Dalit feminism

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. In Nepal, Dalit women are 13.2% of the population. Most of the Dalit women in Pakistan live in the Punjab region, according to a 1998 census. Overall, Dalit women make up the "largest socially segregated" group of people in the world at 2% of the world's population. Dalit women face oppression not only from men belonging to oppressor castes, but also from other Dalit men. In addition, there is a hierarchy among Dalit groups, with some Dalits being higher up on the social scale than others. Dalit women face violence at higher rates, including types of violence that are specifically done to Dalit women. 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. 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. Dalit sexuality has long been "constructed as deviant" by higher castes due to Dalit women's lower caste status. Their bodies were considered "sexually available" by British colonists. In Nepal, a study conducted in 2013 found that 50.6% of Dalit women faced daily forms of violence, including physical and sexual abuse. In addition, many Nepali Dalit women must adhere to the practice of Chhaupadi. In Pakistan, Dalit women face kidnappings and forced conversion to Islam. 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. The varying lived experiences of women of different castes and religious communities undermine the supposed uniformity of the identity of the ‘woman’. Anandita Pan states “intersectional identities of caste/gender and the interwoven nature of practice and theory have constituted the root of Dalit feminism”. At the same time, as scholar Nivedita Menon contends, intersectionality in its American conceptualization cannot be used as a universal framework, rather, Dalit feminist theory should be understood as situated in the temporal and spatial contexts, and lived experiences of Indian women. == History ==

India In the 1920s, Dalit women were active in anti-caste and anti-untouchability movements. President of the conference, Sulochanabai Dongre, advocated for birth control. 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. 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. 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. However, Dalit women also felt that they needed to speak for themselves. Dalit women sent delegates to the 1993 World Conference against Racism and the 1995 World Conference on Women. Leading up to the World Conference on Women in Beijing, Dalit women had held a national conference in Delhi. For the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, Dalit women advocated that discrimination based on caste be added to language against racism. Adding this type of language would put global pressure on the Indian government. However, in coalition with the United States, the clause to prevent discrimination against Dalit women was dropped in 2001. Despite the clause being dropped, international coverage meant that discrimination based on caste was finally globally recognized. In 2002, Khabar Lahariya (News Waves), the first newspaper written by and for Dalit women was created. Khabar Lahariya focuses on issues in the Dalit community in their own languages. 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. Pakistan 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. However, this doesn't mean there isn't still caste-based discrimination. The first Dalit woman senator in Pakistan, Krishna Kumari Kohli, was elected in 2018. == Today ==

In the present day, activists such as Ruth Manorama work on legal and political actions to empower Dalit women. Manorama has spoken out about how laws that are meant to protect women in Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are poorly implemented. In addition, Asha Kowtal of the All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch (AIDMAM) says that India is "stonewalling any discussion on caste." 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. AIDMAM presented testimonies of gender and caste-based violence at the 38th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2018. 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. == Literature ==

Dalit women's writing brings issues of caste identity to feminist literature. Similarly, valid depictions of Dalit women's experiences have been overlooked in the writing of Dalit men. 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. Kandasamy has also discussed how, since many of these works deal with politics, they are not seen as true literature. Prominent women writers of Dalit literature in the Telugu language include Challapalli Swaroopa Rani, Joopaka Subhadra, Jajula Gowri, Swathy Margaret and Gogu Shyamala. These writers have primarily used poetry, short stories, essays and more to challenge the intersectional forms of oppression they faced. 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. Dalit women's autobiographies, such as Baby Kamble's The Prisons We Broke (2008) and P. Sivakami's The Grip of Change 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. 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 ==