CLASS 10 CIVICS 4 - GENDER, RELIGION & CASTE

Gender, Religion & Caste

Gender & Politics

•      Gender division refers to the discrimination against women that consider women as inferior to men and incapable of doing tasks considered to be the preserve of men.

•      A sexual division of labour (a system in which all work inside the home is either done by the women of the family)

•      While office work and high-paid jobs are considered men’s domain in India, household works such as washing, cooking and tailoring are done by women.

•      It is only when these forms of work become paid jobs, do men readily accept them; eg: chefs.

•      Even women work outside their homes; for eg: they plough the fields in villages, fetch water etc. but again these forms or work are neither valued nor acknowledged.

•      Although women constitute 50%  of the society, they do not enjoy equal power with men. Women had to struggle hard to gain voting and other democratic rights in many countries.

•      Very little contribution of women is seen in public life, especially in politics.

•      While women in Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Finland & Norway) actively participate in public life, women in India are far behind of men in many spheres.

What disadvantages do women face?

1)    Indian society is a patriarchal society. It is dominated by men.

2)    The Literacy Rate among women is only 54%  compared to 76% among men. Similarly, a smaller proportion of girl students  go for higher studies (School results). Parents prefer to spend money on educating boys.

3)    The proportion of women among the highly paid and valued jobs is still very small.

4)    The Equal Wages Act provides that equal wages should be paid for equal work. However, in most areas of work, women are paid less than men, even when both do exactly the same work. But discrimination continues in sports, cinema, factories and fields.

5)    Preference to have sons and abortion of girl child. Sex selective abortions have led to decline in child sex ratio (number of girls children per 1000 boys) in the country to merely 927. (914-2011)

6)    Various types of harassment, exploitation and violence against women is reported in both the public and the private sphere.

7)    Urban areas too have become unsafe for women.

Women’s Political Representation

•      In India, the proportion of women in legislature has been very low. The percentage of elected women members in the Lok Sabha is 10% of its total strength in 2009. Their share in the state assemblies is less than 5%. India is behind the averages for several developing countries of Africa and Latin America.

•      Under the Panchayat Raj system, 1/3 seats in Panchayats and municipalities are now reserved for women.

•      Women organisations and activists have been demanding a similar reservation of at least 1/3 seats in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies for women. This proposal has been pending before the Parliament for more than a decade.

Religion and Caste

•      Religious differences are often expressed in the field of politics.

•      Gandhiji believed that religion can never be separated from politics. Politics must be guided by ethics drawn from religion.

•      Human rights groups argued that Most victims of communal riots in our country are people from religious minorities. They have demanded that the government take special steps for protecting religious minorities.

•      Women’s movement demands that the family laws (laws related to marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance etc.)of all religions should not discriminate against women.

•      People should be able to express in politics their needs, interests and demands as a member of a religious community.

•      These political acts are not wrong as long as they treat every religion equally.

Communalism

•      It based on the idea that religion is the principal basis of social community. The followers of a particular religion must belong to one community with the same fundamental interests. Communalism is one of the major problems faced by our country currently. It becomes a problem when…

•      Religious fanaticism (passion) reaches its height and religion becomes more important than the interests of the wider society or a nation.

•      Belief of one religion is regarded as superior to the other religion.

•      Religion becomes an inseparable part of politics; the state power is used to emphasize superiority and domination of one religion over the other.

What factors promote communalism?

1)    Beliefs of one religion are presented as superior to those of other religions.

2)    When demands of one religious groups are formed in opposition to another.

3)    When state power is used to establish domination of one religious group over the rest.

What is Communal Politics?

•       It is based on the idea that religion is the principal basis of social community.

What Do Communalists Think?

1)    Followers of one religion must belong to one community.

2)    Their fundamental interests are same.

3)    People who follow different religions cannot belong to the same social community.

What forms can Communalism take in Politics?

1)    It involves religious prejudices (preconception without good justification), stereotypes (conventional image) of religious communities and belief in the superiority of one’s religion over other religions.

2)    Communal mind leads to a quest for Political dominance of one’s own religious communities.

(a) If it is a Majority community – Majoritarian Dominance.

(b) If it is a Minority community – It forms a separate Political Unit.

3) Political mobilisation on religious lines that involves the use of sacred symbols, religious leader`s emotional appeal and plain fear in order to bring the followers of one religion together in the political arena.

4) Communalism can take the form of communal violence, riots and massacre. (India-Pak partition)

Secular State

India is a Secular State because:

1)    There is no official religion for India. Constitution does not give a special status to any religion. (neither encourage nor discourage)

            Eg.of religious countries (Pak, SL, England)

1)    The Constitution provides to all freedom to profess (admit/agree), practice and propagate (spread/publicize) any religion.

2)    The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.

3)    The Constitution allow the state to intervene (interfere) in the matters of religion in order to ensure equality within religious communities. It bans untouchability.

Caste Inequalities

•      Caste system has been an integral part of Indian society since ancient times. It is based on the occupations of the people which are hereditary.

•      Members of the same caste group formed similar occupation, married within the caste and did not eat with members from other caste groups.

•      People belonging to the lower caste are considered outcastes and untouchables.

Efforts taken to check Casteism

1)    Political leaders and social reformers like JOTHIBHA PHULE, GANDHIJI, AMBEDKAR and E V RAMASAMI (PERIYAR) advocated and worked to establish a society in which caste inequalities are absent.

2)    Socio economic changes have brought in a check.

3)    With the economic development, Large scale urbanisation, growth of Literacy and education, Occupational mobility and Weakening of the position of landlords in villages, the Old notions of caste hierarchy are breaking down.

4)    The Constitution of India prohibited any caste based discrimination and laid the foundations of policies for reversing the injustices of caste system.

5)    Even now most people marry within their own caste or tribe. Untouchability has not ended completely, despite constitutional prohibition.

Caste can take various forms in Politics…

1)    During the choice of candidates before an election, care is taken that the composition of electorate (the eligible voters) and nomination of candidates from different castes to muster (gather) support to win elections.

2)    During formation of Governments, political parties take care that representatives of different castes and tribes find a place in it.

3)    Political parties and candidates make appeals to caste sentiment to muster support. Some political parties are known to favour some castes and are seen as their representatives.

4)    Universal adult franchise and the principle of one person- one vote compelled political leaders to gear up for the task of mobilising and securing political support. It also brought new consciousness among the low caste people.

Elections are all about Caste & nothing else (Indian Parliament is not caste biased/predetermined)

1)    No parliamentary constituency has a clear majority of one single caste. So every candidate and party must win the confidence of more than one caste and community to win elections.

2)    No party wins the votes of all the voters of a caste or community. Caste as a ‘vote bank’ of one party usually means that a large proportion of the voters from that caste vote for that party.

3)    Many political parties may put up candidates from the same caste (if that caste is believed to dominate the electorate in a particular constituency). Some voters have more than one candidate from their caste, while many voters have no candidate from their caste.

4)    The Ruling party and sitting MP or MLA frequently lose elections in our country. That could not have happened if all castes and communities were frozen in their political preferences.

What forms does Caste take when it is Politicised?

1)    Each caste group tries to become bigger by incorporating castes or sub-castes which were earlier excluded from it.

2)    Various party groups enter into coalitions with other castes or communities and thus enter into a dialogue and negotiation.

1)    New kinds of caste groups have come up in the political arena such as the ‘backward’ and ‘forward’ caste groups.

Effects of Exclusive Attention to Caste…

•      It is to be noticed the existence of the caste system is itself not healthy.

•      It mostly produces negative results.

•      In India, it can divert attention from other pressing issues like poverty, unemployment and corruption.

•      The caste system may also lead to tensions, caste violence and conflicts.