Gender, Religion and Caste, Class X, Democratic Politics

Gender, Religion and Caste, Class X, Democratic Politics

GENDER AND POLITICS:

A prominent social division in our country is the gender division, generally understood to be natural and unchangeable. It is based on social expectations and stereotypes about women for centuries. They are brought up differently and made to think that the main responsibility of women is housework and bringing up children. The main responsibility of the man is to earn money to provide for the family. There is a division of labour based on gender in most of the families.

Sexual Division of Labour:

The sexual division of labour happens when the work is divided on the basis of the gender of the person. Generally, the household work is done by the women of the family and men go out to work. The work done by the women is not paid for and also does not require any basic skill. The men earn the money for their work and need some basic skills to do the work. Women do go out and work, to fetch water, collect wood and work in the fields. But work done by women is not valued and not considered as essential.

Even though the men and women work for the same number of hours in a day, the work done by men is considered more important. This has resulted in confining the women to her household and has restricted her participation outside the home.

This has led to a monopoly situation in politics where only men rule. But gradually, with increasing education and awareness gender issues have234 been raised in politics. The role of women in changing and has changed a lot from the previous times. They now enjoy more or less equal political rights and have advanced in many fields today and are found in almost all occupations today.

Different Aspects of Life in Which Women Are Discriminated:

Indian society is a patriarchal society. There is a male domination everywhere. Women in our society face discrimination, disadvantage and oppression:

1.       Education: the literacy rate of women is still lower than men. Only 54% of the women are literate against 76% of men. This is because a boy’s education is still preferred over sending a girl to the school. Spending money for a boy’s education is considered more important as they consider the boys to be the future bread winners of the family, rather than girls who shall be married off. In the field of higher education the prop. of girls is significantly lower than the boys.

2.       Proportion of Women in Paid Jobs: women still have a small share in the highly paid jobs and higher posts. On an average a woman works one hour more than a man per day. But women’s works is not recognized as much of it is housework which is unpaid.

3.       Preference of Male Child: Indian parents prefer to have male children over female children. A female child is considered as a burden as the parents will have to earn for her dowry to marry her. While, a boy child is considered as an asset for the family who will earn and increase the family income. This preference has resulted in social crimes such as female foeticide where a girl child is killed even before she is born.

4.       Crime against women: there are various instances of crime against women, they are exploited and harassed at the work place and at home. There are cases of domestic violence against which makes her unsafe even in her family.

All these factors have prevented the women from actively participating in the work outside their homes and have confined her to homes. Any role played by women outside the household work is not respected and recognized.

Women in Politics:

Gender issue with respect to politics: work has been divided on the basis of the gender of the person, all the housework was assigned to women and income earning assigned to men. A women role outside her household has been very limited and very minimal, especially in politics. However the gender issue has been raised in the politics. Women in different parts of the world have fought for equal rights for women. These protests demanded equal educational and career opportunities, extension of voting rights to women and improving the political and legal status of women.

It seems likely that women would have improved their status had they not raised their voice, gender issues in politics. Women oriented movements all around the world drew attention towards unequal rights to women in the political field. These women demanded equal social, political and economic rights for women. The belief of these feminist movements was that unless women have power to make decisions, they can progress in society. It meant having more women as elected as representatives in the political field. To ensure fair share of women in govt. bodies, it is legally binding to have 1/3 of seats in local govt. bodies are reserved for women. Such reservations have helped women in voicing their concerns and interests and demanded equal status and opportunities.

Status of women’s representation in India’s Legislative Bodies:

In India the participation in the political area is very low. The women strength in the Lok Sabha is not even 10%. Their share in the state assemblies is as low as 5%. The share of women in India is behind those of several developing countries of Latin America and Africa. One probable solution to increase the women participation in the political system is to make legal laws for the minimum number of seats to be filled by the women candidates. In the Panchayat and Municipalities, it is legally binding to fill one third of the seats by women candidates, the panchayati raj amendment act. This has resulted in 10Lakh elected women representatives in the local govt. bodies. Women’s Reservation Bill envisaging 33% reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies is pending before the parliament.

Feminist: advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence. Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights. Feminism is mainly focused on women's issues, but because feminism seeks gender equality, some feminists argue that men's liberation is therefore a necessary part of feminism, and that men are also harmed by sexism and gender roles. Feminists are "person[s] whose beliefs and behavior[s] are based on feminism." Feminist theory exists in a variety of disciplines, emerging from these feminist movements and including general theories and theories about the origins of inequality, and, in some cases, about the social construction of sex and gender. Feminist activists have campaigned for women's rights—such as in contract, property, and voting — while also promoting women's rights to bodily integrity and autonomy and reproductive rights. They have opposed domestic violence, sexual harassment, and sexual assault. In economics, they have advocated for workplace rights, including equal pay and opportunities for careers and to start businesses.

RELIGION AND POLITICS:

Gandhiji’s View on Religion: He did not consider religion as Hinduism, Islam or Christianity. To him every religion was based on some belief supported by rituals. He tried to get rid of rituals as far as possible. To him religion was a human institution that helped people solves practical affairs. He believed that the moral values drawn from all the religions should be used to guide the political system.

Religion Be Positively Used in Politics: Gandhi preached for using the moral values and ethics of all the religions as a guide to the political system. All religions have some belief system and the ethics drawn from it should be used in politics as a guide. Ideas, ideals and values should have a place in political. People should be able to voice their needs and interests as a religious community. Also the leaders should regulate the religion to ensure that it is not used for discrimination and oppression. The use of religion in politics should be dome with careful thought and analysis. No religious demand or interest should be raised if it is against any other religion. Religion should be used to people and not to arouse feelings of distrust and suspicion. What he meant was that politics must be based on ethics and moral values contained in all religions which are essentially the same. These unite rather that create differences.

Religion, the political expression, of which has been dangerous and explosive in India, leading to violence and riots. It led to the partition in 1947 and exodus of millions of people across the border. Expression of religious differences in politics of different countries is very common since it is a very sensitive issue. As principles, ideals and values of various religions are based on humanity, their political expression ought to play a positive role in politics.  Political leaders should see that there is no discrimination and inequality among citizens on the basis of religion. The state and the govt. should treat all religions equally without favour or partiality.

·         Human rights groups in our country have demanded that special measures be taken to protect religious minorities, like, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, & Parsis. Their contention is that these minority communities are victims of communal riots. Their opinion has substantial truth but there are exceptions too.

·         Some political parties and women’s movement have been demanding uniform civil code for all communities and are demanding a change in family laws of all religions because they discriminate against women and favour men.

Communalism: What is Communalism?

·         When religion is expressed in politics in exclusive and partisan terms.

·         When one religion and its followers are pitted against another.

·         When beliefs and practices of one religion are considered superior.

·         When the demands of one religion are formed in opposition to another.

·         When the state favours domination of one religion above all others.

What is NOT communalism?

·         Adherence to a religion or its system.

·         Indulgence in ritualism, superstition, obscurantism, magic charm and occult practices, astrology is NOT communalism.

·         Practice and propagation of a religion, religious gatherings, seminars meetings etc. is NOT communalism.

·         Running a religious education institution or organization is NOT communalism.

What is the ideological basis of communalism?

·         Religion is the principal basis of social community

·         Fundamental interest, socio-economic interest, and political interest of a religious community are the same.

·         People who belong to different religions cannot belong to the same social community.

·         Insignificant and superficial commonalities among followers of different religions.

·         Interests of most Religious communities are different and mutually conflicting.

·         People belonging to different religions must live together as equal citizens. They must not try to dominate the other. They should not desire to form a separate nation.

·         This was the extreme form of communalism practiced under the aegis of of the Muslim League which led to the Partition of India. The Muslims felt that the Hindus would dominate them and therefore two separate nations were created- India and Pakistan.

·         But people of same religion do not form one social community. There are rich & poor; educated & illiterate; among one religion. Also people have different interests, aspirations, identities, status, profession, occupation of people are dissimilar among the same religious group. They have varying opinions and ideological inclination, some are orthodox or liberal or moderate.

Communal Politics:

·         The use of religion where one religion is shown as superior to the other religion is called communal politics. One religious group is against the other religious group and demands of one religious group are against the demand of the other religious group.

·         It is based on the idea that religion is the only basis of forming a community. It believes that followers of one religion belong to the same community. Their interests, ideas are opinions are same or should be same.

·         It also believes that people of different religions cannot be part of the same community. Their ideas, interest and opinions cannot be same, their ideas and demands are bound to be different.

·         In an extreme case of communalism, it follows that people from different religions are not equal citizens and cannot live together as one nation.

The Idea of Communal Politics Fundamentally Flawed:

·         The idea of communal politics is fundamentally flawed as it is not necessary that people of the same religion have identical interests and demands.

·         There is a possibility that people of the same religion have different interests, opinions and ideas.

·         The demand and interests of the people depend on the roles they play in society. Their interests are based upon the position and the status they enjoy in the society and not based on the religion that they follow.

Forms of Communal Politics/ Political Expression of Communalism:

1.              Political expression of communalism in everyday beliefs; involving religious prejudices against certain religious communities, stereotypes, belief in superiority of one’s own religion. The most common form of communalism is in everyday religious ideas of people. Beliefs and ideas of one religion are shown superior to the beliefs and ideas of another and are given more importance. The demands of a religious group are against the demands of the other religious group.

2.             Political dominance of majority religious groups over the minority, called majoritarianism. Maximum representation in Politics, they want elected representatives in the political system belonging to their religion. This often results in domination of those belonging to the majority community. People of the minority community then demand a separate state for themselves. E.g. Sri Lanka- dominance of Buddhism over Muslims and Christians. Minority communities have a strong desire to form a separate nation or an autonomous group.

3.             Political mobilization of masses on religious/communal lines- political leaders exploit religious sacred symbols, instigate local religious leaders, emotional appeal, fear to polarize people of one religion for political gains. This mostly happens during elections. Political leaders appeal to people of different religions to gain votes. It attempts to bring together all the people of one religion together. The political leaders pay special attention to the demands of one religion at the cost of the other religions.

4.             The Most Ugly Form Communal Riots, Massacres and Violence: the people from various religions are in opposition to each other and they use violence to show the domination of their religion. People demand a separate state for people of separate religions and it leads to division of the country on communal lines.  In post –independence period there have been worst communal riots at the instigation of political parties.

When does the communalism problem become acute?

Communalism means promoting ideas of a particular religion. It believes that people belonging to one religion belong to one community. It becomes a problem when religion is seen as the only identifying factor. It creates an acute problem when:

1.       It is used in politics as an exclusive factor where people belonging to different religions are treated differently.

2.       Demands of one religion are against the demands of another religion and there is feeling of distrust among the people of different religions.

3.       Beliefs and ideas of one religion are shown superior to the beliefs and ideas of another.

4.       Various religious groups are in opposition to each other and the winning or defeat of a particular group is associated with respective religion’s winning or defeat.

5.       State power is used to show the domination of one religion as against the other religion.

Secularism:

India is a secular country; there is no discrimination on the basis of religion. In the eyes of the government all religions are equal and same, they enjoy equal privileges. The makers of the Indian constitution firmly believed that a multi-religious country like India had to be secular state. Secular means being neutral to various beliefs and no special provision is there for any religion. Secularism gives people the freedom to practice and follow any religion of their choice and treats every religion equally.

Communalism is the most dangerous challenge to democracy and Nehru was much aware of this. In 1951, he stated that “Communalism will break up India”, he knew it posed the main threat to India’s integrity. In 1948, Vallabhai Patel declared in the Jaipur Congress Session that the Congress and the government were determined to make India a secular state. The word secular was not initially used in the constitution; it was added by the 42^nd Amendment Act, 1976, in the Preamble.

The principal of secularism is one of the basic feature s of our constitution. Communalism is a threat to the very existence of India and therefore it has to be combated by all of us. The Constitution and the State alone cannot guarantee a secular society. We need to counter communal prejudices and propaganda in everyday life. During elections, mobilization based on communalism needs to be encountered by the public, by the Election Commission and the courts.

The Constitutional Provisions that Make India a Secular State:

1.       There is no official religion of India. Every religion is given the same importance, even though Hindus constitute almost 80% of the total population. The constitution treats every religion equal.

2.       The constitution gives freedom to people to follow any religion of their choice. People to free to follow, preach, and propagate the ideas of any religion.

3.       The constitution does not allow any discrimination on the basis of religion.

4.       The states have the powers, given by the constitution, to intervene in religious matters if they threaten the peace of the state. They are allowed to intervene to ensure equality among different religious communities.

Religion is not a threat to our country. But its activities have to be checked so that it does not take any violent form. All the religions are equal and are treated equally by the constitution. Any movement on communal/religious lines has to be checked to ensure equality among the religions.

CASTE AND POLITICS:

Political expression of casteism has seen both positive as well as negative outcomes. Casteism is a unique phenomenon to Indian society.

The Caste System/The Caste Hierarchy:

Some form of social inequality and division of labour exist in almost all the countries. Since the existence of the earliest civilizations, ancestral profession and occupation are passed on from generation to generation. Caste system is an extreme form of the hereditary occupational division, which was sanctioned by rituals; members of the same caste formed a separate social community. They practiced the same occupation, dined with the same caste group, married within the same caste group. The most extreme and virulent expression of casteism was discrimination against the so-called ‘outcastes’ or untouchables whose mere touch could pollute a person of upper caste.

In modern India, the caste system has declined to a great extent due to:

1.       Socio religious reformers like R R M Roy, D Saraswati, and Swami Vivekananda opposed the caste system. J Phule, Gandhiji, Ambedkar, R Naicker aggressively worked for a casteless and egalitarian society.

2.       Large scale industrialization and urbanization.

3.       Growth of education and literacy

4.       Occupational mobility whereby members of the same caste opted for various other occupations.

5.       Abolition of zamindari and landlordism, coupled with land reforms destroyed the old socio-economic system in villages which protected and nurtured caste system.

Casteism has not totally disappeared from our system:

1.       In India, mostly people marry within the caste framework; intercaste marriages are not accepted and are still considered a forbidden.

2.       In remote villages where illiteracy has not reached yet, untouchability is practiced even today. That is despite the fact that our constitution abolishes untouchability.

3.       Caste and class are almost synonyms, member of upper caste are generally better off than those of the lower caste. This is because the upper caste has access to modern education. A large number of professionals, government servants and people occupying upper positions and ranks belong to the upper castes and therefore form the upper class.

The Two Social Groups: Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes: They are Indian communities that are accorded special status by the constitution of India. The scheduled caste communities were considered “outcastes” in the Hindu social order. They have been denied the access to various resources and were given only low status work. The scheduled tribes included those communities who were self sufficient and lived in hills and forest. They were not allowed to live with the rest of the society and were also not given equal opportunities of work.

Politics Based On Caste: Casteism is based on the beliefs that people of same caste form a separate social community which has similar social, economic and political interest. These interests are different from those of other castes:

1.       People of the same caste vote en bloc (as a whole) for a candidate of the same or different candidate.

2.       When they do not vote en bloc they prefer a candidate who belongs to their own caste, irrespective of merits or demerits of the candidate.

3.        While selecting a candidate for a constituency, parties keep in mind the caste composition of the electorate, and whether the candidate would be able to get the support of the majority caste.

4.       The office bearers of a party are appointed on the basis of caste to please or not to displease a caste group in the party and the constituency.

5.       If the candidate happens to belong to the caste in majority in the constituency, it is presumed that he would be elected. If he is elected he is presumed to have been supported by the caste in majority. If he is not elected it is presumed that the majority caste did not support him. Or the voters of all other castes united to defeat him.

6.       Political parties take care to give fair representations to various castes and tribes in the council of ministers.

7.       Parties and candidates appeal to the caste sentiments of voters.

8.       Political parties are known to favour certain castes; on the other hand, particular castes favour particular political parties.

Adoption of Universal Adult Franchise and single transferable vote compelled political parties to go to people to mobilize and secure votes. Castes which were neglected until then became much sought after.

Caste alone cannot determine election results in India: Caste is one of the most important factors, sometimes it is rendered totally insignificant. Issues like development and candidate’s past performance, merits and demerits become key factors:

1.       No state legislature in the country has a majority of any caste group. Every caste group has its presence in the parliament. It means that no caste group can be ignored and every citizen’s vote is necessary to win elections.

2.       It is impossible to secure votes of all the voters of a caste in a constituency, there are a host of other factors that count. If a large population of voters from a particular caste votes for a candidate, we call it the vote bank of a particular party.

3.       It generally that many political parties put up candidates from the same predominant caste in a constituency. Therefore, naturally, all members of the predominant caste cannot vote for the same candidate. There is more than one candidate from the caste making up sizeable members of voters’ list whereas many voters have no candidates from their class.

4.       The ruling party and serving PMs and MLAs frequently lose elections. If all castes and communities repeatedly voted for the same political party, same parties and candidates would have kept on winning elections.

Caste and Electoral Politics: Caste is only one of the important factors in electoral politics.

1.       Voters’ attachment to political parties is stronger than their attachment to particular candidate belonging to their caste or religion.

2.       Depending on their economic background or economic benefit or loss, voters from the same caste or community vote differently.

3.       Rich and poor farmers and those in government service and businessmen or men & women from the same caste are quite likely to vote for different candidates.

4.       Decisive factors are performance of the govt./party/candidate; popularity and personality of the political leaders.

Influence of Politics on Caste: There is a two way relationship between caste and politics. Politics influences the caste system and vice versa. There is politicization of the castes that are dragged into the political arena:

1.       Each caste group has a tendency to grow bigger by including in its fold most immediate castes or sub-castes.

2.       Many caste groups form some sort of coalition with other caste groups at some point on some issue.

3.       New kind of caste groups have come up, after the Mandal Commission report. All upper castes are referred to as “Forward Castes” and others as “Backward Castes”

Political Leaders Treat Castes as “vote banks”: It is difficult to agree with this as:  

1.       Other parties would put up a candidate from the same caste.

2.       All voters may not belong to the same caste.

3.       If “vote bank” helped in winning then the same party would win every time.

Political expression of caste division has led to positive and negative outcomes:

Positive:

1.       Caste politics has led to reservation of seats in government jobs for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBCs.

2.       These caste groups have more presence in the three organs of the government.

3.       Several lower castes are now demanding more shares in land, resources and other opportunities as well.

Negative:

1.       Caste division has also resulted in conflict and violence.

2.       It might lead to division of the political party on the basis of caste where one political party represents one caste exclusively

3.       Politics based on caste is not healthy for the democracy, important issues like poverty, illiteracy; unemployment and corruption are generally over shadowed by politics based on casteism.