Gender, Religion and Caste

1. Chapter at a Glance

Social differences are not always a threat to democracy. Democracy can accommodate differences of gender, religion and caste, and these differences find expression in politics. But such expression can be healthy (when disadvantaged groups demand their share of power) or unhealthy (when one group seeks to dominate others). This chapter looks at how these three social divisions shape politics in India, what problems they create, and how democracy responds.

2. Gender and Politics

Public / private division

Gender division is a form of hierarchical social division seen everywhere, but it is rarely recognised in the study of politics. It is often understood as natural and unchangeable; yet it is based not on biology but on social expectations and stereotypes. Boys and girls are brought up to believe that the main responsibility of women is housework and bringing up children — this is the sexual division of labour in most families. Women do all work inside the home (cooking, cleaning, washing, tailoring, looking after children), while men do all work outside. It is not that men cannot do housework; they think it is for women to attend to. When these jobs are paid for, men are ready to take them up — most tailors and cooks in hotels are men. Women do work outside their homes too: in villages they fetch water, collect fuel and work in the fields; in urban areas poor women work as domestic helpers and middle-class women work in offices. But their work is not valued and does not get recognition. The result: although women constitute half of humanity, their role in public life, especially politics, is minimal in most societies.

Women's agitations demanded equality: in different countries for the extension of voting rights to women, enhancement of political and legal status, and improvement of educational and career opportunities. More radical women's movements aimed at equality in personal and family life as well — these are called feminist movements. Political expression of gender issues and political mobilisation helped improve women's role in public life. In Scandinavian countries such as Sweden, Norway and Finland, the participation of women in public life is very high.

Women in India

In India, women still lag behind men despite some improvement since independence. Ours is still a male-dominated, patriarchal society.

• Literacy: according to the Census of 2011, the literacy rate among women was only about 65% compared with about 82% among men. A smaller proportion of girls go for higher studies — not because they do badly; girls often perform as well as or better than boys, but parents prefer to spend resources on boys' education.
• Work and wages: the proportion of women in highly paid and valued jobs is still very small. On average an Indian woman works one hour more than an average man every day, but much of her work is not paid and therefore often not valued. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 provides that equal wages should be paid for equal work; however, in almost all areas of work — sports, cinema, factories, fields — women are paid less than men, even when both do exactly the same work.
• Sex ratio: in many parts of India parents prefer sons and find ways to have girl children aborted. This sex-selective abortion led to a decline in the child sex ratio (number of girl children per thousand boys) — according to the 2011 Census, 919 for children (and 943 for the overall population); in some States it fell below 850 or even 800.
• Safety: there are many reports of harassment, exploitation and violence against women. Urban areas have become particularly unsafe; even within the family women face beating, harassment and other forms of domestic violence.

Women's political representation

Issues related to women's well-being or otherwise are not given adequate attention. This has led many feminists and women's movements to conclude that unless women control power, their problems will not get adequate attention. One way is to have more women as elected representatives. In India, the proportion of women in legislature has been very low: women's share in the Lok Sabha touched about 14% for the first time in 2019, and 74 women (about 13.6%) were elected in 2024. Their share in State assemblies is generally below 10%. India is below the averages of several developing countries.

3. Religion, Communalism and Politics

Unlike gender, religious diversity is fairly widespread in India. Many countries, including India, have members of different religions within them. Religion and politics interact in several healthy ways:

• Gandhiji said that religion can never be separated from politics — by religion he meant not any particular religion but the moral values that inform all religions; politics must be guided by ethics drawn from religion.
• Human rights groups argued that most victims of communal riots in India are people from religious minorities, and demanded special steps to protect them.
• Women's movements argued that family laws of all religions discriminate against women, and demanded that government change these laws to make them more equitable.
• People should be able to express their needs, interests and demands as members of a religious community in politics; political authorities should regulate practice of religion to prevent discrimination and oppression. These are not wrong as long as they treat every religion equally.

Communalism

The problem begins when religion is seen as the basis of the nation — when beliefs of one religion are presented as superior to others, when demands of one religious group are formed in opposition to another, and when state power is used to establish domination of one religious group over the rest. This manner of using religion in politics is communal politics, based on the idea that religion is the principal basis of social community — that followers of a religion belong to one community with the same fundamental interests, and that people of different religions cannot live as equal citizens within one nation.

Secular state

Communalism was and continues to be one of the major challenges to democracy in our country. The makers of our Constitution were aware of this, and they chose the model of a secular state:

• There is no official religion for the Indian state. Unlike the status of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Islam in Pakistan or Christianity in England, our Constitution does not give a special status to any religion.
• The Constitution provides to all individuals and communities freedom to profess, practise and propagate any religion, or not to follow any.
• The Constitution prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion.
• At the same time, the Constitution allows the state to intervene in the matters of religion to ensure equality within religious communities — for example, it bans untouchability.

Secularism is not just an ideology of some parties or persons; it is one of the foundations of our country. Communalism should not be seen as a threat only to some people in India — it threatens the very idea of India. It needs to be combated in everyday life — prejudices and propaganda must be countered — and religion-based mobilisation in politics must be resisted.

4. Caste and Politics

Caste inequalities

Unlike gender and religion, caste division is special to India. All societies have some kind of social inequality and some form of division of labour; but in most societies occupations are not inherited. The caste system is an extreme form of this: members of the same caste group were supposed to form a social community that practised the same or similar occupation, married within the caste group and did not eat with members from other caste groups. It was based on exclusion of and discrimination against the "outcaste" groups, subjected to the inhuman practice of untouchability. Political leaders and social reformers like Jotiba Phule, Gandhiji, B.R. Ambedkar and Periyar Ramaswami Naicker advocated and worked to establish a society in which caste inequalities are absent.

Partly due to their efforts and partly due to other socio-economic changes, castes and the caste system in modern India have undergone great changes: with economic development, large-scale urbanisation, growth of literacy and education, occupational mobility and the weakening of the position of landlords in villages, the old notions of caste hierarchy are breaking down. In urban areas it does not matter much who walks along next to us on a street or eats at the next table in a restaurant. The Constitution of India prohibits caste-based discrimination and laid the foundations of policies to reverse the injustices of the caste system.

Yet caste has not disappeared from contemporary India. Some older aspects persist: even now most people marry within their own caste or tribe; untouchability has not ended completely despite constitutional prohibition; and the effects of centuries of advantages and disadvantages continue. Caste continues to be closely linked to economic status — the upper castes tend to be better off and the lowest castes worse off, though every caste has some poor members. (The Union government decided in 2025 that the next Census would also enumerate caste.)

Caste in politics

• When parties choose candidates in elections, they keep in mind the caste composition of the electorate and nominate candidates from different castes to muster necessary support.
• Political parties and candidates make appeals to caste sentiment to muster support; some parties are known to favour some castes.
• Universal adult franchise and the principle of one-person-one-vote compelled political leaders to gain the support of all; it brought new consciousness among people of castes previously treated as inferior and low.

However, elections are not all about caste:

• No parliamentary constituency in the country has a clear majority of one single caste, so every candidate and party needs to win the confidence of more than one caste and community.
• No party wins the votes of all voters of a caste or community; when people say a caste is a "vote bank" of a party, it usually means a large proportion of voters from that caste vote for that party.
• Many political parties may put up candidates from the same caste; some voters have more than one candidate from their caste, while many have none.
• The ruling party and the sitting MP or MLA frequently lose elections — this could not have happened if all castes and communities were frozen in their political preferences.
• Voters have strong attachment to political parties, often stronger than to their caste; people within the same caste vote differently depending on economic condition; and people's assessment of the government's performance and the popularity of leaders matter and are often decisive.

Politics in caste

Politics also influences the caste system and caste identities by bringing them into the political arena: each caste group tries to become bigger by incorporating within it neighbouring castes or sub-castes; various caste groups enter into coalitions with other castes or communities and then enter into dialogue and negotiation; new kinds of caste groups have come up in the political arena, like "backward" and "forward" caste groups. Expression of caste differences in politics gives many disadvantaged communities the space to demand their share of power — in this sense caste politics has helped Dalits and OBC castes gain better access to decision-making. Several political and non-political organisations have demanded and agitated for an end to discrimination against particular castes, for more dignity and more access to land, resources and opportunities. At the same time, exclusive attention to caste can produce negative results: it can divert attention from other pressing issues like poverty, development and corruption, and in some cases caste division leads to tensions, conflict and even violence.

5. Master Table: Key Terms

6. Master Summary Table

Chart — literacy rates, Census 2011 (%):

7. Mind Map

8. Tips and Tricks

9. Important One-liners

• Gender division is based on social expectations, not biology.
• Scandinavian countries have high women's participation in public life.
• Women's literacy was about 65% in 2011.
• The Equal Remuneration Act was passed in 1976.
• The child sex ratio in 2011 was 919.
• One-third of local body seats are reserved for women.
• The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was passed in 2023.
• India has no official religion.
• The Constitution bans untouchability.
• Phule, Ambedkar and Periyar fought caste inequality.
• Caste politics has helped Dalits and OBCs gain access to power.

10. Previous-Year-Pattern Questions with Detailed Answers

11. Quick Revision Summary