Jayanti Srivastava Week 3

Summary – week 3 – Jayanti Srivastava

Chapter 1 & 2, Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens Through a Feminist Lens by Uma Chakraborty

In her book Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens, Uma Chakraborty takes us through the various distinctions between the different castes and classes that exist in our society. In the first chapter of her book, she talks caste-based ideologies, class-based ideologies, and how the discrimination on the basis of class and castes impacts the individuals belonging to the lower strata of these categories. She begins by explaining what, and how the concept of caste came around. She talked about how the Manusmriti made the distinction between the different castes, and ever since, these “rules”, or ideologies have been affecting people in various stages of their life. Something as simple as a name is also governed by the rules of the smriti, which says that those belonging to the upper castes have pure, and strong names, while the names of the people belonging to the lower castes must ooze disgust. The lower castes have been associated with impurity; they are considered to be polluted. Many towns have special areas just for the lower castes, where people from the upper castes do not go, and the lower castes are required to maintain a minimum distance from the upper castes. These distinctions are not just limited to castes, but they also penetrate the sphere of gender. Just so the upper castes remain “pure”, and are not “infiltrated” by the lower castes, the practice of endogamy is followed. Marriage is referred to as the “exchange of women” within a jati. The women are used as tools, and treated as objects, to keep their jati pure. The Constitution has made various laws to remove these inequalities, and these rules exist in books, however the social inequalities remain.