual entitlement claims. Analysts note that political assertion of victim status, while mobilizing resources, can entrench a of helplessness, undermining incentives for internal reforms like skill acquisition and market participation. Reported atrocities, though rising in absolute numbers to over 57,000 cases against Scheduled Castes in 2023, reflect heightened awareness and NCRB reporting post-1989 Prevention of Atrocities Act, with per rates stabilizing around 20-25 per 100,000 Dalits amid and urban dilution of norms, rather than signaling unmitigated escalation.

Internal Community Backlash

Dalit feminists have faced opposition from segments within the Dalit community, particularly men aligned with Ambedkarite movements, who argue that emphasizing intra-community dynamics diverts resources and solidarity from the primary fight against oppression. Critics contend that such feminist assertions portray Dalit men as complicit in akin to upper-caste structures, thereby fostering division at a time when unified resistance is essential for survival against external savarna dominance. In the 2000s, Dalit publications and forums hosted debates where contributors decried feminist critiques of male leaders—such as those accusing them of perpetuating patriarchal control—as weakening anti-caste mobilization. For instance, voices within the community warned that highlighting gender-based attacks on figures central to Dalit assertion, like those in the or Scheduled Caste federations, risks alienating male allies and fragmenting the broader emancipation project rooted in B.R. Ambedkar's vision of annihilating . Proponents of this internal pushback have labeled the importation of Western-derived concepts like " patriarchy" as an academic imposition ill-suited to the material realities of Dalit life, where caste violence demands prioritizing collective uplift over dissected roles. Articles in platforms like Round Table India describe this framework as dishonest and derivative, arguing it ignores how Dalit men's historical subjugation under Brahmanical order limits their capacity for the autonomous patriarchal dominance seen in upper s, thus misapplying foreign models to erode endogenous unity. Empirically, the persistence of male-dominated bolsters claims of sustained community cohesion. Data from Indian parliamentary elections indicate that Dalit women hold minimal seats relative to men; for example, in constituencies, female Dalit MPs numbered fewer than a dozen in recent terms, compared to hundreds of male counterparts, suggesting that male has effectively channeled reservations into anti-caste gains without the disruptions alleged by gender-focused critiques.

Contemporary Landscape

Recent Activism (2020s)

In the early 2020s, women students in Indian universities engaged in activism against caste discrimination, though studies indicate their efforts were often marginalized within broader student organizations. A 2025 review of literature highlighted the limited visibility of women activists in higher education politics, attributing this to institutional barriers that sidelined their demands for caste-aware reforms, including pushes for curricula incorporating histories and experiences. For instance, in 2024, scholars protested systemic casteism in academia, exposing and faced by students from reserved categories. A measurable outcome included the Indian Supreme Court's May 2025 ruling overturning a two-year suspension of Dalit PhD scholar Ramadas Prini Sivanandan at the , affirming protections against punitive measures targeting anti-caste activism. Dalit women workers in centers—government-run childcare facilities—demonstrated resistance to intersecting , , and labor exploitation, framing these sites as arenas of under patriarchal and hierarchies. A 2025 documented how workers contested their conditions along three axes: demanding formal labor recognition, challenging gendered workloads like unpaid domestic extensions, and confronting -based supervisory discrimination from upper-caste officials. This activism yielded partial gains, such as localized unionization efforts that pressured state governments for wage hikes, though systemic underfunding persisted, with over 1.3 million workers nationwide remaining classified as volunteers rather than employees as of 2023 data extended into recent advocacy. Digital platforms amplified Dalit feminist mobilization in the 2020s, enabling online activism amid restrictions and institutional crackdowns. A March 2025 study examined how activists in utilized for political engagement, navigating repressive conditions to highlight gender-caste intersections, with campaigns reaching thousands via hashtags and videos documenting everyday oppressions. Concurrently, advocacy for funding -led initiatives intensified, as a June 2025 report revealed philanthropy gaps in , where feminist organizations received less than 1% of gender justice grants despite comprising marginalized . This led to calls for reallocated resources, emphasizing sustained support for movement-building over short-term projects, though empirical tracking showed persistent underfunding, with only sporadic increases in donor commitments by mid-2025.

Global and Regional Variations

Dalit feminism maintains a circumscribed global footprint, primarily resonant within South Asia's caste-enduring societies and select diaspora circles, rather than achieving the transnational permeation of race-centric movements. Organizations like the Global Campaign for Dalit Women, launched to bolster advocacy for caste-oppressed females, underscore this niche orientation by focusing on dignity and equality strategies tailored to hereditary systems. Analogies to Black feminism, which similarly interrogate compounded racial and gender subjugations, falter under scrutiny owing to India's reservation quotas—allocating 15% of public sector jobs, educational seats, and legislative positions to Scheduled Castes—which have demonstrably accelerated Dalit women's integration into mainstream institutions. These policies have elevated Dalit female literacy from 8.6% in 1961 to 56.5% in 2011 and boosted their presence in higher education and panchayat governance, yielding causal uplifts in intergenerational mobility that contrast with the United States' less prescriptive affirmative action, recently invalidated by the Supreme Court in 2023, and persistent racial socioeconomic gaps. Regionally, Nepalese Dalit women adapt feminist praxis through cultural defiance, notably via music festivals in 2024 that spotlighted trailblazing figures challenging -gender stereotypes and fostering vocal empowerment among diverse ethnic groups. In , feminism converges with struggles, as females—concentrated among Hindu and Christian populations comprising about 2-4% of the populace—confront amplified perils like abductions and coerced Islamic conversions, with over 1,000 minor girls from such communities reportedly affected annually, rendering caste advocacy subordinate to religious identity protections under Sharia-influenced laws. International NGOs, exemplified by UN Women's documentation of pervasive impacting roughly 120 million women regionally, tend to foreground atrocity accounts while underreporting quantifiable from state interventions like reservations, a selectivity that may reflect institutional preferences for narrative-driven interventions over data-verified policy efficacy.

Cultural and Literary Contributions

Dalit Women's Writings

Bama's Karukku, published in 1992, stands as the first by a woman in Tamil, offering a raw autobiographical account of and within the Christian community of . Drawing from her experiences as a and village educator, Bama exposes the Catholic Church's hypocrisy in preaching equality while perpetuating hierarchies, such as segregated seating and discriminatory treatment of converts. The narrative critiques patriarchal control within families and religious institutions, where women face compounded exploitation, including forced labor and sexual vulnerability, grounded in Bama's empirical observations of village life and dynamics. Meena Kandasamy, a Tamil poet born in 1984, advanced these critiques through her 2010 collection Ms Militancy, which employs poetic testimony to confront caste-gender intersections, including challenging endogamy norms. Her works depict empirical instances of caste atrocities, such as community reprisals against inter-caste unions, framing them as extensions of patriarchal and upper-caste dominance over women's autonomy. Kandasamy's verses prioritize lived trauma, rejecting abstracted feminist in favor of specific experiences like and familial , as evidenced in poems addressing honor-based reprisals and systemic silencing. In , Swaroopa Rani's poetry and essays, emerging in the 1990s, emphasize women's labor oppressions under intersecting , class, and gender hierarchies. Works like the poem "Dalituralu" illustrate how women endure exploitation from upper-caste employers to intra-community patriarchs, with autobiographical undertones highlighting manual labor's dehumanizing toll, such as unpaid domestic work and field drudgery without recourse. Rani's writings underscore empirical realities of economic marginalization, where women's bodies serve as sites of triple , critiquing both external violence and internal community failures to address gender inequities.

Influence on Broader Discourse

Dalit feminist literature has reshaped Indian intellectual discourse by integrating caste-specific gender critiques into academic syllabi, particularly post-2010, as universities like the began incorporating Dalit women's testimonios to examine intersectional oppressions beyond upper-caste feminist frameworks. This shift has fostered speculative resistance in genres like , where scholars have identified "Dalit-futurism" as a narrative strategy envisioning technoscientific futures that dismantle caste hierarchies, drawing on Dalit literary traditions to project alternative social orders. Such literature challenges savarna-dominated by excavating suppressed voices, including Mukta Salve's 1855 "About the Grief of the Mahar and Mang," which critiqued intertwined , , and religious oppressions faced by lower-caste communities, predating mainstream Indian feminist articulations. This recovery effort underscores causal links between Brahmanical patriarchy and women's subjugation, prompting reevaluations of historical narratives that marginalized non-savarna experiences. While contributing to anti-patriarchal analyses by exposing how amplifies gender-based violence—evident in post-2010 literary discourses that highlight women's compounded exclusions— feminism has faced pushback for potentially overemphasizing victimhood, with detractors arguing it romanticizes marginality through unadapted Western standpoint theories, thereby hindering pragmatic intra-community reforms. These critiques, often from within intellectual circles, highlight tensions between empirical focus on lived oppressions and risks of essentializing -gender intersections without sufficient causal differentiation from broader patriarchal structures.

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