Background information on Dalit women in India

         
                               Background information on Dalit women in India


The Dalits

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

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

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

India is a Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Based
on this treaty, the Government of India has an obligation to make sure that Dalit
women can enjoy a whole range of human rights, such as the right to life,
freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
freedom from slavery, the right to be equal before the court, the right to
recognition as a person before the law, the right to privacy, the right to marryonly with free and full consent, and the right to take part in public affairs. The
life and dignity of Dalit women depends on the realisation of these human rights.
However, they are breached systematically.
An essential precondition for the realisation of civil and political rights of Dalit
women is registration. Article 24 (2) of the Covenant provides that every child
shall be registered immediately after birth. In India, 46 % of all children are not
registered. There is also no system of registration of marriages. This is not only a
barrier for the realisation of civil and political rights; it also prevents the
protection of Dalit girls from sexual exploitation and trafficking, child labour and
forced and early marriages.

Economic, social, and cultural rights

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

Millennium Development Goals and Dalit women

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

Violence against Dalit women – impunity

Certain kinds of violence are traditionally reserved for Dalit women: extreme
filthy verbal abuse and sexual epithets, naked parading, dismemberment, being
forced to drink urine and eat faeces, branding, pulling out of teeth, tongue and
nails, and violence including murder after proclaiming witchcraft, are only
experienced by Dalit women. Dalit women are threatened by rape as part of
collective violence by the higher castes. However, sexual assault and rape of Dalit
women and girls also occur within their own communities. For Dalit men, the
suppression and rape of women could be a way to compensate for their own lack
of power in society. The Devadasi system of temple prostitution is the most
extreme form of exploitation of Dalit women. Dalit girl children are forced to
prostitution. The majority of cases of violence against Dalit women are notregistered. The lack of law enforcement leaves many Dalit women unable to
approach the legal system to seek redress. Women are often also unaware of the
laws and their ignorance is exploited by their opponents, by the police, and by
the judiciary system. Even when cases are registered, the lack of appropriate
investigation, or the judge’s own caste and gender biases, can lead to acquittal.

Action by Dalit women

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

Getting organised as Dalit women

Since the late 1980s, therefore, Dalit women have increasingly felt and articulated
the need for a separate platform – created, developed and controlled by
themselves – through which they could forge their own identity, fight for their
rights and find solutions to their particular problems as Dalits and as women.
Conscious that the call for a separate platform could be interpreted as a divisive
move by both Dalit men and non-Dalit women, the proponents of such a special
forum emphasise that their initiative must not be mistaken for a separatist
movement. Rather they assert that there is need for strong alliances between the
Dalit movement, the women’s movement and the Dalit women’s movement if
their common vision of social, economic and political equality and justice for all
isto be realised.
The National Federation of Dalit Women (NFDW) was launched by Dalit women
themselves and committed itself to undertake several tasksto bring about positive
changes in the lives of Dalit women, such as legal action against caste based
atrocities, political empowerment of Dalit women, economic empowerment
against growing pauperisation, building self-confidence and leadership.