“Who, just tell me, who the hell is that new girl? Doesn’t she know that she has to bow down to the master? Shameless bitch! How dare she pass me without showing due respect? At this, the girl’s in-laws and other elderly men from community fall at the man’s feet and beg for mercy. They request him to forgive her. But they ask for forgiveness not for the girl but for themselves also. The mother-in-law requests, “No, no kind master! That girl is a new animal in the herd! Quite foolish and ignorant. If she has erred, I her sasra, fall at your feet, but please forgive us for this crime.” – ‘The Prison We Broke’ by Babytai Kamble

Woman….a creature that is exploited, ill-treated, less valued and oppressed since centuries and centuries. Literature is a mirror image of society. So, she didn’t even get correctly placed there.

After realizing the patriarchal tyranny a feminist movement emerged gradually who talked about women and their issues. But it lacked something…something that was really necessary to be talked about. This ignorance led to the new wing of the movement called ‘Dalit Feminism’.

As a theoretical perspective, Dalit feminism revolves around experiences of Dalit women to understand patriarchy and interrelation of caste and gender. Mainstream women’s movement totally bypassed the caste system and their analysis of oppression was only around the axis of gender. They tagged all the women facing the tyranny of patriarchy under all-inclusive category “women”.

Women are women but what about those who are not even considered as women. Women’s experiences are differentiated on the basis of caste in India. All women are equal and equally exploited is the myth that mainstream women’s movement believed. But the harsh reality is that the nature and intensity of women’s exploitation changes with respect to her social location that is her identity in a society which was null for Dalits so as their females.

Dalit feminists rejected feminist theory developed by non-Dalit women as it does not capture their reality. This awareness of Dalit women led to her emancipatory and liberating standpoint which was reflected in their writings.

Prominent writer Sharmila Rege highlighted this point in “Dalit Women Talk Differently: Critique of ‘Difference’ and Towards Dalit Feminist Standpoint Position”. She argues that feminist scholars have ignored and marginalized the contribution and intervention of Dalit women. Dalit women have always been vocal about their rights but their voices are largely ignored and unheard. This resulted in the assertion of Dalit women as a “different voice”. They challenged the totalization of feminist culture which not condemns oppression and violence based on caste-gender structures.

Dalit woman is dually subordinated, first as “Dalit” and then as “Woman”. Firstly she doesn’t have any identity and secondly, she is victim of patriarchal despotism. She is exploited being Dalit, by upper caste people and also by her male family members or males from her community as per patriarchal rules. She is exploited by the upper-caste male as a sexual object or to command control on her community and by the upper-caste female while following social and cultural laws. Hence she becomes a most vulnerable creature in a human context. In the social ladder, she gets the bottom position as she faces a triple form of oppression that is by non-Dalit men, non-Dalit women and Dalit men. She is a victim of harsh abuse and symbolic/physical violence. For instance, the Khairlanji massacre (2006) where a Dalit girl Priyanka Bhotmange was sexually violated by upper caste people from her village and her brothers were made to rape her, and then the family was brutally killed except their father who was out of town. In India Nirbhaya got justice but Priyanka is still waiting for it. So, Dalit women are the most exploited that their experiences hold vital significance in understanding oppression.

A long legacy of Dalit women’s writing and organizing contributes to Dalit feminism. Sant Soyarabai belonging to the Mahar community in the 14^th century wrote abhangs about freedom. Her abhangs tell that she was aware of gender-caste discrimination in society.

Establishment of Santyashodhak movement by Mahatma Jotiba Phule in 1874 sowed the seeds of Dalit feminism. Tarabai Shinde talked about upper-caste patriarchy in her critique “Stree Purush Tulana” (A Comparison Between Women and Men) in 1882. It is regarded as the first modern Indian Feminist text. Mukta Salve wrote about the grief of Mahars and Mangs (sub-caste among Dalits) in her essay “Mang Maharachya Dukhavishayi” in 1885. This was a bold attack on the caste system underlining the nature of exploitation and subordination of women is differentiated on the basis of caste.

Then followed the Ambedkarite movement that mobilized Dalits and worked for politicalization of women’s movement. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar burned the copy of Manusmriti on 25^th December 1927 to protest against the religious legitimacy given to Dalits and women by it. The participation of women in the Ambedkarite movement was a significant picture. Ambedkarite movement had a critical role in women’s political radicalization. They participated in Mahad Chavdar Tale Satyagraha and Kalaram mandir Satyagraha along with various conferences held by Dr. Ambedkar in large numbers. The organizations like ‘Buddhist Mahila Mandals’ were formed in all Dalit dominated areas in Maharashtra. There was a practice of organizing ‘Mahila Parishads’ (women’s conferences) along with every general meeting. Cadres of women leaders were also formed. Savitribai Borade and Ambubai Gaikwad belonging to Dalits were on the executive committee of a periodical named ‘Janta’ (The People) started in 1930. The motto of the periodical was to develop political consciousness around caste-based oppression and caste patriarchy.

Mahila Parishads passed a resolution to reserve seats for Dalit women in legal councils. In 1942 the Dalit Mahila Federation formed in Nagpur worked for better working conditions for women mill workers, hostels for Dalit girls, right to divorce and the law against bigamy. The Third All India Untouchable Women’s Conference was arranged at Nagpur where they highlighted the need for separate organizing by ‘untouchable women’ as Dalit organizations were not addressing Dalit women’s issues.

In the post-Ambedkarite period, Dalit women participated in the land right struggle led by Dadasaheb Gaikwad as well as Namantar agitations that were a demand for naming Marathwada University as Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University which was late fulfilled in 1994. In December 1996, at ‘Vikas Vanchit Dalit Mahila Parishad’ (Marginalized Dalit Women’s Conference) at Chandrapur a proposal was put forth to commemorate 25^th December (the day when Dr. Ambedkar burnt the copy of manusmriti) as ‘Bharatiya Stree Mukti Din’ (Indian Women’s Liberation Day). It was a sign of Dalit women thinking rationally and expressing their opinions boldly.

Along with this a culture of ‘gayan parties’ developed in women too. A group of women or combined sang and wrote songs on Dr. Ambedkar and focused anti-caste teaching. These groups were popular among villages. Hence they contribute in educating village women about progressive thoughts.

Many autonomous Dalit women’s organizations established in the early 1990s which provided an ideological platform for nurturing Dalit feminism. This became a catalyst for intense debates around the issue of caste and gender and their interrelatedness. Thus, Dalit feminism got recognition as a distinct theory.

To understand Dalit feminism in a broader sense I have initiated the study of two autobiographies. One of them is Urmila Pawar’s ‘Aayadan’ (Translated as ‘The Weave of My Life’ a Dalit Woman’s Memoirs). The title represents the primary occupation of the Mahar community of weaving cane baskets and utensils. Urmila Pawar is a prominent Dalit feminist writer and also one of the pioneers of the Dalit Feminist movement.  The writer was keenly conscious of her caste identity even as a child as she narrates some incidences like she was invited for lunch by her classmates but clearly told her not to bring food and later made fun of her eating, she was not allowed to touch the pot in collective cooking, her English teacher embarrassed her for her poor English and many more. She talks about how Dalit women were humiliated regularly in public places, during weddings, etc.

Urmila Pawar shares some womanly experiences after her marriage as well. In spite of her financial independence, she has to be dependent on someone. One of her experience is noted below.

“When I got my first salary, I could not believe that all that money was mine; that I could spend it the way I liked. Before marriage, I used to hand over my salary to my mother; now I started handling it over to my husband’”.(A 14)

Moreover, the “Aayadan” reflects on woman’s struggle for self-identity and a sense of fulfilment in the background of caste inequalities and patriarchal attitudes of community and family towards women.

Another autobiography is “Jina Amucha” (Translated as ‘The Prisons We Broke) by Babytai Kamble. It is a collective account of Dalit women and their ordinariness. We find a quest for gaining self as well as communal identity out of patriarchal domination here. Babytai Kamble narrates the differences they had between them and high caste women regarding clothing and accessories. Dalit women were restricted even to copy and use the things in the same manner as wearing saris with borders. Other points she highlighted are superstitions in Dalits, how daughters-in-law were tortured inside the house as well as outside and physical violence.  In fact, she had to hide her autobiography for twenty years from her husband as he would not have tolerated her idea of writing. She mentions that it was an Ambedkarite movement that brought them out from their prison. Self-identity can only be achieved through self-exploration and consciousness. Thus she has written autobiography to encourage women to fight against patriarchy to build their own identity.

Some more names coming to my mind are Shamila Rege’s ‘Writing Caste, Writing Gender’, Durgabai Vyam’s ‘Bhimayana: Experiences of Untouchability’, Bama’s ‘Karukku’ and  Meena Kandasamy’s ‘Touch’.

The title of the manifesto of the National Federation of Dalit Women (2003) is ‘Transforming Pain into Power’ very aptly reflects the growing political articulation of the Dalit women’s experiences of pain and agony into a powerful radical political identity. It is necessary to focus on the intersectionality of gender, race and caste in order to fully understand Dalit women’s location. Because they are ‘Dalits among Dalits’.

At last have a look at the conclusion paragraph of Sharmila Rege’s essay. She emphasizes,

“The Dalit feminist standpoint…may originate in the works of Dalit feminist intellectuals but it cannot flourish if isolated from the experiences and ideas of other groups who must educate themselves about the histories, the preferred social relations and utopias and the struggles of the marginalized.”

Author – Sajag (Samata Hema Anil Jagtap)