Dalit Women Talk Differently: A Critique of 'Difference' and Towards a Dalit Feminist

Standpoint Position
Author(s): Sharmila Rege
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33, No. 44 (Oct. 31 - Nov. 6, 1998), pp. WS39-
WS46
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 Dalit Women Talk Differently
A Critique of 'Difference' and Towards a Dalit Feminist
Standpoint Position
Sharmila Rege

The assertion of autonomous dalit women's organisations in the 1990s threw up several crucial theoretical
and political challenges, besides underlining the brahmanism of the feminist movement and the patriarchal
practices of dalit politics. While initially they promoted serious debate among both left party-based women's
groups as well as autonomous women 's movement, they seem to have come to rest today. The apparent absence
of a revisioning offeministpolitics only suggests an ideological position of multiple/pluralfeminist standpoints.
Within such a framework of 'difference' issues of caste become the sole responsibility of the dalit women's
organisations. This absence of an exploration of different positions hinders dialectics, both of a revisioning
of contemporary feminist politics azd a sharpening of the positions put forth by autonomous dalit women's
organisations.

A SIGNIFICANT shift in the feminist non-brahman movements and movements positions - hinders the dialectics; both of
thought of the 1980s and 1990s was the by or on behalf of women; for both these a revisioning of contemporary feminist
increasing visibility of black and third had utilised the colonial law, justice and politics and a sharpening of the positions
world feminist work. Yet, there has been administration as major resources [Sarkar put forth by autonomous dalit women's
a reluctance on part of white feminists 1997].
to Recent feminist scholarship in organisations. This paper seeks to open
confront the challenges posed to them adopting
by the Saidian framework not only some of these issues for debate.
black and third world feminism. Often, falls into the above mentioned traps, but The paper is organised into four sections:
ends up with a frame that completely Section I seeks to review the changing
this reluctance has been justified in terms
of white feminists refraining from overlooks
an the contributions and inter- categories of feminist analysis. It traces
appropriation of the voices of black and ventions of women in the non-brahman the processes by which 'difference' as a
third world women [Whelehan 1995]. This movement. The invisibility of this lineage,category came to occupy a central place
reluctance and relative silence on part has
of led scholars to conceive the recent in feminist analyses. This, it is argued, has
the white feminists amounts to an autonomous assertion by dalit women- meant a backtracking from some of the
assumption that confronting racismasis'athe
different voice'. core categories in feminism. It is imperative
sole responsibility of black feminists Theor1980s were marked by the newly for feminist politics that 'difference' be
exploding
to a reassertion of the old assumption that caste identity and consciousness historically located in the real struggles of
the political process of becomingand anti- marginalised women. Section II undertakes
theoretical and political issues involved
in the debate on caste and its role in social
sexist includes by definition the process such an exercise of historically locating
transformation
of becoming anti-racist. Much of this state the 'different voice' of dalit women in
came to be debated [Kothari
of stasis in western feminism may beThe early 1990s saw the assertion
1994]. their struggles, tracing the lineage through
explained in terms of the alliance between of autonomous dalit women's organi-the Satyashodhak and Ambedkarite
feminism and post-structuralism/ movements. It is further argued that the
sations at both regional and national levels.
postmodernism; more specifically inSuch termsan assertion had thrown up several reinscription of these struggles in our
of the category of 'difference' coming crucial historical mappings - poses a challenge
totheoretical and political challenges,
the centre of feminist theorisation. A besides underlining the brahmanism of the to Chatterjee's (1989) analysis of the
commitment to feminist politics demands feminist movement and the patriarchal 'Nationalist Resolution of the Women's
practices of dalit politics. The formation
that the limited political and analytical use Question'; an analysis that has come to
of this category of 'difference' be of autonomous dalit women's organi-inform much of the theorisation on gender
underlined. and nation. Section III seeks to trace the
sations, initially propelled a serious debate,
drawing responses from both left party
In the Indian context, the political pitfalls exclusion of dalit women's voices in the
based as well as autonomous women's
of the ever increasing impact of post- two important new social movements of
modernist and post-structural approaches organisations. However, the debates the 1970s; the dalit movement and in more
in terms of the rise of 'culturological' seemed
and to have come to rest and the relative
detail the women's movement. Tracing
communitarian approaches [Joseph 1991, silence, and the apparent absence the of aissues at stake in the post Mandal-
1997]; the rise of the 'later subaltern Masjid phase of the women's movement,
revisioning of feminist politics thereafter
subject' [Sarkar 1997] and the post-colonial only suggests an ideological position it is
ofargued that the assertion of dalit
subject [Ahmad 1997] have been noted. multiple/plural feminist standpoints. That women's voices in the 1990s brings up
In the framework of postorientalism is to say, the separate assertion by significant dalit issues for the revisioning of
studies, the focus remains on colonial women's organisations comes to be
feminist politics. Finally, Section IV argues
domination alone, thereby the pre-colonialaccepted as one more standpoint and withinthat the assertion of dalit women's voices
roots of caste, gender, and class dominationsuch a framework of 'difference'; issuesis not just an issue of naming their
come to be ignored. The application ofof caste become the sole responsibility 'difference'.
of 'Naming of difference' leads
Saidian framework, therefore presents athe dalit women's orgainsations.toAn a narrow identitarian politics - rather
problem, especially when applied to theabsence of an exploration of each other's this assertion is read as a centring of the

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discourse on caste and gender and is viewed isation of the causes of women's (ii) Position of nominalism - It is argued
as suggesting a dalit feminist standpoint. oppression. Yet there was a consensus
that a category called 'woman' cannot
A large part of the paper draws upon our exist in
between them, in that they believed - itthe
is fictitious because there are
understanding of and engagement in the search for fundamentals of social several
causation, differences (race, class, etc) that
contemporary women's movement in i e, both the camps asked the construct
question women differently. They replace
Maharashtra. a politics
'what is the original or founding cause of of agenda with plurality of
women's oppression?' But by the difference
1980s [Alcoff 1988]. Therefore,
I
Feminist Theorisation : From
- this consensus had brokenfeminist
up and politics is completely lost as the
'difference' came to the centre of key
feminist
activity becomes one of dismantling
'Difference' to more 'Difference'
analysis [Barrett and Philips 1992].and deconstructing the differences among
Feminism of the 1970s had developed women. Thus using the category of
Several factors have played a constitutive
in difference from the Left. Crucial to this
role in the processes that brought 'difference'
the- feminists came to celebrate
difference, were three categories viz -
category the aspects
of 'difference'to the centre of of femininity that were
woman, experience and personal politics, feminist analyses. This has meant, previously
a focus looked down upon or the
which were central to feminist theorisation
on language, culture and discourse 'different
to thevoices' of women of different
[Grant 1993]. Though these categories exclusion of political economy, anationalities,
rejection races, classes, etc come to
of universalism in favour of difference,
were powerful as political rhetoric - they an
be celebrated - i e, their plurality is
posed theoretical problems. The category
insistence on fluid and fragmentedunderlined
human without an analysis of the
'woman' was conceived as collectively, subject rather than collectivities,
structures aof racism, patriarchies, inter-
celebration of the marginal and national
based on their being oppressed by the fact denial of division of labour and capita-
of their womanhood. The three categories lism. shift
all causal analysis [Wood 1996]. This Therefore all analyses come to focus
were deployed in combination and this in perspective has been aided in on identities, subjectivities and repre-
different
often led to exclusions around race, class sentations.
ways by the following key factors.
The
ethnicity. Since most of the vocal feminists collapse of actually existing
At this point, it is important to take note
of the 1970s were white, middle class and socialisms and the loss of prestigeofthat this
the fact that there has been a resurgence
university educated - it was their brought about for Marxism in the Anglo- and the importance of naming
of identities
experience which came to be universalised American academies. The enormous and the differences that emerge out of race, sex
as 'women's experience'. Thus, sweeping continued political interrogation of white, and so on cannot be denied. But it is
statements such as "All Women are middle class feminism by black and third- important to underline the fact that we
Niggers" were made [Rubin 1969]. world
The feminists. This was welcome and don't have to accept postmodernist notions
ambivalence of the left towards the notion of 'plurality' or 'difference' in order to
had at one level led to micro-level analyses
of women's issues was thus countered by of the complex interplay of different axes take note of these differences, i e, to say
an assertion that women were essentially of inequality. For e g, black feminists that 'no doubt, the notion of difference did
connected with other women and play a significant role in black and third
questioned the sex/class debate of the 1970s
'subjective experiences of knowledge'
arguing that the complex interplay between world women naming their oppression.
sex, class, race needed to be underlined.
became the base of the universal experience But as an analytical and political tool its
of womanhood. Thus 'experience'But became
at another level - these interrogationsvalue is limited. A shift of focus from
the base for personal politics astook
well as cultural path; i e, the 'different
a more 'naming difference' or 'different voice' to
voices'
the only reliable mythological tool of black, Afro-American, Chicana,
for social relations thatconvert difference into
defining oppression [Grant 1993]. Asian women, etc, came to be celebrated.
At least oppression is imperative for feminist
three major postulates emerged from The politics. We may recall here the impasse
growing interest in psychoanalytic
such
an epistemological position, one that analyses
therewhich led to 'sexual differences'
that black feminist politics has landed in
is system of male domination, that beingthis even as black feminist literature finds an
viewed as intransigent and positive.
system is political and that politics Therefore,
included for instance, feminist writings
ever expanding market. In such a situation,
all power relationships regardless
began of
to celebrate 'motherhood' asmany
a of the very vocal black feminists
whether or not that power operated positive
in thedifferent experience of being (P H Collins for instance) have in their
female. We must underline here that this
public sphere (i e, to say the 'personal' recent writings made a shift to relativism.
suited
was declared to political and as focus well the agenda of the New Right Consider for, e g, the following statement
came
to be on power in intimate relationships,
who had sought to combine in its ideology "Black feminist thought represents only
- values
critiques of state or capitalism took a back of free market, neo-nationalism a partial perspective... by understanding
andblack
seat). In such a theoretical position, conservatism. The rise of post- the perspectives of many groups, know-
women come to be excluded as a structural
structualism and postmodernism and the ledge of social reality can hecome more
consequence of the deployment of the increasing alliance of feminism with the complete" - [Collins 1990; 234]. That is
categories of 'woman' and 'subjective same. This has meant broadly taking one there is an unwillingness to privilege any
experience'. of the following two positions. one viewpoint and Collins seems to make
Theoretical debates came to centre (i) Position of cultural feminism -which a shift /a confusion between generating
sees feminists as having the exclusive rightknowledge from the experience of the
around the theme of patriarchy, its material
base, its persistence across modes of
to describe and evaluate women.Therefore, oppressed as opposed to generating know-
production and different levels within'passivity' comes to mean peaceful, ledge from the subjectivities of the oppres-
modes of production. Socialist feminists
sentimentality means nurture, etc, i e, to sed [Mann and Kelly 1997].
and radical feminists posed the issues in very 'defining of woman' is not We shall argue that what we need -
say the
challenged only the dominant male
terms of capital needs v/s male control. instead is a shift of focus from 'difference'
The crux of the differences between them
definitions of the same come to be and multiple voices to the social relations
rested on their differential conceptual-
challenged. which convert difference into oppression.

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This requires the working out of the cultural underline both the revolutionary potential which women's participation in the
and material dimensions of the interactions and inherent contradictions that the Ambedkarite movement was at its peak.
and interphases between the different democratising movements constitutedBut forin Chattejee' s framework, such move-
hierarchies of class, gender, race and so peasant and working class women. While ments would be dismissed as western-
on. In other words this means transforming these democratising movements are seen inspired, orientalist, for they utilised
'difference' into a standpoint This is as heralding 'class rights for women'aspectsas of colonial policies and western
something we shall turn to in the last ideologies as resources [Sarkar 1997]. If
'against and over' simply familial orcaste-
section of the paper. With these 'lessons related identities; the histories of the non-
'difference' of dalit women's protest is to
to be learnt' from the contemporary brahman democratic movements, everbe sohistoricised then these protests and
political impasse of black feminism, we crucial to the emancipatory discourse struggles
on must be reinscribed; what has
shall in the next section seek to historically caste and gender come to be overlooked. been excluded must be remapped and
locate the 'difference' of dalit women's This is true of most of the renderingsrenamed.
of
voices in their real struggles. A historicalfeminist history of moder India; though One of the most significant counter
reinscription of dalit women's struggles there are notable exceptions [Omvedt 1976,narratives was Jotiba Phule's project for
into the historiography of modern IndiaPatil 1982,O'Hanlon 1994, Bhagwat 1990, the liberation of the shudras, anti-shudras
poses major challenges for our established V Geethal992and Chakravarti 1998]. and women from the slavery of brahma-
understanding of nationalism and the More recent feminist studies have nism. He conceptualised a Bali Rajya of
women's question in 19th century India.adopted poststructuralist and postmodemequality of all men in opposition to Ram
Rajya based on Vara Ashrama Dharma,
perspectives and this has resulted in studies
II
dwelling "obsessively on the limitationsthus reversing the Aryan theory and giving
Historicising Difference: Women in a liberatory vision of history. His
of west inspired reform initiatives" [Sarkar
Non-Brahman Movement
1997]. Most of the feminist studies of the
contestation of Brahmanical patriarchy
stands in contestation with the recasting
late colonial period have come to be pre-
History of late colonial India has always
determined
prioritised Indian nationalism, such that it by Partha Chatterjee's (1989)
of patriarchies by upper caste brahmanical
comes to be assumed that the world of male reformers. His recognition of the
frame of 'ghar/bahar' and the nationalist
political action and discourse can be material
resolution of the women's question. In and sexual consequences of
Chatterjee's theoretical framework ofenforced
comprehended only through the categories the widowhood is apparent in the
of nationalism, imperialism and com-self/other, he introduces a new binary reformist work done by him.
munalism. The radical historio-graphies opposition - between home/world, public Muktabai (a student in Phule's school)
and private domains and argues that,in
of colonial India, though they emphasised thean essay entitled 'About the Girls of
the autonomous role of peasant, labour nationalist counter-ideology separatedMangs the and Mahars' draws attention to the
and other subaltern groups, equated the domain of culture into the material and deprivation of lower castes from their lands,
spiritual. The colonised had to learn thethe prohibition of knowledge imposed on
historiography of colonial India with that
of Indian nationalism [Sarkar 1997]. Thetechniques of the western civilisation inthem and the complex hierarchies wherein
non-brahmanical re-constructions of the material sphere while retaining theeven the lower castes were stratified into
historiography of modern India in the distinctive spiritual essence of the material.more or less polluting. She then compares
works of Omvedt ( 1976,1993,1994), PatilThese new dichotomies, it is arguedthe experiences of birthing for lower caste
(1982) and Alyosius (1997) have under- matched with the identity of social rolesand brahmin women, underlining the
lined the histories of anti-hierarchical,
by gender; and during this period the 'new specificities of experiences of lower caste
pro-democratising collective aspirationswoman' came to be defined within this women [Chakravarti 1998]. Savitribai
of the lower caste masses which are not frame and therefore as distinct from the Phule's letters reveal an acute conscious-
common/lower class female, further he ness of the relationship between know-
easily encapsulated within the histories of
anti-colonial nationalism. Infact these argues that in the 19th century, the woman's ledge and power and crucial need for
question
histories have often faced the penalty of had been a central issue but by democratic access to knowledge for the
the early 20th century this questionshudras and women.
being labelled as collaborative and have
disappeared from the public domain. This
therefore being ignored in a historiography Tarabai Shinde's 'Stree Purush Tulana'
not because political issues take over (1882), a text against women's sub-
is of
which is dominated by narratives
nationalism. but because nationalism refused to make ordination was written from within the
Feminist historiography made radical women's question an issue of political Satya shodhak tradition. This text launched
breakthroughs in teasing out the negotiation with the colonial state. an attack not only on brahmanical patri-
redefinitions of gender and patriarchies, Chatterjee argues that the changes in middlearchy but also the patriarchies among the
i e, to say in "pulling out the hidden history class women's lives were outside the arena 'kunbi' and other non-brahman castes.
swept under the liberal carpet of reforms" of political agitation and the home becameGoing beyond a mere comparison between
[Vaid and Sangari 1989]. Feminist the principal site of struggle through which men and women, Tarabai draws linkages
renderings of history have been ever since nationalist patriarchy came to be normal-between issues of de-industrialisation,
concerned with comprehending the ised. Thus Chatterjee concludes that thecolonialism and the commodification of
linkages between reforms and the re- nationalists had in the early decades of the women's bodies [Bhagwat 1997].
alignments of patriarchies with hierarchies century 'resolved' the woman's question, The early decades of the 20th century
of caste, class, ethnicity and so on. Vaidall subsequent reworkings of the women's saw protests by 'muralis' against caste-
and Sangari(l989) make a significant question by dalit and working class women, based prostitution in the campaigns
distinction between the "modernising of thus come to be precluded. The period launched by Shivram Janoba Kamble. The
patriarchal modes of regulating women"marked by Chatterjee as the period of the 1930s saw the organisation of independent
and the "democratisi ng of gender relations" 'resolution of women's question'; as we meetings and conferences by dalit women
both at home and the work place. Theyshall note later - is the very period in in the Ambedkarite movement. This was

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an obvious consequence of Ambedkar's in 1931. This Resolution postulated Mukti Dal,Yuvak Kranti Dal - none of
practice of organising a women's con- freedom, justice, dignity and equality for whom limited the dalit women to a token
ference along with every general meeting all women as essential for nation-building. inclusion ; their revolutionary agenda, in
and Sabha that he called. In theseThe political contestations between different ways accorded them a central
'parishads' of the 1930s, dalit women
competing political visions of how various place. This is however not the case with
delegates passed resolutions against child subjects would be related to each the two other movements of the period -
national
marriage, enforced widowhood and other
dowry;were thus levelled out. In the post- the Dalit Panther and the women's
Ambedkarite phase of the movement, movement; as constituted mainly by the
critiquing these practices as brahmanical.
Women's participation in the Mahad women's participation marked a decline left party-based women's fronts and the
Satyagraha, their support to the Inde- the major upsurge during the then emergent autonomous women's
excepting
pendent Labour Party and the Schedule Dadasaheb Gaikwad led struggle for land groups.The Dalit Panthers made a
Caste Federation have been well docu- rights and the Namaantar movement. significant contribution to the cultural
mented [Moon and Pawar 1989]. Women However, it must be noted that there are revolt of the 1970s - but in both their
in large numbers supported Dharmantaar regional variations in these patterns of writings and their programme - the dalit
as a need for a religion that would recognise
participation in struggles. A recent study women remained encapsulated firmly in
by Guru (1998) has drawn attention to the the roles ofthe 'mother' and the 'victimised
their equal status. Women's participation
in the Ambedkarite movement must be sustained organisation of dalit women sexual being'.
read in the context of the fact that in
through the mahila mandals in Akola The Left party based women's organ-
Ambedkar's theory of caste there is also
region. These mandals though primarily isations made significant contribution
organised around Trisaran and Panchshil, towards economic and work-related issues
a theory of the origins of sub-ordination
of women and that he saw the two issues sensitise their members to the Ambedkarite as the autonomous women's groups
as intrinsically linked [Pardeshi 1997]. ideology. The dalit women of these region politicised and made public the issue of
In a review of the different definitions have been vocal on the cultural landscape violence against women. Serious debates
of caste put forth by Nesfield, Risley, in the post-Ambedkerite phase. Their on class v/s patriarchies emerged, both
Ketkar and others, Ambedkar points to the compositions ('ovi' and 'palana') are rich parties however did not address the issues
inadequacy of understanding caste in terms in political content, for instance one of the of brahmanism. While for the former
of 'idea of pollution'. He argues that "the ovis reads 'caste' was contained in class, for the latter
absence of intermarriage or endogamy is Maya dari Nib! Nibale Phullera the notion of sisterhood was pivotal. All
the one characteristic that can be called women came to be conceived as 'victims'
Babasahebanchy kotale Sonaychi Zalai (p 25)
the essence of castes" [Ambedkar 1992]. (This ovi suggests that the golden borderand therefore 'dalit'; so that what results
Thus it is the superimposition of endogamy on Ambedkar's suit is more precious thanis a classical exclusion. All 'dalits' are
on exogamy and the means used for thethe rose on the suit of Nehru). This jux- assumed to be males and all women
same that hold the key to the understanding taposing of Ambedkar against Nehru is a 'savarna'. It may be argued that th
of the caste system. Ambedkar then draws statement on the political contradictions categories of experience and personal
up a detailed analysis of how numericalbetween dalit politics and the politics ofpolitics were at the core of the epi stemology
equality between the marriageable unitsthe Congress. and politics of the Dalit Panther movemen
of the two sexes within the group is A review of all these counter narratives and the women's movement. Such a
maintained. Thus he argues that practices underlines the fact that the 'difference' or position resulted into a universalisation of
of sati, enforced widowhood and child 'different voice' of the dalit women is not what was in reality the middle class, upper
marriage come to be prescribed by brahma- an issue of identitarian politics; some caste women's experience orthe dalit male
nism in order to regulate and control any 'authentic direct experience' but from a experience.
transgression of boundaries, i e, to say he long lived history of lived struggles. Dalit The autonomous women's groups of the
underlines the fact that the caste system women play a crucial role in transferring early 1980s had remained largely de-
can be maintained only through the con- across generations, the oral repertoire of pendent on the left frame even as they
trols on women's sexuality and in this personalised yet very collective accounts emerged as a challenge to it [Omvedt
sense women are the gateways to the caste of their family's interaction with 1993].With the women's movement
system [Ambedkar 1992:90]. In his speech Babasaheb or other leaders of the dalit gathering momentum - sharp critiques of
at the gathering of women at the Mahad movement. The question that emerges then mainstream conceptualisations of work,
satyagraha, he draws linkages between development, legal process and the state
is 'Why is this different voice of the dalit
caste exploitation and women's sub- women' inaudible in the two major new emerged and this led to several theoretical
ordination by underlining this; calls upon social movements of the 1970s, namely and praxiological reformulations. Debates
women to contest the claims of upper caste the dalit movement and the women's? The on class v/s patriarchy, were politically
women's progeny to purity and the next section traces the issue through the
enriching for both the parties to the debate.
damnation of that of the lower caste to It must be underlined here that most of the
latter while making brief references to the
impurity. He locates the specificities and former. feminist groups broadly agreed that in the
varying intensities of women's sub- Indian context, a materialistic framework
III
ordination by caste and thereby draws was imperative to the analysis of women's
Masculinisation of Dalithood and
their attention to the specificities of their oppression. However in keeping with their
Savarnisation of Womanhood
subordination, both as 'dalit' and as roots in the 'class' framework, there were
'women' [Pardeshi 1997]. The new social movements of the 1970sefforts to draw commonalities across class
These contentious non-brahmin images and the early 1980s saw the emergence andof to a lesserextent castes orcommunities
of identities for women however come to several organisations and fronts such[Omvedt
as 1993]. This is apparent in the
be silenced by the Fundamental Rights the Shramik Mukti Sanghatana, major campaigns launched by the women's
Resolution of the Indian National Congress Satyashodhak Communist Party,Shramik
movement during this period. The absence

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of an analytical frame that in the tradition Muslim OBC Sanghatana have revealed
of the panchayat and in the new knowledge
of Phule and Ambedkar would view caste that encroachment on caste-based
making processes (such as Bhanwari
hierarchies and patriarchies as intrinsically occupational practices and issues
Devi'sof
intervention through the Saathin
education and employment are listed
linked is apparent in the in the anti-dowry, as
programme) has led to increased backlash
anti-rape and anti-violence struggles ofcrucial issues by a majority of the against
Muslim dalit women. The backlash is
the women's movement. women. expressed through a range of humiliating
practices
An analysis of the practices of violenceThus in retrospect, it is clear that and often culminates in rape -
while
against women by caste would reveal that or hacking to death of their kinsmen. Such
the left party-based women's organisations
while the incidence of dowry deaths and collapsed caste into class, the autonomous
incidents underline the need for a dialogue
between into
women's groups collapsed caste
violent controls and regulations on the dalit and feminist activists,
mobility and sexuality by the family are since inter-caste relations at the local level
sisterhood - both leaving brahmanism
frequent among the dominant upper castes unchallenged. The movement may has ad- through a redefinition
be mediated
- dalit women are more likely to face thedressed issues concerning women of gendered
of thespaces. Kannabiran and
collective and public threat of rape, sexual Kannabiran
dalit, tribal and minority communities and(1991) have pointed to how
assault and physical violence at the work the deadlock
substantial gains have been achieved but between kshatriya and dalit
place and in public [Rege 1994]. Considera feminist politics centring around
men causedthe by dalit agricultural labourer
for e g, the statements issued by women'swomen of the most marginalised womencom- "dressing well" could be solved
munities could not emerge. The only
organisations during the Mathura rape case. by a decision
history of taken by men of both
While the NFIW looked at rape in 'class' the communities.
agitations and struggles of the second wave It was decided that
terms the socialist women in terms of of the women's movement articulated women of either community would not be
'glass vessel cracking' and therefore strong
in anti-patriarchal positionsallowed
on to step into each other's locations.
different issues. Issues of sexuality The
terms of less of honour; the AIWC sought and sexual assault on dalit women has
sexual politics - which are crucial for
psychological explanations of the auto- a used as a common practice for under-
been
nomous women's groups highlighted feminist
the mining the manhood of the caste. Some
politics remained largely within
use of patrtiarchial power [Akerkar 1995; dalit male activists did argue that in passing
an individualistic and lifestyle frame. Issues
Kumar 1993]. Looking back at the derogatory remarks about upper caste
of sexuality are intrinsically linked to caste
agitation, it is apparent that the sexual and addressal of sexual politics without girls (in incidents such as Chanduru) dalit
assaults on dalit women in Marathwada a challenge to brahmanism results men in were only getting their own back. The
during the 'Namaantar' agitation do not lifestyle feminisms. emancipatory agenda of the dalit and
become a nodal point for such an agitation, In the post Mandal agitations and caste women's movements will have to be
infact they come to be excluded. Theviolence at Chunduru and Pimpri sensitive to these issues and underline the
campaign therefore becomes more of Deshmukha for instance women of the upper complex interphase between caste and
single issue campaign. Consider also the castes were involved as feminist subjects gender as structuring hierarchies in society.
campaign against dowry, while the left assertive non-submissive and protesting The demolition of the Babri masjid and
based women's organisations viewed against injustice done to them as women the series of incidents that followed and
dowry in terms of the ways in which (at Chunduru or Pimpri Deshmukh) and women's active participation in the Hindu
capitalism was developing in India; the as citizens (anti-Mandal). In the anti, Right has led the women's movement to
autonomous women's groups focused on Mandal protests young middle class backtrack on the demand of the Uniform
the patriarchial power/violence within women declared that they were against allCivil Code. The Right Wing government
families [Kumar 1993]. The present kinds of reservations (including those for in Maharashtra has appropriated the crucial
practices of dowry cannot be outside the women) and they mourned the death ofissue of indecent representation of women
processes of brahmanisation and their merit and explicated that they were out to too. The formation of the Agnishikha
impact on marriage practices. That save the nation. Their placards said 'we Maanch with its agenda of regulation of
brahmanic ideals led to a preference for want employed husbands - sexuality andmorality and 'working mothers' is a case
dowry marriage is well documented. Infact caste became hidden issues as they in point. In the name of saving from the
it is the colonial establishment of the protested as 'citizens' [TharuandNiranjana negative impact of the west the Right
legality of the Brahma form of marriage 1994]. At Pimpri-Deshmukh in Maha- Wing government has launched public
rashtra, following the hacking to death of campaigns against glossies and adver-
that institutionalises and expands the dowry
system. The brahmanising castes adopted the dalit kotwal (active mobiliser for the tisements and has sought to clean Mumbai
the Brahma form of marriage over the local Buddha Vihar) by upper caste men, by launching a campaign of rounding up
other forms and thereby establishing the upper caste women came out in publicprostitutes and segregating those found to
complaining that the dalit man had harassed be HIV positive. Gender issues are appro-
'dowry'as an essential ritual [Sheel 1997].
Moreover the principle of endogamy and them and was sexually perverted. They priated as cultural issues and become
its coercive and violent perpetuation
claimed that they had incited their men to grounds for moral regulation. All this calls
through collective violence against inter- protect their honour, thus the agency offor reformulation of our feminist agenda,
upper caste women was invoked. The issue to reclaim our issues and reconceptuali-
caste alliances are all crucial to the analysis
of the dowry question. was not an issue of molestation alone or sing them such that feminist politics poses
The relative absence of caste as a one of violence against dalits alone, buta challenge to their very cross-caste/
category in the feminist discourse one that
on underlines the complex re-class conceptualisation of brahmanical
formulations that brahmanical patriarchiesHindutva.
violence has also led to the encapsulation
of the Muslim and Christian womenundergo
withinin order to counter collective dalit Such a re-conceptualisation calls for a
resistance.
the questions of "Talaq'and 'Divorce'. critique of brahmanical hierarchies from
Recent studies by RaziaPatel for the The increasing visibility of dalit womena gender perspective. Such critiques have
Times
Foundation and Vilas Sonawane for the
in power structures as 'sarpanch or memberthe potential of translating the discourse

Economic and Political Weekly October 31. 1998 WS-43

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of sexual politics from individual narratives Women's Forum. At the state level, the The left party-based women's organi-
to collective contestations of hierarchies. sations have viewed the emergence of
Maharashtra Dalit Mahila Sanghatana was
In the brahmanical social order, caste- autonomous women's organisations as
formed in 1995, a year earlier, the women's
based division of labour and sexual "setting up separate health" [Moghe 1996].
wing of the Bhartiya Republican Party and
divisions of labour are intermeshed such the Bahujari Mahila Sangh had organised Moghe argues that despite the earlier
that elevation in caste status is preceded the Bahujan Mahila Parishad. In a historical critiques of the left party-based women's
by the withdrawal of women of that castehappening, in December 1996, at Chan- groups made by the autonomous women's
from productive processes outside thedrapur a 'Vikas Vanchit Dalit Mahila groups, the context of Hindutva and the
private sphere. Such a linkage derives from Parishad' was organised and a proposal New Economic Policy has brought both
presumptions about the accessibility of for commemorating December 25 (the parties together and the autonomous
sexuality of lower caste women because day Ambedkar set the Manusmriti on women's groups had once again come to
flames) as Bharatiya Streemukti Divas
of their participation in social labour. Brah- share a common platform with the left.
minism in turn locates this as the failure was put forth. In 1997 the Christi Mahila The subtext of Moghe's arguments is that
of lower caste men to control the sexualitySangharsh Sanghatana, an organisation of autonomy is limiting, and that the dalit
of their women and underlines this as a dalit Christian women was founded. These women's autonomous organisations faced
justification of their impurity. Thus gender different organisations have put forth the threat of being 'autonomous from the
ideology legitimises not only structures of varying non-brahmanical ideological masses', in case they did not keep the
patriarchy but also the very organisation positions and yet have come together on umbilical relation with the Republican
of caste [Liddle and Joshi 1986]. Similarly,several issues such as the issue of Bharatiya Party. In such a context the efforts, she
drawing upon Ambedkar's analysis ofShreemukti Divas and the issue of reser- argued, would be limited by the focus on
caste, caste ideology (endogamy) is also vations for OBC women in parlimentarythe experiences and the intricacies of
the very basis of regulation and orga- bodies. funding. In a critique of Moghe's position,
nisation of women's sexuality. HenceThe emergence of autonomous dalit (1995), Bhagwat (1995) argued that the
caste determines the division of labour,women's organisation led to a major position was lacking in self reflexivity and
sexual division of labour and division of debate; set rolling by the essay 'Dalit that the enriching dialectics between the
sexual labour [Rege 1995]. Hence there Women Talk Differently' [Guru 1995]. A left parties and the autonomous women's
exist multiple patriarchies and many of series of discussions around the paper were groups had been overlooked in highlighting
their overlaps and differences are struc- organised in Pune by different feminist only one side of the story. To label any
tured. [Sangari 1995]. Brahmanisationgroups. A two-day seminar on the same new autonomous assertion from the
has been a two way process of accultura- was organised by Alochana - Centre for marginalised as identitarian and limited to
tion and assimilation and through history research and Documentation on Women experience, she argues, was to overlook
there has been a brahmanical refusal to in June 1996. Subsequently there were- the history of struggles by groups to name
universalise a single patriarchal mode.two significant responses to the emergence themselves and their politics.
Thus the existence of multiple patriarchiesof autonomous dalit women's organi- Several apprehensions were raised about
is a result of both brahmanical conspiracy sations; one by Kiran Moghe of the Janwadi the Dalit Mahila Sanghatans' likelihood
and of the relation of the caste group toMahi la Sanghatana and the other by Vidyut of being a predominantly neo-Buddhist
the means for production. There are, Bhagwat argued out the different issues women's organisation. Pardeshi (1995)
therefore, according to Sangari (1995), at stake. rightly argues that such apprehensions are
discrete (specific to caste), as well as Guru (1995) had argued that to under- historically insensitive and overlook the
overlapping patriarchal arrangements.stand the dalit women's need to talk historical trajectories of the growth of the
Hence, she argues that women who aredifferently, it was necessary to delineate dalit movement in Maharashtra. Yet she
sought to be united on the basis ofboth internal and external factors that have also cautions that a predominantly neo-
systematic overlapping patriarchies area bearing on this phenomenon. He locates Buddhist middle class leadership could
nevertheless divided on caste, class lines their need to talk differently in a discourse have politically limiting consequences -
and by their consent to patriarchies and of descent against the middle class for instance, at many of the proceedings
their compensatory structures. If feminists women's movement by the dalit menofand the Parishad; brahmanisation came to
the moral economy of the peasant
are to challenge these divisions then mode be understood within a narrow frame of
of organisation and struggles "should movements. It is a note of dissent,non-practice
he of Trisaran and Panchasheel.
emcompass all of the social inequalitiesargues, against their exclusion from Such
botha frame could limit the participation
that patriarchies are related to, embedded by women of middle castes.
the political and cultural arena. It is further
in and structured by". Does the different underlined that social location determines There are as of today, at least three major
voice of dalit women challenge these the perception of reality and therefore contesting and overlapping positions that
divisions? In the next section we seek to representation of dalit women's issues have
byemerged from the struggles and
outline the non-brahmanical renderings ofnon-dalit women was less valid and less politics of dalit women. One of the earliest
women's liberation in Maharashtra. authentic (p 2549). Though Guru's and well defined position is the Marxist/
argument is well taken and we agree that Phule-Ambedkarite position of the
IV
dalit women must name the difference, toSatyashodak Mahila Sabha. (For more
Non-Brahmanical Rendering of privilege knowledge claims on the basis details see Patil (1994) and the manifesto
Women's Liberation
of direct experience on claims of authen-of the Satyashodhak Communist Party.)
In the 1990s, there were several ticity may lead to a narrow identity politics. A position emerging out of the dalit-
independent and autonomous assertions Such a narrow frame may in fact limit the bahujan alliance is that of the Bahujan
emancipatory potential of the dalitMahila Mahasangh (BMM) which
of dalit women's identity; a case in point
women's organisations and also their
is the formation of the National Federation critiques the vedic, brahmanical tradition
of Dalit Women and the All India Dalit epistemological standpoints. and seeks to revive the Bahujan tradtion

WS-44 Economic and Political Weekly October 31, 1998

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of the 'Adimaya'. The secular position is epistemological shift to a dalit feminist
avoids the narrow alley of direct experi-
critiqued as brahmanical and indi- standpoint [see Harding 1991]. ence based 'authenticity' and narrow
vidualistic and the Ambedkarite conceptua- The intellectual history of feminist'identity politics'. For many of us non-
lisation of Dhamma in community life is standpoint theory may be traced to Marx,dalit feminists, such a standpoint is more
underlined. The Common civil codes is Engels and Lukacs insights into theemancipatory in that it rejects more
opposed and customary law and com- standpoint of the proletariat. A socialcompletely the relations of rule in which
munity based justice is upheld. Signi-
history of standpoint theory focuses onwe participated (i e, the brahmanical,
ficantly the BMM seeks to combine both what happens when marginalised peoplesmiddle class biases of earlier feminist
the struggles for political power and abegin to gain public voice. The failure ofstandpoints are interrogated). Thus adop-
cultural revolution in order to revive and dominant groups to critically and ting a dalit feminist standpoint position
extend the culture of Bahujans [Thakur systematically interrogate theiradvantaged means sometimes losing, sometimes
19961. Such a position is crucial in ordersituation leaves their social situation revisioning the 'voice' that we as feminists
to problematise the dominant brahmanicalscientifically and epistemologically a
had gained in the 1980s. This process, we
culture and thereby underline the mate-disadvantaged one for generating believe is one of transforming individual
riality of culture. Yet it faces the dangerknowledge [Grant 1993]. Such accounts feminists into oppositional and collective
of glorifying Bahujan familial and com- may end up legitimating exploitative subjects.
munity practices, any traces of patriarchal'practical politics' even though they may [This paper was first presented at a seminar on
power therein are acquitted at once byhave good intention. A dalit feminist dalit visions organised by the Vikas Adhayayan
viewing, them as a resu Itant of the processesstandpoint is seen as emancipatory since Kendra In Pune in March 1998.]
of brahmanisation. the subject of its knowledge is embodied
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Vaad. Krantisinh Nana Patil Academy, Pune.
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Nos I anti 2.
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