Stigma of the community will inherently affect the stigma within the community
Men and women of various minority and indigenous groups face a unique set of challenges on account of their gender and community status; a form of intersectional discrimination that is often particularly difficult to address.
How is a particular caste declared as a minority community in India? In order to understand this further, it is necessary to trace the construct of caste through its origins against a historical lens or understand the contemporary challenges it faces through a modern lens. These two tenets guide the declaration of a community as ‘minority’ or ‘backward’, subsequently leading to its categorization under the constitution schedule. For example, the De-notified and Nomadic tribes (DNT) of India used to be labelled as “Criminal Tribes” under the Criminal Tribes Act during the colonial rule in 1871.
This act was constructed on the theoretical assumption that factors that define criminality was based on the ‘genetic’ predisposition of the offender—emphasizing that crime was a “hereditary trait”. This resulted in specific castes under the DNT categorization to be ‘notified’ as delinquents and branded as habitual offenders. The reality of ‘notified’ communities was constructed, controlled and operated by those in power, and the stigma of criminality further fueled the discrimination and marginalization of these communities from the mainstream population. In the year 1952, Jawaharlal Nehru scrapped this act and ‘de-notified’ communities who were branded as ‘criminals’, but this did not drastically change the oppression such communities faced.
The story of caste minority communities does not just end here. Even today, among the Indian police force, the idea that ‘habitual criminals’ (generally understood through the ‘Habitual Offenders Act’) are primarily minority communities like Dalits and DNTs still exist. The men of these communities are falsely arrested and continue to be prosecuted for crimes they have never committed, and such happening still perpetuate. The lack proper investigation into such cases and the absence of legal representation of such groups is also another contributing factor to why such cases go unreported. When the reality of such caste minority communities is violence, intolerance and marginalization, how does the intersection of gender with caste play out in situations of conflict?
In circumstances of conflict, which turns out to be the case for many caste minority communities, a gendered lens is often required to understand the issues the genders experience. In tribal majority states like Jharkhand, violence perpetrated against DNTs often go unreported as members of such communities are completely powerless. The case of Mahadeo Munda, a tribal man in Jharkhand, who was picked up by police officers and tortured in the belief that he was a part of the Maoist group, is just a single testimony among the several thousand narrating how exposed and vulnerable men are in such regions, more so than women.
To further break such cases down, in many societies, the ability to use violence or power is attributed to the male gender and is considered to be the assertion of a masculine trait. Therefore, those in the receiving end of the violence, are considered to the binary of this masculinity, which is inherently a submissive ‘feminine’ acceptance of this violence. Especially among the Lodhi community in Jharkhand (a caste minority under DNT), “feminization of men” happen especially in situations of conflict, as they are more ‘open to vulnerabilities’. Women of these communities often take on more responsibilities at a familial level and a sort of gender reversal of roles happen, with women exhibiting traits of ‘masculinity’ and men subjected to experience traits that are considered more ‘feminine’ in nature.
Gender reversal of roles especially among such communities occur primarily in extreme cases of conflict, which is often seen with the tribal communities in Jharkhand who are caught in between the Maoist-Naxalite insurgency and police atrocities. Women belonging to the DNTs in Jharkhand have very strongly voiced out their opinions of the atrocities that happen in such places, and the fact that they actively participate in demonstrations and protests already connote a ‘masculine’ approach towards attacking such problem. A shift in the gender roles in such communities suggest that the upliftment of their current status is prioritized over structures like gender and caste, as combating such violence becomes their primary concern.
However, in the case of the Kanjarbhat community—another minority caste under the denotified tribe in Maharashtra—the intersection of caste and gender plays out a bit differently. Although the Kanjarbhat community have been marginalised because of their status as DNT, the men of the community feel more emasculated than the women, and in order to ‘assert their suppressed masculinities’ as a community, they set out norms that allow them to exercise more control over the women of their community. The humiliating ‘virginity test’ imposed on the women of the community is practiced to determine if a woman is a virgin or not. The newly married couple is taken to hotel room to consummate their marriage. The bridegroom is given a white bed sheet and is asked to use it while having sex. Members of the Jaat panchayat sit outside the room. After the sex, if the groom comes out with the bed sheet that has blood stains on it, then the bride passes the test of being a virgin. But, if the bed sheet lacks blood stains, the panchayat members accuse the bride of having a previous physical relationship and hence is not a virgin. With a practice like the ‘virginity test’, men of the Kanjarbhat community have established their power and dominance over their women much more frequently than address caste related discrimination, suggesting a prioritisation of their gender identity over their caste identity.
In Tamil Nadu, manual scavengers that are hired through various contractors representing the government, are primarily hired from a particular caste known as Chakkiliyan (caste seen synonymous to Dalits). The primary job of a manual scavenger entails them to clean, handle and dispose human excreta. According to the division of labour by the caste system, the Chakkiliyan community is regarded as the ‘excreta cleaning’ caste, and as the dominance of the caste system still prevails in states like Tamil Nadu, generations of this caste have been manual scavengers and continue to participate in this job. In metropolitan cities like Chennai and Coimbatore, over 90% of the manual scavengers hired are women from this caste. The patriarchal idea that women are meant for housekeeping, still plays out when hiring manual scavengers with the belief is that women, especially those belonging in the lower castes, are ‘supposed’ to clean the dirt. Although the act of hiring manual scavengers was banned in 1993, majority of the toilets in the country that are dry latrines needs to be cleaned manually. In the case of Tamil Nadu, both men and women who are exploited as labour in this job suffer serious health issues, are not compensated financially, and their safety is the employer's least concern.
Regardless of how various circumstances play out, both men and women are the victims of a collision of deep-rooted gender and caste discrimination resulting in wide ranging exploitation especially in minority communities. The framework of intersectionality can help expose complexities involved in multiple identities, analyzing various factors involved in creating such a situation, but to what extent? I have come to realize that my upbringing never involved any of the realties that members belonging to such caste minority groups had to face. With multiple identities intersecting at different scenarios, it is indeed very difficult to ‘prioritize’ one’s battles when dehumanisation is the grand narrative of their life. Although it is hard to address gender issues without specifically analyzing its relevance to structure and context, it is the experiential learning that acts as a tool that allows one to choose which identity, they will weaponize in their battle. Empowering people who are marginalized should be the new narrative. This should involve people within such minority communities as well as from people outside such communities.
Works Cited
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